Hello

I'm new to the baby forums as my wee man was born 1st Jan by emergency C section, and today is the first day I've felt strong enough to come online. I was wondering if anyone had any tips? My little Dylan is a total pain to feed. He takes up to 15 minutes to latch on and will only then feed for 3-10 minutes. It usually takes 1-2 hours per feed to fill him up which is exhausting, and then I only get 30mins to an hour before the cycle starts again! Apparently I have positioning and everything else correct and when he does latch on, he does so 'beautifully'... apparently! Does anyone have any tips and tricks for either helping with latching on or with increasing the length of each feed. I'm currently topping him up with 1oz bottle feeds at night after each initial breastfeed, to keep my milk going but get him full before I go insane from sleep deprivation. I don;t want this to go on tho, and want to get back to exclusive breastfeeding.

Please help, I'm going insane....

When you say bottle feeds are you using expressed breastmilk? You said emergency c section was your son premature? My son was 7 weeks premature and could only manage 5 minutes at a time as he would get tired really fast?

Is it that he falls asleep after 3-10 mins? If so, have you tried all the usual techniques to wake him back up - tickling his feet, stroking his face, blowing on his face, changing his nappy, taking an item of clothing off?

Els x

congratulations on your new son. Breastfeeding is hard work at the beginning but it does get easier. My LO would only feed for 5 minutes at a time. I would get quite stressed out about it as my friends babies would feed for 30-40 minutes at a time and I was worried that she wasn't getting enough but i think she was just a fast feeder. she did start to feed for a little longer as she got older. I used to stress a lot about positioning and latching correctly as i read too much info on it all. Don't stress about it - they'll get what they need as long as they're attached and sucking!

Hiya,
If it makes you feel any better you aren't alone, there are many of us on here who've been through exactly what you're going through and have come out the other side.

You could try hand expressing a little bit of milk and rubbing it onto your nipple just before you try to get him to latch on. This can help in 2 ways. Firstly, if your breasts are engorged as they often are once the milk comes in, this will help ease the pressure and will make it easier to latch on.
Secondly, your LO will be able to taste the milk instantly and will hopefully encourage him to open up and latch on that bit quicker.

When you say feeds only last 3-10 mins, is this because your LO falls asleep during a feed? If so, you could gently stroke his cheek or tickle his foot to prompt him into waking up a bit and start drinking again.

Also, in the very early days, babies tummys are just so tiny they can barely hold any milk at all, so they need frequent feeds. The thing about breastmilk is, that it is so easily absorbed by our babies that they need to feed a little more often.
So for the first couple of weeks it will feel like you're doing nothing but feeding , but its normal and things will start to improve.

And the final thing to remember is, sometimes babies just love the comfort of being next to you and hearing your familiar heartbeat. I know for us in the early days, Emily would only sleep with her head on my left boob!

Hi guys

He was an emergency C as his heart rate plummeted during labour so they had to pull him out under a general anaesthetic - we thought we'd lost him his bp was that low... horrible, horrible!

He's currently on formula top ups as I'm trying to get a breastpump sorted. I hate using formula, even if it is a few ounces a day, I feel like a failure!

Also, when he stops it's often because he pulls himself off, awake. If he falls asleep, feet tickling and face blowing usually works, but still after 5-10 mins he'll just let go.

I feel like I'll never get the hang of bfing, and I so desperately want it to work and not have to resort to formula

xxx

Awww, sounds like you've had a horrible time! If he's taking himself off the breast then it's likely that he's full, as said above, they've only got teeny tummies. My LO would only feed for 5 mins at a time at first and even now she only feeds for 10 mins sometimes.

Don't beat yourself up about stuff, it sounds like you're doing what you can to ensure you get back to exclusively BFing. Is there a breastfeeding cafe nearby that you could go along to? They're wonderful support for people who need to build their confidence with things. Are the MW's still visiting you at home? Perhaps they could spend an extra 10-15 minutes with you and give you some advice?

Els x

You are NOT a failure!!! It sounds as though you've both had a fairly rough ride so far this year, and you are doing your best.
Breastfeeding can be really tough to get the hang of, but once you've got it, you've got it and it will just come naturally.
Please dont get stressed or upset about it, you need to just relax and enjoy your new baby and if it takes a wee top up of formula to help you do that, then so be it.