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Breastfeeding
I need a pep talk and some advice!
Hi ladies, sorry to be a downer, but I am in serious need of a pep talk. I almost threw in the BFing towel last night.
1. At 3 weeks DS is still having latch issues. Rather than opening wide (regardless of all of my attempts to help him) he sucks on my nipple. It hurts! Once he is "latched" on I can fix his mouth to a proper latch, but the initial latching is painful.
2. He doesn't eat!! He will wake up hungry, but literally feeds for about 5 minutes and then falls back to sleep. A half an hour later he is up again looking for another "snack."
3. He LOVES to sleep - during the day! It is nearly impossible to wake him every 2 hours or so to eat. I've tried getting him naked, changing his diaper, cool rag on his head and NOTHING works.
I'm afraid that all of this is going to ruin my supply. With DS1 I exclusively pumped and I don't want to do that again! Any advice?
~Olivia~
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Re: I need a pep talk and some advice!
No real advice here, but make sure to get LO weighed if you haven't already. My dd was doing all those things and dropped a ton of weight. The LC told me that since she wasn't getting enough calories, she had no energy to actually feed well.
I'm at the point of EPing and my supply is only half of what she needs
Sorry you are going through this.
Wow, I could have written this post when my DD was 3 weeks old!!! To help her latch, I tried compressing my boob with the "C hold" and pulling down on her chin. She wasn't very good at it even with my help, because at first she would latch fine and then she would slip back a little. It DOES get better. Your baby WILL learn to latch. I think my DD got better at about 1 month.
As for the sleepy feedings, that will get better too. Is your baby jaundiced? My DD was, and that's why she was always so sleepy. Once the jaundice cleared up she seemed to feed a little better and go longer intervals between feedings.
Hang in there! I'm so glad I did, even though I had a horrible time and shed many tears at first!
This exactly! Try to get it fixed now! I could have written your post a wek ago and my lactation consultant tells me these problems are going to take a month to fix. Her jaundice and reluctance to nurse wrecked my supply, and I've paid over 500 bucks between pump rental, formula, bottles, etc. trying to fix it so far.
Have you tried breast compressions while nursing to help milk flow fast to baby? Is he awake during the night instead? I've heard suggestion of getting baby outside for sunlight in teh early am can help reset clock.
I would definitely try to find an LC and get a weight check.
But at 3 weeks, you'll probably be past the constant sleeping really soon. You've come this far, it would be a shame to quit. And I'm sure you remember with DS1, the pain gets less and less. Good Luck!