Help getting newborn to breastfeed
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Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27621
Printed Date: 06 September 2025 at 12:47pm
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Topic: Help getting newborn to breastfeed
Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Subject: Help getting newborn to breastfeed
Date Posted: 21 July 2009 at 7:04pm
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So my lil girl was being solely fed from the breast. While at birthcare she latched fine and was feeding fine, she faffed about abit on the left but we got that going fine as well. We unfortunately chose to leave birthcare on day 2 as my nana passed away 2days before she was born and I wanted to attend the funeral service so we didn't get to experience it all and have all the help etc. She started being fussy and stopped latching properly on Sat and so I tried nipple shields she ended up feeding fine with these so not a problem. She has since started latching getting two suckles in then realising it was too hard and stopped feeding and going to sleep. She ended up losing over 20% of her birth weight so we were put on a strict 2hr routine by mw. She wasn't getting enough from me when being fed off the breast as I started expressing and she started taking bottles every hour of 40ml. Now she won't drink from me, while I don't mind expressing I know its going to get hard to express for every feed. I will keep trying her on the breast with and without the shields but she will latch and as before suckle twice and then come off except now she cries like you would not believe and gets herself so worked up. How do I get her to feed from me? Could have taken her only a night to realise it is 10times easier to feed from a bottle for every feed? HELP!! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: first
Date Posted: 21 July 2009 at 7:27pm
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Sounds like you are having a rough time so girstly a hug for you.
It might be that with the bottle she doesn't have to wait for a let down. Maybe you can express just till you start to get a let down then quickly put her onto the breast. I would ring you MW first thing and ask he what she suggests but also ask her for a referal to a LC. Be pushy about the LC as its still early days and you don't want it all to become too much just because people wouldn't help. Do hang in there. It does get easier. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/"> 
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Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 21 July 2009 at 8:54pm
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I agree with the let down thing too.
I had problems with James. He wouldnt latch on one side very well at all. We went to an osteo to see if it was birth trauma. I dont know if that fixed it or time fixed it. I have a fast letdown so he was getting too much too quick and pulling off from that....so I used to let him suck, then take him off, leak into a towel and then relatch him. I also did nipple shields, expressing etc buit tried really hard to put him on the boob often. I also agree to get help from your MW....thats what they are there for and she will probably happily come round and spend some time with you while you are feeding. It is bloody hard work! but it does get easier....can take about 6weeks though so hang in there! |
Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 21 July 2009 at 9:02pm
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Well I read the kellymom site and got some more tips. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that has been having problems. I gave her a bit of the bottle that I had expressed, she wasn't too hungry as she had already had quite a bit of a feed and then tried her on the breast and she took it! It felt so good. Didn't even really hurt this time either expressed the rest of what was in there and there was less then 20ml so she must have drained it. She has been sleeping for awhile now so am thinking I might wake her as don't want her getting too hungry again and not latching in the middle of the night. We are quite late bed goers here as dp works nights and I used to so am used to being awake quite late and don't normally sleep until 12 anyway. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 21 July 2009 at 10:51pm
dont get caught up on the expressing thing.. in that i mean it is not an accurate way of measuring your supply or wether she had drained it or not (it doesnt really run out )
i too was going to suggest expressing a bit off... i did it with all my babies...used to just hand express a bit to get it started for them... funnily enough my older boy used to want to help me to get it started for eden, so cute - he was 4. also strangely enough a dummy helped with my second child. he just didnt seem to get the latch and suck thing going well, especially at 3am... i gave him a dummy one day and he sucked on that and that night he had the best feed ever. i only used it for about a week in total...and he went on to feed till he was 2. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 21 July 2009 at 11:26pm
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Like bizzy said, my MW suggested expressing by hand a little bit so that when he latched on there was some milk there he could taste and he didnt have to work so hard to bring the milk down.
Worked for us  Once he got the idea of "Ohh if I suck, I get milk" we were all good.------------- |
Posted By: crafty1
Date Posted: 22 July 2009 at 10:43am
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You are entitled to visits to the lactation consultants at Birthcare up to 21 days post birth. Phone your midwife and get an urgent referral. If you get it sorted before then great but if you don't you'll really need that appt and it's so important to get bf established early for your supply etc. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 22 July 2009 at 1:32pm
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Well looks like I may have worried about it abit more then I should have but what do you expect first time mum and all. After sleeping through pretty much all night last night she decided it was time to wake up every 2hrs. The first feed she wouldn't latch got so worked up and I thought rather then trying to force her dp grabbed her and took her while I expressed only gave her 40ml then finished her on the breast. Everytime after then she managed to latch still using the nipple shield but better then nothing! She has been awake since 9.30/10 this morning and has been feeding every hr. I'm not letting her fuss and get frustrated before I feed her so I think that helps. She is atm with dp so that I can get some space and they can have their bonding time. So fingers crossed. If she still has trouble over the next day then I will ask for the referral ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: first
Date Posted: 22 July 2009 at 2:38pm
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Glad to hear that it is going a bit better for you and Honiana. It is a learning process for the both of you but you sound like you are doing a fine job. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/">
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Posted By: Babykatnz
Date Posted: 22 July 2009 at 5:33pm
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I had trouble getting Jaelyn to latch on until I started using Tigers Milk to increase supply, I also used a cold flannel to make the nipples shrink so she could latch on properly (usually mine are rather large and soft, and she struggles to get her mouth on it properly as we later found out)
Fingers crossed things pick up for you soon, I have found BFing so much more convenient than bottle feeding lol (had to bottle feed last time, so really wanted to BF this time around... which hasnt been without its struggles, but its looking better now!) ------------- Brandon - 05/12/2003  
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Posted By: peachy
Date Posted: 22 July 2009 at 7:23pm
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I used nipple shields for a few weeks till Lauren got the hang of breastfeeding. I slowly weaned her off them when I felt my milk had settled down and was confident she had the latching business worked out!
Most people are not fans of nipple shields, but honestly they got me through the toughest time of my life and I managed to continue to b/f Lauren till 7 months! I also found that pinching the skin around my nipple while she was initially latching on really helped her to get a good firm latch and ensured the whole nipple was going well to the back of her mouth. Sounds like you are doing a great job, well done for persevering so far, it DOES get easier I can assure you of that!!! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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