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Advice needed
My dd is 17 days old today and I started bfing from the beginning and saw a lactation consultant in the hospital a few times where they suggested a nipple shield (due to soreness and her ability to latch on one side) which worked great at the time but now I seem to have problems getting dd to latch wide enough lately and I'm not sure that she is being a very efficient feeder, with the shield it doesn't hurt but she takes alot of time to feed. The Lactation consultant told me to feed her only 15 to 20 mins on each side then express after and offer her expressed milk in a bottle to 'top her up', the trouble is then I end up either pumping or feeding the majority of the time and I feel now she is just starting to expect a bottle after! I don't express after at night of course and use milk from the day express sessions to 'top her up' but in the morning my breasts are now painful as they haven't been drained fully overnight - I feel like it's a bit of a vicious circle. Any advice on how to get better at this would be good although before I spoke with the lactation nurse I would spend about 1.5 hrs feeding dd from the breast each feed time... mind you it isn't much shorter now!
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my lo never opened her mouth really wide after a couple days and they tried to say she wasnt latch right even tho her weight gain was great. i tried to do what they told me to do and my lo wouldnt feed and kept pulling away. i know this is quite harsh to say but both times they tried to give me advice i had to go back to basics beacuse my lo wouldnt feed right. you know hun with the weight gain and the nappies if she having 8 wet nappies a day at her age then you doing fine. they told me differnet but in the end couldnt say anything beacuse i feed my lo for 20weeks and she followed the centile she was meant to. i just think every baby does feed different you have to find what suits you and your baby hun. like i said if she gaining weight got wet nappies then dont worry to much about it. i spent the whole 5months worring when i was meant to be enjoying it, so learn from me hahaha. oh and if she cries after every feed for more then that means she isnt get enough either but if she happy without it for an hour then its good sign. my lo was every hour night and day till she was 6weeks lol welcome to breastfeeding xx
Was the consultant you spoke to a true lactation consultant, ie a certified lactation consultant or just someone calling themselves one, because there is a massive difference.
A true consultant would not advise timed feedings from each side. It doesn't necessarily help and if babyn isn't a particularly efficient feeder by switching at 20mins she may be just getting to the fattier stuff and your switching her over to the more watery stuff again.
But then that might not be the case.
I would suggest finding someone truly qualified to talk to
So yesterday I experimented with not 'topping her up' but in the night she was screaming after each feed as she simply would still be hungry afterwards. I really don't know what to do for the best.
just cos theyre a hospital feeddin advisor, does not mean they have any qualifications at all
When he got to 3 months I would just keep trying him on without the shield and he did it by accident as he was so hungry and we managed to wean him off the shields.
He was feeding every 2 - 2 1/2 hours till 5 months.
We only stopped BFing at 9 1/2 months when he had 2 top and 2 bottom teeth and accidentally bit mummy a few times...
At night when he was tiny I would always feed him, change him and then feed him again from that same breast so he'd empty it properly and fall asleep before he drank the good stuff.
I also found that I could express really well first thing in the morning with him feeding on the other breast.
Good luck xxx