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Breastfeeding after EMCS
Hi ladies,
I had a horrific labour ending in an emergency section.
When we got on to the post natal unit I was so out of it that I lost the plot with looking after my baby and was also bed ridden due to a full spinal block. However I stupidly overdid things by picking him up out of his crib at an angle from the bed and trying to bf when I was out of it.
He has a strong suction and had damaged my nipples from skin to skin when he just went for it anywhere. So I was shredded, exhausted (itching for weeks before hand with obstetric cholesasis meant no sleep and labour was 35 hours) and the long and short is I don't think I fed him effectively or enough for the first few days.
We only just achieved a decent latch in the last day or 2 and he is not 6 days old. He is starving, lost 12% weight which is higher than the normal 10% and so we started supplementing with formula to aid my recovery and encourage decent milk flow.
However we gave him formula the other night and the day after he was pretty much on the boob all day. Still hungry! So now I'm at a loss as to what to do!
Any advice or similar stories??? He's now had 3 bottles in a row and I'm hoping to start expressing via pump now and when I feel well enough to get him on in between but its so hard.
Last ngiht when I gave up at midnight I had gone grey, was shaking all over, massively dehydrated despite drinking permamanently all day and kept overheating through the night.
Very concerned about both his and my health. HELP!
I had a horrific labour ending in an emergency section.
When we got on to the post natal unit I was so out of it that I lost the plot with looking after my baby and was also bed ridden due to a full spinal block. However I stupidly overdid things by picking him up out of his crib at an angle from the bed and trying to bf when I was out of it.
He has a strong suction and had damaged my nipples from skin to skin when he just went for it anywhere. So I was shredded, exhausted (itching for weeks before hand with obstetric cholesasis meant no sleep and labour was 35 hours) and the long and short is I don't think I fed him effectively or enough for the first few days.
We only just achieved a decent latch in the last day or 2 and he is not 6 days old. He is starving, lost 12% weight which is higher than the normal 10% and so we started supplementing with formula to aid my recovery and encourage decent milk flow.
However we gave him formula the other night and the day after he was pretty much on the boob all day. Still hungry! So now I'm at a loss as to what to do!
Any advice or similar stories??? He's now had 3 bottles in a row and I'm hoping to start expressing via pump now and when I feel well enough to get him on in between but its so hard.
Last ngiht when I gave up at midnight I had gone grey, was shaking all over, massively dehydrated despite drinking permamanently all day and kept overheating through the night.
Very concerned about both his and my health. HELP!
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Replies
my first was an emergency section, we started BF but DS had a huge weight loss, so we gave forumula top ups and i tried to express although as i was so tired and on a load of antibiotics as well as severly aneamic so we just forumla fed after the first week
this time was also an emergency section although luckily i didnt get to far in my labour so wasnt as tired or loose as much blood, DD has a great latch although it wasnt quite right and i bled and was in agony feeding, i swayed to and fro with the idea of weather to formula feed again, luckily i had access to the infant feeding team that came out to me and were fantastic, i found medela nipple sheilds great whilst my nipples were healing, there where times when i couldnt bear her near me so we did give forumula and i expressed which was far less painful,
breastfeeding is very hard and you will find they will feed a lot! its not because they are always hungry but they are ensuring future supply, DD is 9 weeks tomorrow and still feeds frequently in the day, the first few weeks were full on with feeding and i was reduced to tears many times, but were going good now, i would strongly advise getting some proffessional advise from a breatfeeding support and getting out to a breastfeeding group, its amazing how much better you feel speaking to others going through the same.
did they tell you your hb? it sound like you may be aneamic? this also has an impact on milk supply, i would get the mw or doc to check you over to make sure your not habouring an infection too
hope you feel better soon x
We did see a bf counsellor in hospital on the last day but he was behind in weight when mw came. Since then though I've persevered and MW advised never to attempt feeds for longer than an hour and try to keep him on task and not falling asleep.
We've also split the night in two so hubbyy does him one formula feed in the night and the rest of the time I bf and if it goes on longer than an hour we do a small formula top up. Ironically yesterday he started being satisfied with the breast and has ranged from going for 1-3 hours between feeds depending on when I catch him.
Definitely feeling he needs leaving longer before I pick him up and start. He is no longer screaming the house down 24/7 and his nappies are looking much better now.
He'll be weighed on monday so fingers crossed! I totally understand how you ended up formula feeding your first - I was in bits most of the first 5 days.
You must feel proud to be able to do it this time round though - it is so so hard!
We've had a few ups and downs since but I spoke to a bf counsellor over the phone yesterday and went to a feeding drop in today which were both really positive experiences.
They confirmed that we had it down 99% but the only thing missing was that we should work more on getting his chin to touch on first and then really rolling him over the nipple and on to latch. I think I had this almost right but not quite getting it in his mouth enough.
Anyway they were really pleased and said he looked perfect and we just needed more practice. They thought we were doing really well considering the birth and rough hospital stay and actually when we left we realised we were even ahead of some of the older babies. We thought we were so behind but it just shows everyone learns at their own pace and I was just a bit impatient and expecting too much.
Essentially they hit the nail on the head and said we need to work on my confidence which will help me not be scared its going to hurt or take ages.
They've advised to not be too strict with routine yet to take the pressure off and also to switch so that the formula feed is the one we do around 10-11pm and he gets breast mil in the middle of the night...something to do with the amount of prolactin?
Anyway I think we're not too far off either breast feeding for all feeds or switching the formula to expressed milk.
Just bought a manual pump as my MW said this was a good idea and that electric ones were more for full time expressers. Hoping this works ok but will avoid pressurising myself to do it too soon as I imagine this can be quite tiring on its own.
Just trying to take it easy now and keep playing the positive feedback over in my head to reinforce that we ARE doing a good job and it will take at least 6 weeks to get really well.
Thanks so much for your support again! Can I ask what time of day you are expressing and if you use a pump? Not sure how much I'll be able to express but we'll see.
xxx