Breastfeeding being downplayed

hi ladies

man I need motivation
firstly he has only had one feed from me today because I had to go do my license and by the time I got back, he had already taken most of the bottle. so I'll latch him next feed.
But this morning he fed nicely (so I thought) then after bath he was crying so much so I tried to latch him again and he was hysterical and hurting me So I gave him the bottle and he drank 70ml which I was upset about...why didnt he just damn well take the breast when I offered it???

My nipples are KILLING me. it even hurts to pump now. They dont look cracked. They are just so incredibly sensitive. He is not latching properly but I cant get him to open his mouth wide (only when he is crying and then he doesnt latch anyway). I have tried the whole tickle the nose with the nipple, put nipple to nose and drag down to mouth...it does nothing. he does not open his mouth at all. Even with milk expressed onto the nipple.

So When he does open for the boob, I put it in his mouth but I can see his mouth is not open wide enough and then he is not taking in enough areola PLUS his bottom lip is curled inwards so its just sore sore sore. And I have kind of been biting the bullet thinking to just let him BF in SOME way (even if not correct way) is better than just giving in to the bottle every feed.

Thank God I am seeing the LLL lady tomorrow. I hope she can help. Times like these I wish he had never taken to the breast so my nipples and boobs wouldnt be hurting so much!

Memo Thank you for saying you also had to stand and feed your baby - I honestly thought I was the only person in the world who experienced that!

Meags well done on the breast feeding!

How are you coping are you still feeding every hour or so?

I must admit that with my first I never enjoyed the experience at all, but BF for 3 months through cracked nipples the lot. I was actually relieved when the doctor said I should give anti reflux formula.

Sarah, now 6 days old, breast feeds like a champion. I am just feeding her whenever she wants it at the moment, which feels like all the time, and have not been timing it. Going to the gynae on Friday which will be her first outing. I will just have to feed in public if necessary. I did the same with Matthew, and never enjoyed all the stares and looks of shock, but really I just ignored them.

Only at DH family I was banished to the spare room for feeds, guess we won't be visiting there too often!

When do you see the LLL lady? So pleased you got to breast feed!

Sadly, I'm not sure that if he fed for longer that he would wait longer either... I'm sure it helps, but my boy (who has been chunky since birth, ..little glutton) use to feed every 45min and for 45min! At the 6 week mark I was actually quite suicidal to be honest cos he also didn't like sitting with me. I had to stand and rock him, upright, all the time! He use to even need to sleep upright at this age. I'm pretty fit now and am dealing with he's heavyness better'ish..
I think dont feed him too much he'll just get too heavy! (lol)
Ps. have you started gearing toward the 'laying down and feeding'? It's very pro and it is advanced phased nursing, but I tell you when I got the hang of this (AWESOME) 'sleep whilst they nurse' tecnique there was really no turning back!
Good luck and thinking of you

Kaylee never fed on both boobs and never fed longer than 10 minutes at a time. Some babies are just more efficient.
My best advice in this regard is to stop clock watching as that can really make it clinical again.
Many breastfed babies feed 2hourly until solids are introduced, the milk is broken down and used far quicker than formula.

To try get them to take both feeds and ensure foremilk hindmilk foremilk, latch one breast, burp, latch same breast again, burp, latch 2nd breast (even if they only suck for a minute). But as I say it never worked with us.

Re feeding in public, I still havent gotten it right, she is a busy drinker and wants to see me. WIth friends I just whip it out but if the men are around I'll excuse myself to a bedroom and if we are out its EBM or formula (I got a bit lazy here after a few months)

hehe no he isnt doing marathon feeds!! He only feeds between 4-12 minutes at the moment. but every 45-90 minutes he wants to feed again! If he would just do a proper 10 minute feed per breast I am sure we could rather stretch to 2-3 hourly.

Well I tried to cover up today at lunch but it didnt really work. So eventually I just had the boob out and then at one stage I was even up rocking and shushing him to get him onto the boob - people must have thought I was crazy!!

Seeing a LLL lady perhaps tomorrow or Friday so hope she can give me some tips. I dont think he is latching properly all the time. But not sure how to get him to get his lower lip to curl out.

Congrats Meags on your perseverence! You make us all proud and I'm so glad you've come right.
You kind of have to think of him as a new born in the sense that you will have to figure out the going out thing etc - mind you Kaylee was 7 weeks before we went anywhere with her cos of her condition.

As the others say, top up feeds before you go, or taking a bottle with for outings if youre in public and cant breastfeed openly.
As you become confident he will become more relaxed about it too.

I hope this is the beginning of lots of fond memories and bonding with your gorgeous little boy!

Meags, I'm so glad that your hard work and perserverance had paid off:)
I know it seems hard now these marthon feedings, but you'll look back at this time when he is a little older and be glad about how much you got to hold him. Once they get to toddlerhood, they sqirm too much to get a nice long cuddle:) I used to use the opportunity to browze the net from my itouch... And like the others mention feeding times become less and less, whereas cleaning and preparing bottles never gets any easier:)

In the beginning months I used to also read a lot - but not to neglect my baby I used to do it outloud. James has had exerpts of the millenium series, time magazine you name it read to him:)

The other nice thing about breastfeeding is that it becomes flexible later. If I knew I wanted to go out for a bit, I would do a top up feed just before I left (even if it was only 30mins since his last feed) and it would let him go that little bit longer while waiting for me to return:)