Br: breastfeeding help, please!

sweetpea18

Oy, this whole nursing thing is tough. I thought eping was hard, but it was easy peasy compared to this! Grier had a great latch to start with. She would get a little frustrated to begin with, but my milk has since come in. And now her latch is horrible! She fights at the beginning and after I finally get her latched, she fights the letdown. There are times when she'll randomly cry (ok, more like scream!). She's not a spitter, but I'm wondering if she doesn't have silent reflux. The other issue is that she falls asleep at the boob, despite my best efforts to keep her awake. When I finally get her latched, she'll nurse for about 10 minutes and then be out. I'm afraid that she's not getting enough hind milk. She'll sleep for a few minutes and then want to nurse again, so we do it all over again. Last night, we did this routine for almost 2 hours. I'm fine with being up with her, but then she was so tired this morning I could hardly get her to eat. And besides me worrying that she's getting the proper nutrition, my nips are a mess! There have been times that getting her latched has brought tears to my eyes! Any tips, advice, anything is appreciated! I really want this to work! (sorry for the lack of paragraphs-I'm on my phone!)

sweetpea18

Oh, and she's not jaundiced. And she's having plenty of wet dipes. Her poops have turned from meconium to the ebf poo, but she doesn't poop everyday. I'm not concerned about the lack of poop, Reese hardly ever pooped and was exclusively fed breastmilk. I'm just worried that she's getting too much foremilk and that's why she doesn't seem satisfied.

shea77

call the LLL and/or your Lactation Consultant.  I also went to the Mercy Mommy & Me breastfeeding support thing every 2 weeks.  I think some others on the board had an issue with their letdown being too strong so i think you'll get some good feedback... but i seriously called my LC every day for the first few weeks plus went to LLL meetings and the Mommy and Me... It will get better and she'll get the hang of things.  

lucylea

My initial thought was that your letdown may be too intense for her and that is why she is fighting the latch.  That would made sense since she only started fighting it once your milk came in.  I'd definitely call your LC and see if they can help with the latch issue.  

As far as the sleepiness goes, we fought that with Sophia big time.  I had to make sure she was in just a diaper while nursing and constantly "mess" with her, i.e. tickling her toes, talking to her, messing with her fingers, etc.   

Mrs.Reem

As much as I hate to say it, I think all of that is just typical of a newborn. They're sleepy, agitated little creatures.  This too shall pass. I promise. She'll stop nursing every five minutes when she begins to be awake for longer stretches. Right now she's just getting used to the world and feeding in a way that she hasn't been used to in the womb.

Jennrs

If it is the letdown you can try pumping before nursing her. I had an overactive letdown and I would always use the manual pump to get my letdown and pump for a little bit after the letdown too. After I started doing that Neena started nursing a lot better.

Like the others said, contact breastfeeding experts. Stay strong, mama!

CarissaRenee

I agree that it sounds normal for a newborn.  For the strong let-down, I sometime lean back so she's more above the flow.  Also, taking her off when after the start of the let-down, then helping her latch back on seems to help too.

h2babe

Ditto with everyone else; contact LC to help w/ the latch. And my DD also falls asleep on my brest, so I used to rub her chin as she was nursing to make sure that she doesn't fall asleep before she finishes nursing (I also tried to change her diaper prior to feeding because she doesn't nurse well with dirty diaper). Stay strong mama!

sweetpea18

Thank you ladies! I'm waiting for a call back from the lc. We have a pedi appt on Friday, so we'll know her weight and I'm going to talk to the pedi about our issues. Last night was a little better so I hope it keeps up! I've been pumping a little beforehand to help with the latch/letdown issue, but she still fights. I keep telling her that she doesn't have to attack her food before eating! Lol!

grinnysgirl

We experienced similar problems since I also have an overactive let down. Ditto pps about pumping for a few minutes first to hopefully avoid the forceful spraying when you first let down. It also has really helped for me to lean back when I first start feeding so that gravity helps me out again. Often B will latch and one I let down he will pull off and sputter and I just wait until he stops and help him latch again and he is good to go.

As far as the silent reflux thing, Ella had this and her symptoms were arching her back during feedings and screaming through most of her feeds. I assumed she was just fussy since she never spit up but after an examination of her red, irriated throat at her 2 month appointment we realized she had silent reflux

Hang in there mama!