Need help feeding 5 day old please!!!!!!!!!!! Stressing out

[@llli*Medic1]

Hello and thanks so much for reading and any help,

(I'm a father in need of help for my wife)

We had our first child 5 days ago. We opted to go the BF route due to many reasons but have now found out that it is far from a easy, natural process. During our day after birth at the hospital my wife had a very hard time getting our daughter to latch properly. Baby would cry at the breast and my wife was in pain during the entire BF process. Nipples became very cracked and She was finally able to get a few ok feedings and felt with a few more days my wife's milk would fully come in and that things would settle down.

So 2 days ago we had our first follow up Dr appt. They were concerned that our daughter had lost 11% birth weight and advised us to supplement with formula. My wife continued to BF and we would feed formula once a day (our daughter hates the formula). We figured that BF would become easier and things would hit their stride at some point soon. The evening of the Dr appt my wife had her first real feeling that her milk had come in.

The problem is that nursing is still VERY painful and sometimes baby seems to be getting very little milk. We have studied up or how to get baby to have an appropriate latch and seem to be doing well at it. When my wife hand expresses she gets VERY little milk to produce and her right breast was VERY swollen and seemed to be plugged. She has tried hot compress and massaging the breasts to free any possible plugging. There are many knots in her breasts so we were concerned that her ducts were plugging.

What is going wrong here? Why does it seem to be really hard for our baby to get enough milk during a BF session? How do we prevent plugging?

Thank you all for your help.

[@llli*still.here]

Hi there! Congratulations on your new baby.

First off, let me just say that your problems are not all that uncommon and you aren't necessarily doing anything wrong (though...honestly I question the necessity of giving formula but many doctors will jump right to that rather than helping you troubleshoot breastfeeding issues). Nursing doesn't come easy to most moms and babies, it's something many moms have a hard time with, especially the first few days. There is nothing going on here that we can't help you work out, though! Don't despair.

A few questions:
How often is she putting baby to the breast? How long does baby nurse?
Are you still giving formula?
How many wet diapers are you getting in a 24 hour period?
Why do you feel baby isn't getting much milk?


It's normal to become engorged, even painfully so when your milk first comes in. The best thing you can do is put the baby to the breast often to help empty them. Though I understand that can be difficult when the nipples are sore.

Again, it's normal for there to be some soreness, though it does sound like you guys may have some latch problems. Hopefully another mom will chime in on that, as it's not something I have much experience in. Do you have a licenced Lactation Consultant available? Often the hospitals will have one you can access for free within a certain number of days of baby's birth. Something to look into, as latch problems are often best dealt with in person. Alternatively you can look up your local LLL leader in the search tool above and she may be able to help.

Newborn's tummies are the size of a grape. They will not be able to eat much at a time. And breastmilk is so easily and quickly digested they need to eat quite frequently. It is normal to feel like you are almost constantly nursing those first weeks.

[@llli*mommal]

with Still.here. A trip to the IBCLC for some hands-on help with the baby's latch is probably the best thing you can do right now. The Internet is nice but some problems respond best to in-person assistance.

The PP asked some excellent questions. I have a few more:
- Is mom pumping? If so, what sort of pump is she using and how often does she use it?
- When baby unlatches from the breast, what shape are mom's nipples? Elongated and symmetrical, like pencil erasers, or asymmetrical/wedged/creased/ridged/shaped like new lipsticks?
- Are the cracks large single wounds, or are there multiple small slit-like cracks?
- Any changes to the skin of the breast/nipple, including: dry or flaking skin, red or pink nipples, nipples which blanch (turn white) or perhaps blanch and then turn bluish-purple before returning to a normal color?
- Does the pain persist in between feedings?
- Is the pain more of a pinching pain, or more of a burning sensation?
- Is mom experiencing any itching?
- Did mom have a recent course of antibiotics (including antibiotics during birth for GBS)?
- Has mom recently had a vaginal yeast infection, or has baby been diagnoses with thrush?

[@llli*lovemygirlso1]

Agree as well. Also, get some lanolin for the sore nipples. You can get it at the dollar store. It's safe for baby and doesn't have to be wiped off before a feed. But yes see an IBCLC. And remind her not to give up. She is doing FANTASTIC! By 6 weeks in she'll probably not even remember the issues of starting off. Tell her we are all very proud of her!

[@llli*jaxmcc]

Milk coming in can be horrendous and very difficult for baby to latch. I found expressing some off before helped. I'm in uk and use a Medela swing electric pump which is great. I had difficulty latching and this is my second, it's a learning process for both of them. I found what helped me when I couldn't get baby latched on, after trying for a bit, I would express and give it to him that way. For me, I knew he was getting a feed, he wasn't getting too tired and I wasn't getting stressed and would try again next feed.i know some people don't like to give bottles when breast feeding but it worked for me. Don't give up, keep tryin and it will happen. My oldest was fed expressed milk for 6 weeks and latched on after that. It took a lot of trying every feed, lots of skin to skin but we got there. Good luck xx

[@llli*still.here]

I think if your wife is too engorged to latch it could be a good idea to express some milk, either with a pump or by hand, enough to soften the breast and get some relief. Though I would try latching baby on to nurse at that point rather than giving that milk in a bottle. If you're already having latch problems the bottle could make it more difficult to get it right. And pumping too much can signal your body to over produce so you'd only want to express just enough to feel a bit better, then try to let baby do the rest.

Here's a good article about engorgement. Great tips in here on how to get relief. And another on cracked nipples.

[@llli*Medic1]

Thank you all for the quick the responses. To respond to the questions:

How often is she putting baby to the breast?

Every 2-3hrs

How long does baby nurse?

15-25min give or take. More in the last day

Are you still giving formula?

Yes but after today I think we plan on cutting back. She was gaining good weight in the past 2 days and prefers the BF to formula.

How many wet diapers are you getting in a 24 hour period?

8-10, she seems to be well hydrated. Urine doesn't smell strong and is light in color. She's having good stools now but that just started yesterday since she wasn't feeding well even at postpartum.

Why do you feel baby isn't getting much milk?

She seems to be back on the breast quickly. She will have a nice "food coma" post feeding but that seems to fall off quickly and she will become restless within an hour. When hand expressing little comes out and the few times pumping was attempted only drops have come out.

Is mom pumping? If so, what sort of pump is she using and how often does she use it?

Not at this point. We have a pump but the few times we have used it very little comes out.

When baby unlatches from the breast, what shape are mom's nipples? Elongated and symmetrical, like pencil erasers, or asymmetrical/wedged/creased/ridged/shaped like new lipsticks?

She seems to be getting a good latch and not clamping with her bottom jaw on the nipple. Nipples look fine.

Are the cracks large single wounds, or are there multiple small slit-like cracks?

Cracks are large

Any changes to the skin of the breast/nipple, including: dry or flaking skin, red or pink nipples, nipples which blanch (turn white) or perhaps blanch and then turn bluish-purple before returning to a normal color?

No

Does the pain persist in between feedings?

She has the full/engorged pain but that's it.

Is the pain more of a pinching pain, or more of a burning sensation?

Not burning, pinching/sharp

Is mom experiencing any itching?

No

Did mom have a recent course of antibiotics (including antibiotics during birth for GBS)?

Yes, she had IV antibiotics due to her water breaking greater than 24hrs prior to delivering.

Has mom recently had a vaginal yeast infection, or has baby been diagnoses with thrush?

No


At this point we are wondering if she is plugged since her breasts have a bunch of lumps as if her ducts are plugged. When she attempts to hand express there is a drop or two that come out but that's it. This last feeding seems to be better than the others have been. I bought a good heating pad (was just using a hot cloth) that we can microwave as a compress. That seems to have helped a lot. No plugging is seen at the nipple but I'm not sure how the cracking affects milk flow.

Pumping hasn't gone well. We put the pump on for 2-3min and got about 2 drops out, wasn't even enough to get in the container.

[@llli*candcsmomma]

I had the cracked bleeding super sore nipples with my first, it goes away and gets better I promise! It was about 3-4 months for me, and I know that might seem like forever, but it didnt feel like it was that long at all

I also had the clogged ducts with my son, the heat pads, massaging, etc. did not work at all. Pumping helped a little and sometimes I would have a really stubborn clog and my husband would probably hate me for posting this, but he would *cough* help get it out *cough cough*

Good news (at least in my experience) NONE of these problems with #2!

[@llli*candcsmomma]

I just noticed in your reply you said she pumped for 2-3 minutes and didnt get anything. That is normal I *think* no expert but I had an mega supply of milk and it still took at least 2-3 minutes to even start getting anything at all, and I would pump anywhere from 8-13 oz in most sittings. Also I think the first few times you pump it is normal to not get anything because your body (your wife's body) needs to get used to the pump, while it does the same thing, it is different than a baby's suckling. With my first I had a cheap pump and while I pumped ok it took forever to get a small amount, I got a medela this time around and it works SOO much better

[@llli*jaxmcc]

I agree with the comment about the pumping. I have loads of milk and it could still take a few minutes for it to come through when I was pumping. Swear by the medela swing pump, did try a tommee tippee electric one but it was useless. The use the medela pumps in some of the hospitals here.
J