Tips for keeping him latched...

Sometimes breast feeding drives me absolutely crazy.

Jackson feeds well during let down (which is fast) but when let down slows he mucks around something chronic. He latches and unlatches, sometimes several times a minute.

He is so squirmy and wriggly and it is killing my back having to constantly lean forward to relatch him time and time again. It is becoming quite painful, so I am getting increasingly frustrated.

I wind him regularly, but he just. wont. stay. still. while feeding.

I am at the end of my tether. Please help!

ETA: I have to persevere with all the relatching to try to improve his weight. The perseverance does pay off, as usually he will eat more, it's just frustrating that I have to do this all the time.

Edited by kiwilaurie

Sorry Laurie I have no tips for you but wanted to give you hugs. I so hope it gets better for you soon.

No advice here either sorry but I can definitely empathise! I find my little girl gets really wriggley and even starts beating my chest with her hand when she's reaching what I assume to be the end of the milk. It's like she looses patience? I know you're supposed to get the baby to drain the breast but all I can do to continue the feed is swap to the other side

Sorry kiwilaurie. Didn't mean to threadjack!

Aww Laurie - big hugs. This whole bfing thing has been tough for you guys. Yayyy for you perservering. I love Kelly's idea, if you try it let us know if it helps. Makes sense.
Zach tends to do the whole squirmy, fighting thing when he is overtired and is fighting sleep, if I can get him to stay on then he normally falls asleep on the breast.


Debs

Pillows, ladies, pillows! They help tremendously with babies comfort and yours as well. If baby lies even partially on a pillow of some type while feeding, it makes them and you more comfortable. Also, baby must come to your breast, not you take breast to baby.

Everything Kellz says above is spot on, and what I would say also,

And, don't forget to draw circles in the palm of their hand with your thumb to stimulate sucking. Or stroke his cheek if he is wrapped. Wapping is a good way of stopping the wriggling. Bubs may be wriggling cos he isn't comfortable?

Try hard not to get hung up on big weight gains. not all babies pile weight on at a great rate of knots. It is normal for slower lower gains as well, as long as bub has plenty of wet and dirty nappies.

You guys ar doing great jobs. I know it's hard to see the good side of things at the moment, but I do promise you it become much easier around 6 - 8 weeks or so, as you and baby have both learnt the basics of feeding, plus baby is a bit more wakeful now, so feeds alot better.

Big hugs to you both! Hang in there and don't be afraid to ask for help, there is plenty out there.

XX

Thanks Annie, Kellz and others as well. I am pretty determined, so I will continue to keep at it. I wish it were just getting easier, not harder. I guess I thought by now it would be coming right - Jackson is 7 weeks now and I was hanging out for the 6 week magic mark!! Maybe it is still coming....

I'm a little reluctant to wrap, as we swaddle for bed and Jackson has a good sleep association already with it. Whenever we wrap him he gets ready to sleep - which is fantastic and something I am really greatful for.

I do draw the circles etc, and put a cold flannel on him. It does seem to work some of the time. I also have a breastfeeding pillow, and put pillows around my sides as well.

Kellz, it's a good point about the leaning forward and then sitting up - I didn't really think about the change in breast shape from where he is sitting.

To be honest, aside from taking the breast to him which I definately am guilty of (just desperate to keep him taking it!) I do feel like I am doing all I can. I have had two Lactation Consultants look at his feeds as well.... of course he was text-book behaviour those times!!

Sometimes it just helps to get a few more ideas, and even a bit of encouragement and support not to give up... it's invaluable hearing people tell me that I can keep going.

Luckily I am very stubborn and quite determined to keep with it - I know it is best for Jackson. Keep your fingers crossed that the pieces will all fall into place for us soon!


Edited by kiwilaurie

Some people feed from one breast only each feed, offering the other breat at the next feed. Others feed from both breats each feed. I always feed Isla as much as she would take from one breast, then finished off on the other,..then next feed started on the one she last had t at he previous feed.
Yep you should definatly alternate which breast u start the feed on.

Also since he is feeding better from your left breast, you could try holding him in the same postion on your right breast as u have him when he feeds on the left breast iygwim,...so if he is lying across your body when feeding on your left breast,..try him on your right breast with his body out to your side (on pillows) so his head is in the same position as it would be if he was feeding from your left breast.

Keep asking questions! Not all babies are txt book at all, but there are tonnes of us on here who are more than happy to share what we found helped us.

Edited by Kellz

i found a partial swaddle helped... so would wrap bubs arms in a cloth nappy but left their legs free.

We also struggled for the first 7 weeks then al of a sudden it seems to have come right, of course he is that much bigger now but that was when we had our turn around, so hopefully yours isn't too far away.

One thing that helped me,(and this is opposite what others have said) is when I stopped lying him on a pillow, I was getting hung up about the pillow!! Now I sit with the leg up on the couch, the side i'm feeding off, with my foot under my other leg, sort of like a triangle IYKWIM, and have the BF pillow under my leg, so he is lying right on me not the pillow, he feeds so much better this way. Hard to explain sorry.

He also gets really wriggly once the flow slows down aand starts twisting and pulling so thats when I take him off that side.

Good luck, hopefully it will get better soon