As I have not covered this in any of my online eBooks, I thought I would quickly address it this morning, as I saw a couple of baby’s yesterday, who were too hungry to breastfeed!
Sounds crazy doesn’t it! When a baby is very little and still suffering the impact of the delivery and labour, they often struggle to transfer milk effectively from the breast, into their tummy. This leads to them losing weight and becoming quite jaundiced, which leads to them being very sleepy and difficult to wake.
If your baby was OP with their head in the wrong position, or if you needed ventouse or forceps, of if you had a long and difficult labour which ended in an emergency C Section, your baby may be struggling to access the breast milk.
Keep an eye on your baby’s output. If your baby is not filling wet and dirty diapers, you can assume that there isn’t much milk going in. You will need to hand express to encourage your milk production and have something to feed your baby.
If your baby has lost a lot of weight and is becoming frustrated and hysterical at the breast, it is because he or she is too hungry. They need food right now and don’t want to mess around.
If you are able to express, offer your baby some expressed breast milk before you offer the breast. This will calm your baby and take the edge off his or her hunger, so that he or she can focus on feeds.
If you are not able to express, use formula and get your baby back onto an even playing field. Increase your supply and keep expressing so that you can start to offer expressed breast milk instead of formula.
As your baby starts to get more food, he or she will become less agitated at the breast and latching will become easier.
Make sure that your positioning and attachment are correct so that your baby can get to the milk easily and effortlessly.
Call me if you are struggling!
