Sez, I am so happy if I have been the slightest help/encouragement!!
I have successfully breastfed four babies....all quite different feeders. None were especially brilliant at actually opening their mouths and all needed patient help the first 6 weeks with attachment/positioning.
My first (biggest baby at 3800g) did not regain his birth weight until 3 weeks. We had to make an interstate move during that time whilst recovering from a c/sec--not easy. He was also a sleepy nurser and did nearly all his napping at the breast until he started solids. We then fed with no trouble until 15 months when he self weaned. I was pg with ds 2 at that time.
DS no 2 put on weight without stopping, at every check had gained an enormous amount. He LOVED feeding and woke at night to feed until about 12 months. continued until he self weaned at 23 months.
DS no 3, a different story! I thought that since I was an experienced breastfeeder I'd have no problems--HA HA HA. I was very ill after his birth and he never gained well. I know by the way he nursed that he wouldn't have been the world's best feeder anyway, but everything was complicated by my recovery which took months. He had to have comp feeds from a few weeks on. When I tried to go back to full breast feeds he did not gain and slipped below the 5th percentile. This was although I appeared to have plenty of milk, and knew what I was doing.......AND was taking Maxolon and expressing. The paed had him start solids at 5 months. This helped his gain. My OB advised me at 6 months to cut back on BFing for my own sake. I stepped up the bottles but let him nurse whenever he wanted. He continued until 11.5 months. At 12 months he was up to the 25th percentile in weight.
DD was my prem at 33 weeks...with her the issue was that I had to keep up my supply by expressing, and one side expresses very poorly (always has). The Maxolon helped but never gave me fountains. However, I knew from my first 2 boys, that I was totally capable of full production on that side. By the time she fed really well, at about 3 months, I had very little milk on that side. So now I am well and truly lopsided Luckily for AA cup people like me it's not too obvious!! She will be one at the end of the month. Again, not the world's best nurser. She pushes and pulls at the breast which makes it rather unpleasant, and feeds best at night. She wakes once or twice every night to feed.
Keep going, Sez. It is not easy, but it will be worth it. AND a difficult time now does not mean that you are not "meant" to breastfeed. You can see by my history that your next baby could be very different, and it could be really easy.
I cannot believe that my itty bitty girl will be one at the end of the month!!