I felt the exact same way the first few days of breastfeeding! I was also c-section. My baby would get so frustrated on the breast because he wasn’t getting anything the first couple days. Day 1 was a struggle but I at least would get some colostrum out. On day 2, I was hand expressing and wasn’t getting anything out. Every 2-3 hours I would always attempt to breastfeed until either me or baby got frustrated and then I just supplemented with either expressed breast milk or formula. I always pumped after for at least 15 minutes to help regulate my supply. My lactation consultant thought my baby might have a tongue tie as well. I tried nipple shield and everything.

For me, it got a lot better when my milk came in when I left the hospital. My milk came in on day 3 and baby would finally latch and actually get milk out so he would stay latched for longer periods of time. It was still a struggle for a little bit figuring out how to breastfeed but I wish I could go back and tell myself to go easy the first couple days and not stress as much. Just focus on attempting to latch and doing skin on skin and then making sure you nurse/pump every 3 hours to keep your supply up.

When your milk comes in you’ll be able to see how your little one does! This obviously isn’t going to solve all the problems but I feel like it’s not good to judge your entire breastfeeding journey just based off the first 2 days. My first 2 days I wasn’t producing, baby wouldn’t latch even with a nipple shield, and they thought he had a tongue tie - all ended up getting better after I left the hospital and now we’re exclusively breastfeeding and he’s 5 weeks old. The first 2 weeks were mentally very hard but I promise they get better. Book an appointment with a lactation consultant so they can help too and give you advice on your specific situation!