CAUTION: If you are male or uncomfortable with anatomy used for Nursing you may want to skip this post :)
Ok, so here is the deal. Bram and I have never had an easy time with nursing. He had trouble latching in the beginning. However, up until recently we have always been successful in getting a good full feeding done. Last weekend I had to leave Bram for about 3 hours at a time to attend class (I was luckily able to come home at lunch and nurse him). I was worried about nipple confusion with the bottle and breastfeeding but he did wonderfully. He didn't have a problem taking the bottle and didn't have a problem returning to breastfeeding. This past Thursday I came down with the stomach flu. I was too sick to nurse so Barry feed him some milk I had been storing in the fridge and I pumped when I could. As my temp went up my milk supply went down and I was barely pumping an ounce from both sides during one session. We ended up only needing to supplement with formula twice before I was feeling better and getting back on a regular pumping/nursing schedule. So, here is the big problem...after 1 and a half days of bottles my baby won't breastfeed anymore. I can sometimes trick him into it for a little while but mostly when I try he screams and pulls away and looks at me like I killed his dog. We stopped giving him anything with an artificial nipple for a little while (bottle, pacifier) but soon realized the kid was starving and we had to let him eat somehow. With the help of a dropper to start him off I was able to get him to latch a couple times. Currently he will latch on to only one side and eat with much coaxing for about 15 minutes before screaming. Last feeding after having him latched (while sucking and making swallowing sounds) he ate 2 oz of a bottle as well. This leads me to believe he was not getting much. I have been pumping and my milk supply is going back up but is at least at 2 oz a feeding. Any help or advice on getting my milk supply back up and getting Abram to latch again without terrorizing him would be so greatly appreciated!
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4 comments:
Hi Angela,
It sounds like you have had a rough week, I'm glad to hear that you are recovering.
Claire was not feeling well a few weeks ago and we had a partial nursing strike where she also only wanted to bottle feed and screamed when I nursed her (I think it was harder for me then for her).
I spoke with a friend, a la leche leader and a lactation consultant. Here are some of their recommendations:
1) feed when the baby is sleepy, you may have to start off with giving a little bit of a bottle but you can wake when sleepy and try to feed then. I guess when they are sleepy they forget why they do not want to breastfeed.
2) you can try skin to skin contact (this worked well for us). Just strip the babe down to the diaper and put a warm blanket on them while you nurse
3) you can try taking a warm bath together and try nursing in the bathtub. I guess it helps to relax both of you and they nurse better than (my friend did this and said that it worked well for her)
Here is the link to the La Leche leaders' phone numbers http://www.lllusa.org/web/MNDak.html
I just called some of the leaders that are in the area, the one I spoke to was very nice.
Here is the number to the lactation consultant that I use 612-863-4638, I usually call them and leave a message, they are good at calling back by the end of the day. They may have some other good suggestions for you too.
I hope this helps.
Our little chunk never really turned down a chance to eat so I can't comment from firsthand experience, but from some reading I have done I would say: like all of us, a baby will only go on a feeding strike for so long, he won't let himself starve even though it will feel like torture to you to have him screaming as he comes to the realization that he only has one option. Don't psyche yourself out about your milk supply. Your body will produce exactly what your baby needs. If Bram doesn't have the option of getting his food from another source he'll make sure your body knows how much to make. Drink lots of water. Relax. Don't anticipate each nursing session being a battle, this will only make you tense. You are the best thing for your baby, no matter what he thinks at the moment. Baths with babies are great. Gia-hue's comments sound very helpful.
P.S. Maybe you could try to nurse a little more often for a day or two to really rebuild your supply and then start spacing the feedings back out again?
Hi Angela...sorry to hear you guys are having a tough time. Seeing as it's been a couple days lsince your post, I hope things have improved! I ditto what Gia-hue and Chloe have said, and would add that it might be good to keep pumping either right before you try to nurse him (if you pump off the foremilk he might be more satisfied with the fattier hindmilk he would get right away) or right after to help with supply. Like Gia-hue said, these kinds of troubles are so much more hard on us as mommies. Good luck to you!!
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