Need help with BFing!!

Me again... although this may end up being my last call for help if D has anything to do with it

How do I get baby interested in latching on (with aid of nipple shield, tongue tie still not sorted yet) when I am still required to top-up with a bottle?? It has gotten to the stage where he fights me constantly while latched on, and I end up having to express what i can and give it to him in a bottle for fear of him not gaining enough weight (we are still playing catch up, at 1 month old he has only just reached birth weight again as of yesterday) since we have to see paed again on Wednesday after being admitted to hospital for low weight gains (hence the constant top-ups!)... so until his weight is at an acceptable range for age, I cant try going cold turkey on bottles right now

I've tried using a lactaid (tube that goes from supplement down to nipple where the suck through tube and nipple at same time) but catch 22 is that it doesnt work with a shield... and referral to get tongue tie sorted is still not coming back with an appt time, so i have no 'goal' to work towards in regards to how long til we can start trying to get him latched on 'normally'

Supply isnt an issue (I dont think?) as i am leaking about an hour after feeding, and am full by the time his next feed is due (3-4 hours), unfortunately it doesnt matter what time of day, or how long after feeds I express, I'm not responding too well to pumps (have an avent manual, and am using a hospital grade Medela pump, both get the same results in the same amount of time), I always get off app 30-40ml each time, whether I'm feeling full or not. I'd have to pump hourly for 24 hours to get enough milk to be able to feed him on EBM alone! JIC it IS a supply issue, I am taking blessed thistle, domperidone and milk flow capsules, and have been chowing down on lactation cookies (been eating 3 or 4 every day, prob not so good for my hips but BF was more important!)

help???

I have no help except this link to a blog that I read. Might be some helpful info on how to get him to latch and stay latched. Good luck and keep perservering, you are doing so well to get so far. I would be calling the paed for the referall about the tongue tie, keep on at them until you get seen- its the only way

dammit sorry stupid computer,

i also tried to drop a spoon or so into his mouth to remind him what was to come and also take the edge of the hunger so he was more calm as he latched. and i fed him in the dark quiet room for nearly 3 weeks in case it was noise that was causing him to fuss at the breast.

do you have a fast letdown? i do and max would go mad twisting his head and thrashing limbs to avoid the firehose - helped to de latch and spray off the first bit.

try lll meeting too mine had great advice.

soorry for mad posts baby twisting my nipple and flailing atm!

Not really much advice on the latching, but I am hopeless at expressing cos I don't have a decent letdown. But I did find if I had DD on one boob (regardless of if she had a decent latch), I could get way more milk out of the other boob. It's not easy though, and would often take DH to pass me the baby once I had the pump attached and then hang around to take her or the pump away afterwards.

caliandjack wrote: I had similar problems with DD, tongue tie low birth weight. I never use nipple shields, no body told me I needed to. I bf for a week with until the tongue tie was picked up (hurt like a mf). Cause she was small she was also a slow feeder This is what we did - I would feed her on my breast for 30 minutes then give her EBM and formula if she needed it. After a couple of days of the bottle she refused the breast, and I was about to give up. Instead I gave her EBM first then put her back on the breast and she went fine, cause the bottle was easier for her and I felt it gave her 'practice' with latching. I only used Medela bottles with nuk teats and have the Medela mini electric pump. Manual pumps took ages. We did this for the first 3-4 weeks, then I moved to bf during the day and bottles at night, and allowed her to feed as much during the day as she wanted. At 2 months she got the hang of latching and we've been exclusively bf ever since. I spent a day at the Family Centre with a LC, spending the whole day really helped.

This is AWESOME stuff! Well done, you! YOu should be so proud of yourself.

hey i'm not sure about tonguie tie, but i have a prem baby who went thru a very bad fussy stage 3 weeks ago and i thought the bfing was going to be over. we do EBM by bottle and BFing, 2 bottles a day now and the rest BF.
the thing i found that worked when she was fussy is cradle hold, and me standing and rocking her gently from side to side. seemed to help settle her down and keep her latched on. is only a small thing but worth trying, hope it helps, i totally understand your frustration and really hope you can work it out.

Its not one that a GP can take care of (they do grade 1 and 2, his is grade 4) so I'm stuck waiting for the referral (cant go private as he cant get added to our policy until 3 months old) the LC specialist that diagnosed it will be doing a referral tomorrow if the service I'm registered with havent got their A into G yet!

Have followed some of the suggestions like starting the feed before he gets grumpy, and if im too late then doing bottle first then top-up from me and we seem to be getting back on track... crisis averted for now!

thanks for the advice!!

Ohh yay! I'm glad to hear things have improved a bit. You are doing so well chick. Hang in there

We tried it in hosp and it wouldnt work, there was a miniscule gap between shield and breast where tube was, and it was enough to kill the suction... the LC from neonates came up to try and set it up and she couldnt get it to work either... one of the main reasons we want to get the TT sorted asap, easier to use lactaid if I can feed him without shields!

lol Deb, no probs, you didnt know the whole story, all I said was that he wouldnt feed! Plus it wasnt really a good place to be talking about feeding probs, I'm sure the other lady didnt need to hear all about how my baby cant latch onto my boobs!!

LOL good point!