Latching/ supplementing problem with 3 day old

GeekMom

DD has had a pretty good latch since she was born, only had to see a LC once in the hospital about it. When we were discharged from the hospital yesterday with jaundice, she hadn't had a wet/dirty diaper for 16+ hours and we supplemented with formula. Now she hasn't really taken to the bottle, and preferred breast. But she woke up from a longer nap in the bassinet (she normally won't sleep unless she's on me) after a traumatic doctor's visit where they couldn't get enough blood to check her bilirubin, and wouldn't latch. It had been over 3 hours since we last nursed (it was a long session), so I was worried and had DH give her 1 oz of formula. 

Should I worry? I tried changing her diaper, undressing her, doing skin to skin, etc to wake her and get her interested before giving her to DH.

 I really really am wanting to EBF ASAP and I think my milk just came in, but I'm worried about her fluid intake.

Thanks ladies!

shotzie

Keep offering the breast and doing lots of skin to skin. DD wouldn't latch for a bit when my milk came in. I asked an LC about it and she said it was due to my milk coming in and changing the way my nipple/breast felt for DD. When your milk comes in, your nipples and breasts are firmer whereas before, they were soft and that's what LO has been used to. Sure enough, after a little bit, DD would latch again and things have been fine since then. You could try expressing a liitle milk and putting it to her lips or pumping a little and giving it to her with a medicine dropper. Jaundice also makes for super tired babies, so that can make it even harder to get them to nurse. You can try touching a cool wash cloth to her feet/arms/back to help wake her up. 10-15 min of indirect sunlight a couple times a day can help clear up the jaundice a little quicker too.

bellelamb

Defiantly keep offering the breast I found hand expressing a little and putting it on lo lips would help wake a sleepy baby up. My ds was on the billiblanket for four days when we came home from the hospital so I'm sorry you are going though that. The blood tests everyday were the worst, try to stay calm yourself some times lo feels your stress and has a hard time nursing.

lisac1017

Is she having wet dipes now?  If she is having enough wet dipes, then she should be in good shape - at least that is what my pedi told me.  My LO went 14 hours on Day 6 w/o eating anything.  BF-ing had been going fine, then suddenly he would cry like he wanted to eat but wouldn't latch.  He was also discharged from the hosptial with jaundice so I'd been feeding him every 3 hours as instructed by the hospital. If I left it up to him, he'd only eat every 5-6 hours.  In my case, I was too engorged and he couldn't latch, so I pumped some milk out and tried BF-ing again and he was finally able to latch. Not sure if that would help in your case or not...Good luck. I know how stressful it is to watch your baby not eat.  I was a complete mess that day. 

GeekMom

shotzie:

Keep offering the breast and doing lots of skin to skin. DD wouldn't latch for a bit when my milk came in. I asked an LC about it and she said it was due to my milk coming in and changing the way my nipple/breast felt for DD. When your milk comes in, your nipples and breasts are firmer whereas before, they were soft and that's what LO has been used to. Sure enough, after a little bit, DD would latch again and things have been fine since then. You could try expressing a liitle milk and putting it to her lips or pumping a little and giving it to her with a medicine dropper. Jaundice also makes for super tired babies, so that can make it even harder to get them to nurse. You can try touching a cool wash cloth to her feet/arms/back to help wake her up. 10-15 min of indirect sunlight a couple times a day can help clear up the jaundice a little quicker too.

 

Thank you so much! This helps!

GeekMom

bellelamb:

Defiantly keep offering the breast I found hand expressing a little and putting it on lo lips would help wake a sleepy baby up. My ds was on the billiblanket for four days when we came home from the hospital so I'm sorry you are going though that. The blood tests everyday were the worst, try to stay calm yourself some times lo feels your stress and has a hard time nursing.

After the 3rd blood test, our doc ordered us a biliblanket and we're waiting on that to be delivered. Otherwise I have her in the swing in front of the window, hoping its enough sunlight!

GeekMom

lisac1017:

Is she having wet dipes now?  If she is having enough wet dipes, then she should be in good shape - at least that is what my pedi told me.  My LO went 14 hours on Day 6 w/o eating anything.  BF-ing had been going fine, then suddenly he would cry like he wanted to eat but wouldn't latch.  He was also discharged from the hosptial with jaundice so I'd been feeding him every 3 hours as instructed by the hospital. If I left it up to him, he'd only eat every 5-6 hours.  In my case, I was too engorged and he couldn't latch, so I pumped some milk out and tried BF-ing again and he was finally able to latch. Not sure if that would help in your case or not...Good luck. I know how stressful it is to watch your baby not eat.  I was a complete mess that day. 

She is having some wet diapers, but not enough. And she is going through the not latching part right now, so I know how that goes! Very frustrating in the middle of the night! But it's ok to pump at this point if I'm engorged?