New- BF Q

Ballet513

Hi, I'm new to this board. I usually post over on my BMB. I had my DD last Saturday at 35 weeks 4 days. She was pretty strong when she was born and was only in NICU care for 30 minutes post birth then had a 12 hour stint under the lights due to jaundice so I know we are very lucky.

My issue is with breast feeding. In the hospital an LC came to see us, spent 2 minutes with me and baby (who wasn't latching, just crying) and told me your baby won't latch bc she's a preemie and too immature to figure it out, heres a pump and that was it. Super helpful.

The nurses helped me learn to BF but its not going well at home. I catch her in the rooting phase and attempt to put her on the breast, sometimes she'll latch for a second and suck once or twice then stop. Then cry, then flail her arms all around and not latch again. I pump and am able to keep up with her feedings that way. 

I'm seeing a different LC on Monday but just curious if anyone has any tips or thoughts on what the original LC said- can she not do it bc she's "immature" or does her gestational age have zero to do with this?

Thanks! 

kuetgal

I had this issue with dd who was born at 33.5 weeks, similar story to yours.  We got lucky, NICU for 48 hrs then home, jaudice was our major issue.  I was able to get her to latch in the hospital - but barely and it wasn't good feedings, but because they kept her longer than me and because of the jaudice (they said she was a lazy eater -- that jaudice makes them lazy) they suggested supplementing with formula, especially because she started losing too much weight.  I was fine with it (whatever they needed to do to make her ok).  When I got her home I had latching issues and she was just too tired to eat, I could never get her latched, but I was so worried about her weight gain, so I would nurse her for literally an hour, I started pumping to get my milk to let down so it was easier for her then put her on to latch (like instant gratification LOL), then I would would supplement every other hour with formula to help her out.  I want to say I did this for a week or two and then she got stronger and BF was no issue and I never supplemented again.  I'm sure you could do the same with pumping instead of the formula.  Good luck!

laxkal23

CJ was born at 36 weeks and we had very similar issues. Even when I got him to latch he would maybe suck for about 10-20 seconds before falling asleep. I was told this was common in preemies, but received great advice from the Lc  who visited us twice daily and called weekly for about a month after I got home. I was told to continue to attempt to nurse for 30 minutes, waking the baby up etc. but after the 30 mins if the baby was not satisfied or if i did nt get a good latch to supplement with a bottle of pumped bm. It took about 2 weeks of this, but soon I was finding I didn't need to supplement any more. In total it was about a month before, i reall felt it was going well. But we are 6 months out now and still bf great. Good luck!

PhillyGal34

Ds was born at 31 weeks. We used a nipple shied when he started nursing and it helped if I started the milk before he latched. I didn't want him wasting his valuable energy trying to get it started. Maybe that will help? Good luck and congratulations!!!

=Lee=B

Jeepers that was rude.

My daughter was born at 35w0d and like yours was luckily and only spent about 4 hrs in NICU plus one night under lights.

She is BF.  She had a great latch but due to complications my milk was delayed.  I had to pump and supplement for 3 weeks.

My hospital LC was great and spent a lot of time encouraging breastfeeding, assessing and giving us strategies to make it work.

I would say ignore your LC ( make a formal complaint while your at it) and keep pumping, keep putting baby to breast until you find a better LC!

I used the medela calma nipples as much as I could to make baby work for her milk which helps her from getting frustrated later when your milk flow makes her work.  If the hospital didn't give you info about bottle feeding for breast feeding it is worth looking into so baby doesn't get lazy with a bottle and resist breastfeeding later. Google the KellyMom site and find it and other info there.

brachysira

My baby was born at 32.5 weeks.  We worked with the NICU LC who could get her to get a good latch, but she just couldn't keep at it and wasn't really getting any milk.  The LC was like, she can do it, but she couldn't.  I EPed, and tried BFing once/day for about 5 minutes.  We had a little success with a nipple shield, and used that but it wasn't that much better.  At around 37 weeks, she just got it.  Now we EBF.  

Since then there are posts on this board from time to time about this and it seems to me that most people's LOs don't get until they're close to full term.  And although I was glad the LC spent some time with us, I wished she would have told me that it wasn't all that common for a baby who was 33 weeks to succeed with bfing so I wouldn't have felt so frustrated.  Luckily people on this board did and I kept trying and it worked out.