Getting baby to EAT at breast...long!
gokeyoke987
member
My son, Sammy, is 3 weeks old and we cannot seem to get him to eat at the breast. He was two weeks early and at birth had to be taken to the NICU because he was having breathing and eating troubles. They immediately gave him a bottle there...we were released on a normal time, but were concerned about him getting enough food and he got some formula to supplement.
Fastforward two days from then and we are re-admitted to the hospital due to jaundice, while there I was not allowed to feed him (even through a bottle) and he was given a mixture of bm and formula (they had to monitor everything he ate).
Now we are using both formula and bm as they were very concerned about him gaining enough weight (and he has been, yay!) My milk supply has been fairly low (never had pain or really hard breasts) and LC recommended the supplements which I have been doing. Sammy will take the breast in, is latching well, but I cannot seem to get him to EAT at the breast. He will eat a little bit and then constantly falls asleep or he will use it as a pacifier. I will have him on the breast for an hour and when he gets off he will literally eat 2 ounces of pumped bm.
We have tried everything to keep him awake, wet washcloths, playing with his feet, tickling him, ice cubes on his feet and nothing fazes him. Does anyone have any suggestions to get him to eat while he is there? I feel like a pacifier and I really want to bf but am getting so frusterated! TIA!
Re: Getting baby to EAT at breast...long!
My LCs kept having me try the SNS, that way the baby was at the breast, getting food, and the breasts were stimulated also. (I finally told them that it wasn't working that way and then they said to sup. w a bottle after each feed instead. Try a "BFing friendly" bottle)
Just remember that whatever formula you give, your breasts don't think that the baby needs, further decreasing supply. Try as hard as you can to work up to all EMB.
GL!!!! Hang in there, we got past it, you can too!!
Have you tried going skin to skin? (Baby in diaper, you with bare tummy/chest) This seemed to help my LO.
My DS was jaundice after I brought him home and they were concerned about his weight gain. The nurse at my pedi's had me pump after feedings. Also for supplementing the pedi suggested we offer just 1oz after each bf session. If LO ate the entire 1oz we were supposed to skip the bottle after the next feeding. If LO ate 1/2oz, we offered 1oz again after the next bf session.
Also I've heard the suggestion to not let LO suck for so long. That even at such a young age, 15-20 minutes on each side is long enough, and if you're having trouble getting LO to eat it can be good to stop after 20 minutes (40 minutes total), and try again later.
One more thing. The nurse also recommended I pump after feedings. I usually only got 1/2 - 1oz per side but I would then offer it later to LO in the bottle. This goes along with PP point about needing to signal your body that LO needs more milk. After about a week or two of this I was able to stop supplementing and nursing was better after that.
Hang in there!