Breastfeeding/Bottle Feeding Questions
So we have been home for almost 2 weeks now, and while in the NICU Caleb would latch onto the breast for a up to 10min and suck and swallow. and then while we were rooming in, he was rooting around and latched on a few times during our stay for up to 20min.
Now that we are at home, he doesn't seem to what anything to do with breastfeeding. each time i have tried he arches his back and crys. This morning we tried again, and he would suck a few times and than just lay there and move his head away.
Any Suggestions and what we can try? I was going to get a nipple shield and see if that helps.
The NICU sent us home with a large supply of bottles and nipples that they used with him. they are the standard flow nipple. We need to get something else since we are running low. His Dr. wants him to stick with the Standard flow nipple, but all the brands go by age in months. So i'm kinda of stuck as to what to get.
Thanks for the help and listening!
Re: Breastfeeding/Bottle Feeding Questions
If you want to get him on the breast, go with the slowest flow nipple - the youngest age, like stage 1 or stage 0.
In terms of nursing - I wish I had a magic bullet. Do you have any sense of what your let down is like? If you tend to be a bit slow, you might want to try hand expressing a bit first to get things flowing. If you tend to be fast, you might try hand expressing a bit first to get past the drink-from-the-firehose bit before the baby tries to eat.
I hope things get better soon - good luck!
If he has the standard nipple, he is probably getting frustrated with the slow flow of the breast. To help, you can try to manually express a bit of milk first so he doesn't have to work so hard initially. The shield can also help with preemies. Why does your doc want to do the standard nipple? That's pretty unusual for a preemie.
We use Dr Brown bottles, and they do have a preemie nipple. We had to stop using it though, since we have to add rice cereal for reflux. So we use the newborn size.