Breastfeeding
mchell9
member
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Talk Me Down...worried (xp)
mchell9
member
For the 1st time...LO was not latching right- like her lips looked okay more or less, but I could just feel that it wasn't right. It wasn't the right kind of sucking.
I took her off and tried
putting her back on- there were a few times it almost felt right but not
100%. We have been giving her 1 or 2 bottles a day since week #1- so I
find it hard to believe that's the reason. I nursed for over an hr
trying to get it right and she finally fell asleep.
Now I am worried this is an issue and now how do I know she even ate enough...
SOS..HELP!!!x
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Re: Talk Me Down...worried (xp)
If she was calm enough to fall asleep, she must have gotten something! And if she doesn't have a completely full belly she'll let you know if she wants to eat "early" and you'll feed her...no problem.
I wouldn't worry about one weird feeding. I wouldn't even worry about a days worth of weird feedings. BFing is a marathon and a couple of rough patches are bound to happen.
My prediction: things will straighten themselves out within 24 hours (if not at your very next feeding).
Just went through this with our little one (4 weeks old). I left him at home with my in-laws and a bottle, and returned home to him not wanting to latch. It continued through the night and next day, a total of ~24 hours (as PP said), and he was back to his old self. Our LO has gained plenty of weight so I wasn't too concerned about one day of poor eating. If it had continued more than one day, I was going to call the Pedi to make sure I didn't need to supplement.
Here are two tricks that worked for us to get him back to latching on well: (1) taking a break after 10-15 minutes if LO wasn't latching right and (2) pumping a small amount to encourage let down so he didn't have to work very hard at the beginning.
I was completely freaked out and crying from frustration, worry and fear that breastfeeding was over b/c we introduced a bottle. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Of course, I'm scared to introduce a bottle again... but we'll try again later this week and I'm prepared for the same thing to happen... we need to get him used to bottles since he'll be in day care starting around 8 weeks.
That's what I am thinking now...she went down for a good nap after the crappy nursing session and when she woke up she latched on better. Still not herself 100% but much more efficient than previously. She's content and sleeping again. I'm just going to hold off on giving another bottle for a little bit. I don't really believe in the whole nipple confusion thing, esp since she's been going back and forth no problem for 3 wks now.
Thanks to those of you who offered your advice.