Breastfeeding
CCinLove
member
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Help! Baby won't nurse
CCinLove
member
I'm on my phone, so I apologize in advance for the block of text. Baby is 4 days old. She did well initially on the right breast, but by day 3 she refused to nurse on the left. Fine, I let it go and nursed her on the right and pumped the left. She had only produced 1 dirty diaper as of last night, so apparently she wasn't getting enough even though my right breast is the best producer and there is tons if milk (I can pump 2 ounces after she eats). DH and I freaked, and started syringe feeding her the pumped milk. She started producing dirty diapers, so she clearly wasn't getting enough for whatever reason. Today, she refuses to nurse at all. She just cries when I put her on either breast. We've been feeding her with the syringe to make sure she's getting enough, and i'm going to try a bottle at the next feeding. What can I do? Any suggestions? I have a call in to a lactation consultant, but it's clear I won't be getting an appointment before tomorrow. EPing is not an option, so I have a limited window to get back on track without being dependent on a pump. Help!
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Re: Help! Baby won't nurse
Take a deep breath. You are doing great, your baby is doing great and its early days. Some peoples milk hasn't even come in at 4 days and their babies are just fine.
When you are stressed or anxious the baby will feel this. I know its hard to do but if you can attempt this being really relaxed it will help.
Are you engorged? Do you breasts feel really tight? It is really hard for a baby to latch when you are really full. Try pumping or hand expressing before feeding. Put a bit of milk on your nipple so your baby can smell it and taste it. If your letdown is really fast it may make her choke so try a different nursing postion.
If I was you I would get into bed, strip your baby down to her diaper and get in some quality skin to skin time. Have someone bring you food, water and whatever you need. Just spend as much time as you can bonding with your baby and trying to nurse.
Your window isn't as limited as you think. Your baby has enough fat stores and nutrition stores that she isn't going to starve or have any negative sideffects from this. Hopefully you can get in with a lactation consultant tomorrow. If not do you have any close friends or family who breastfed who can come and help you out?
Good luck! You are going to be ok! Its early days and babies are really resilliant.
Thanks for the replies. The lactation consultant is on her way, so hopefully we'll be back on the right track quickly. I'm haven't been engorged for a few days, so I don't really know what happened. Her refusal to latch did start around the same time that I started pumping to relieve the engorgement, so maybe it's the changes to my nipple from the pump. She latched on a few times since yesterday, but mostly just used my breast as a pacifier to go to sleep. She did take one small feeding today at the pediatrician's office.
The most important thing is that her jaundice is gone and she didn't loose more than 10% of her body weight. We'll get the rest sorted out!