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April 2012 Moms
starshollow
member
A15 January Siggy Challenge-
Help! DS refuses to BF! (long-ish)
starshollow
member
I have been BFing DS since he was born with bottles of pumped milk thrown in on occasion. We had latch trouble in the beginning and I was using a nipple shield, but DS can and will eat without it now. He has never had trouble going back and forth between breast and bottle before.
However, DS started daycare part time last week, and he starts full time on Tuesday. Since he started daycare, I've been having a very hard time getting him to latch. It got even worse yesterday when he would just scream at my breast when the milk didn't flow immediately. As the day went on, he wouldn't even try to latch, he just screamed as soon and I tried to position him to feed. I calmed him and tried again a bunch of times. I knew he was hungry. I finally gave in and gave him a bottle of EBM because he had been screaming his little head off. He ate the bottle without a problem. There was a little left in the bottle at bedtime, so I gave him the bottle for a few seconds and then quickly switched to the breast and he did latch on and eat.
I know supply is not an issue- I was able to pump 5oz while he was eating the bottle. I have a relatively quick letdown, usually within 30 seconds. I just can't seem to get him to wait that long for the milk to flow, and by the time it does, he is way too worked up to think about eating.
I've used a bunch of different types of bottles with him previously without an issue. He is currently using the Avent bottles with a slow flow nipple for daycare.
I really want to still be able to BF him before and after daycare each day. Any advice on how to get him to go back and forth between breast and bottle?
A15 January Siggy Challenge-
Workout/fitness fails
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Re: Help! DS refuses to BF! (long-ish)
The LC who leads my breastfeeding support group just referenced a study about bottles and slow-flow nipples. There's no industry standard for what a "slow flow" nipple should actually flow like and there was apparently a HUGE range. I personally haven't seen the study but I know that she said the best results were with the Dr. Brown's and Playtex Ventaire standard/slow nipples. FYI, that's the regular bottle, not the wide mouth.
FWIW, we used Avent when we first introduced the bottle and even with the slow flow nipple, it was WAY too fast for DD and she ended up not being able to take it all in. You may want to switch to DB's or the Ventaire and see if that'll bring her back to the breast.
I was thinking about doing this. I am not very good at hand expressing and I would hate to have to sit at the big electric pump multiples time per day. Maybe I can get a single hand pump to use when he is really frustrated.
A15 January Siggy Challenge-
Our babies are only a day apart in age, and I can tell you that mine does this sometimes too. She does not go to daycare, either. Don't beat yourself up over this. A LC I know said it can be a developmental thing, it can be related to teething, it can be related to the wakeful...there are a million reasons. I find removing her from as many distractions as possible helps. I will try a couple positions including "standing," and if she doesn't want it I give up and try again later. The bottle may be working simply because when you finally try it, he is at his hungriest, and not because he prefers it. It's hard to know for sure.
Good luck! I hope he gets past it, whatever it is, very soon.