help what do I do?

Question

So my LO is one week old and refuses to latch on.  She latches for a second does a few ducks and stops.  She gets very frustrated and turns away and starts screaming. She will yell for 2 hours straight vs eating.

Tonight I broke down and I've given her some pumped milk at night and I'm scared I messed it all up.  I feel like a failure and my husband is even upset at me. :-(. What do I do?  I did call a lactitioner and she had told me not to give her a bottle but really what am I going to do? Watch my baby not eat?  Any advice would be great.

Answer

The first 3 weeks, I had the same problem. I tried to stay calm - they can sense when you're upset. I'd try latching for a few minutes. If it didn't work (and it never did) id pump and my husband would finger feed her. That's where you get them to suck on your finder and use a little syringe to put the milk in their mouth. After a few weeks, I realized she liked to sit up while eating and not lay back. I stumbled across that by accident and she got a lot better about latching. She's almost 6 months old now and EBF and nurses like a champ. Do NOT feel bad about giving baby pumped milk. I know how hard it is to struggle with the latch. I was so upset those first few weeks but it all worked out. Remember - FED IS BEST!

Answer

It's very upsetting. I'm dealing with the same thing with my one week old son. He was 3 weeks and a few days early, due to medical reason the doctors have us supplementing with formula 😫. It was fine at first because they were syringe feeding him, (they were trying to prevent nipple confusion) but now that they have us supplementing every feeding ( breast, pumped breast milk and then formula EVERY feeding.) we're having to use a bottle. All day yesterday he refused to latch and eat from my breast. So I did a little research and read that you should continue skin to skin with every attempt and well and being patine, taking time to yourself right before each feeding, allowing yourself to stay calm and focused. Listen to music, read book etc. Massage to help with the let down, and to hand express some milk before offering it to baby. He seemed to take to it only at his 4am feeding. Hoping  he continues with today. Also I have a nipple shield handy, if he did become use to the bottle nipple maybe the nipple sheid will help us. GOOD LUCK.

Answer

Try a nipple shield and try to stay relaxed as much as possible!!

help what do I do?

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