[Relish*]

Hi everyone,

Hoping someone can give me a few pointers here. DS is 9 days old today, and isn't gaining enough weight. He seems to be a bit of a lazy sucker, either his attachment is good or he sucks well - never both at the same time!

He was born 3.9kg by emergency CS, at discharge 2 days later weighed 3.67kg, at our 6 day appt with CHN weighed 3.60kg and at 8 days 3.61 at CHN follow up. I'm getting some mixed info from everyone - CHN wants me to top him up with EBM which is what we've started doing. GP suggests formula, and hospital midwife wants me to persist with BFing and hopefully he will get better as he gets older (she's not overly concerned about his weight at this point).

Last night we were up for about two hours trying to feed him, but each time he latched on he'd suck vigorously for a few seconds, then stop, thrash his head around or just sit there with my nipple in his mouth not sucking. It's so frustrating! Yet when the bottle of EBM comes out he opens his mouth wide and gulps it down I know the bottle is much less work for him but I'm starting to get offended at how beautifully he attaches to the artificial teat..!

I BF DD for 13 months, and though there were some hairy times in the first few weeks, she never struggled with weight gain and was always a good feeder. She had added 300g to her birthweight by ten days. Any advice or experiences would be most welcome, I'm feeling a but of a failure atm because all the midwives in hospital assumed I'd know what I was doing by now!

[niggles]

Do you have flat nipples? A nipple shield may be a better middle ground if he likes the bottle so much.

[JuniorSpies]

Sounds exactly like my son. For me, its a latch issue. He's not getting a good enough grip to bring enough milk in and then he loses it. I've seen 2 x lactation consultants, 2 GP's and had regular appt with my MCHN and nobody has been able to work out what is going on as his latch LOOKS fine but there is obviously issues. I hope you can sort it out as I've been pumping for 5 months now and I'm so worn down. Please dont listen to people who say "relax, it will be fine" as that's what I did and I never got it resolved. If I'd listened to my instincts and kept going until I'd found a solution that wasn't that stupid, depressing breast pump when he was younger I might not be so miserable now.

[DrDC]

Just a suggestion - check yourself, or get CHN to check that he doesn't have a tongue tie. Should have been checked on discharge physical but can sometimes be missed. If you have fed your other child for 13 months, there is very little likelihood there's a problem with your breasts like flat nipples (as per pp)
(If you don't know what tongue tie is, google "tonge tie images")
Talk to lactation consultant or ABA counsellor asap. Don't forget babies need to learn how to breastfeed and some are better at it than others to start with
(and weight doesn't sound like too much of a problem at this stage)
good luck, I hope you get it sorted! Breastfeeding, once established, is SO much easier than formula!

[~Karla~]

I had a similar issue with my fourth, although I refused to leave hospital until he was attaching. I went home too early with my twins and ending up expressing exclusively for them for 14 weeks and just didn't want to go there again. DS4 lost just over 15% of his birth weight though, so they were happy for me yo stay in until he was gaining and then it was CHN weigh-ins every 2 days on discharge.

I found DS4 just wasn't really interested in feeding. His guts were full of mucous that he kept vomiting up for days and he was very sleepy. If I didn't get him attached straight away, then I could kiss that feed goodbye - by the time he'd attach, he was too exhausted to suck. I refused to introduce a bottle (agdin because of my experience with my twins) but was syringe-feeding him every 3 hours if I couldn't get him to attach. I ended up discovering that if I syringed 3ml as soon as he woke, he would actually wake up enough to attach and feed. It only took a few days of this before he was breastfeeding like a champ! I also have an incredibly strong let-down, so I think he just needed to get a bit stronger to cope with it.

Good luck, I know it's stressful. But trust your instinct and try to enjoy your newborn.

[Tesseract]

It could be a lot of different issues. Could be to do with him, could be to do with you, could be just that he's learning etc. As PP said it could be flat nipples etc but I wouldn't start on a nipple shield without specialist advice. Over the internet we can't assess the situation so it's hard to give advice and I don't think throwing 100s of ideas at you would be helpful, it will just confuse the issue.

Is there a breastfeeding clinic at the hospital where you had him? They have lactation consultants there who should be able to assess a feed. Unfortunately midwives and doctors, while they know a bit about breastfeeding, aren't breastfeeding experts.

You could hire a private lactation consultant to come to your home and assess the situation and set you up with a plan. I found that once I got an LC I just listened to her and nobody else, this made things a lot easier on me because I didn't need to worry about conflicting advice etc.

Your experience is great but each baby is different (like every person on the planet is an individual!) so feeding your DS will be different to feeding your DD, so don't be hard on yourself.

There is a pinned thread in this breastfeeding forum on finding an LC. Also if you call the ABA (1800 MUM 2 MUM) they can refer you.

It is a pretty common experience, I fed almost exclusively with EBM for the first couple of weeks while we got attachment/sucking right.

Oh just another thought - if you are topping up with EBM, have you got a decent pump? Hiring a good electric pump saves your wrist and is quicker and more efficient, which when you have a newborn means a lot! The ABA hires them out, as do many chemists.

All the best.

[CharliMarley]

What Tesseract said is very good advice. Lactation consultants are the people you want to take notice of, as they have done extensive training on breastfeeding, whereas some doctors and MCHN's and midwives, haven't gone to extra training and only have a small portal of information. Don't give your baby formula, if you want to exclusively breastfeed, as you will muck up the lovely gut flora that breastmilk gives to babies and I would be putting your baby to the breast as much as you can, as your baby needs to establish your supply and pumping doesn't get as much out as the baby can, so sometimes pumping (which isn't always needed) can deplete your supply, as bottles have shown to do if your baby gets a liking to the bottle. A syringe is a great idea, because babies like to have "flow" and get very disinterested if it is not there. Could you try your little finger to get him to suck and then pop him on the breast and taking your breast into your hand and gently squeezing towards the nipple will send more milk to where he wants it.

[Alina0210]

I'd say go and visit a chiropractor, your little ones neck might be out and sucking and being in the feeding position might hurt....

[TwiceTheWoman]

Your one and only port of call for your circumstances - a Lactation Consultant

They know and understand ALL the things that can go wrong with breastfeeding and how best to remedy it.

Google should be able to find one close by for you.

[soontobegran]

Your one and only port of call for your circumstances - a Lactation Consultant

They know and understand ALL the things that can go wrong with breastfeeding and how best to remedy it.

Google should be able to find one close by for you.

This.^
If you have previously successfully breast fed it is more likely to be an attachment issue perhaps causing problems with let down and flow.
Do they have a breast feeding clinic run by LC at the hospital you delivered in? It might be worth enquiring.
Good luck