I am so frustrated with breastfeeding right now. My little guy was born 6 weeks early, but only stayed in the NICU for 6 days and came home one day after me. He got a bottle in the hospital and, besides a few ounces at the beginning, has been only getting my pumped milk.
Now that we are home, I'm trying to get him to nurse more, but it is such a struggle. If I even attempt to put him in the position to bf, he screams. If I get him to calm down, he will either purse his lips and not latch or take the nipple shield in his mouth and not do anything. However, as soon as I offer the bottle, he takes the whole thing down in 10 minutes. It's like he knows he is getting the boob and just stonewalls me.
I have been told that I shouldn't expect him to bf well until his due date (still 2 weeks away), but we had some really good days last week and I'm so frustrated that we appear to be going backwards. I don't know what to do.
Should I continue to offer the breast first even if he gets upset or should I take a few days off and start trying again later this week? We have a lactation appointment later this week, but I just want to make sure that I am not creating any bad habits.
Any other preemie moms successfully transition from bottle to breast?
You might also enjoy...
-
olive was born 5 weeks early and had bottles for the first couple of weeks of her life. but now she is a champion nurser that vastly prefers breastfeeding to bottles.
what about starting off with the bottle, and when your baby is calm, sneak your boob into his mouth?
-
@Mrs. Bee: I have tried this and it kind of worked but now when I put him in a bf position, he SCREAMS. We also have him using a Dr. Browns preemie nipple so he has to work harder at the bottle.
I'm more upset right now because I thought we were making progress last week and it seems to be all gone. I'm afraid that the more I try now, I'm creating a negative experience for him. -
@BabyBruins: could he be upset the milk is not coming out fast enough? have you tried an sns system?
-
@Mrs. Bee: I'm sure that is part of his frustration. I will ask about the sns at my lactation appt this week.
We just had a pretty good morning feeding. He only fussed a bit when he got on and had some good sucking. I wish I heard him swallowing more, but he didn't want his whole bottle so that makes me think he got something from me.
I guess I just need reassurance that bottle fed babies can get on the breast. -
I don't have any advice to offer - just wishing you the best of luck!
-
Cameron was 3 weeks early roughly, and his latch flat out stinks. We've been giving him pumped milk and formula for now (especially because I'm back in the hospital), and I'll be waiting until his EDD to try latching perfectly. We do try ever couple feedings though just so he knows it's an option still.
His problem is that he just takes the nipple, so he does get something, just not enough.
-
@BabyBruins: every baby is different, but it did happen for me. olive was exclusively bottle fed the first couple weeks of her life, and then we transitioned to bottles in the day and breastfeeding at night. it actually was pretty easy for me since this is my second baby. i didn't successfully breastfeed my first (i pumped), but i met with a lactation consultant and learned a lot that i was able to use when breastfeeding olive.
i know there are several moms on here who successfully transitioned from bottles to breast, so it can be done! just keep offering the breast every day.
could you try walking around and breastfeeding? the motion might calm him. or singing to him? or swaddling him?
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
7 comments