My child = Jekyll and Hyde???

[kiki]

I don't think there is any harm in expressing and feeding it from a bottle. I could not get my son to latch on properly when he was born and as it was such a struggle to try and breastfeed him I ended up expressing and feeding that through a bottle. But everey day I offered the breast to him once a day and he would try for a few minutes and then he was not interested.

Then all of a sudden when he was 3 months he started breastfeeding and from that moment that was the only way he would eat! And in the end I managed to keep breastfeeding him untill he was 1. So I'm really happy I kept trying and expressing the milk for so long, it was all worth it in the end. Good luck to you, don't give up.

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

thanks Kiki - i reckon with time and patience we will be fine, just hard when you are told that what your doing isnt enough when its ALL you can do!

on one hand i have been told that you can breastfeed for a while with a nipple shield as long as you express a bit and empty the boob each day, on the other hand i have been told that you CANT do that because your supply will dwindle and i HAVE to boob feed or i will not be able to feed for any length of time

its all very confusing and great to hear a positive story - thank you xx

 

[Mervs Mum]

I know your LC told you to use a shield but it sounds like nipple confusion to me

How old is he? I take it from your ticker he's about 2 weeks old? Effectively you have been asking him to learn to eat with a spoon then at the next meal offering him a knife and fork, then the next meal allowing him to eat with his hands and finishing off throwing a pair of chopsticks in to the mix!

Exclusive pumping is a big commitment. I had a friend who did it and it lead to her PND. We had a similar issue around day 10 with my second and we just had to go back to basics. No EBM in bottles, no dummies.....24/48hrs of screaming child but eventually we got there and exclusively fed for 12 months. It's not easy though and I wanted to not bother about 24 hrs in but we supported each other through the night and by the morning something seemed to click with her.

 

[jellybean]

We had a similar problem with our son when he was born. He latched on and fed for about 20mins as soon as he was born, but we were (stupidly) told that because he had fed so well at birth not to worry about him feeding for the first 24hrs. As a result, he was then too weak to latch on and feed so I had to express from day 2 (which was bloody painful) and we bottle fed him EBM. It took a couple of weeks of persevering and days of tears before it all clicked into place and looking back, I think one of the biggest factors in that was that my son was a very hungry baby and I think it was frustration on not being able to get milk quickly enough in comparison to EBM from a bottle, so what I did was gave him a couple of oz EBM from a bottle to take the edge off his hunger and then finished him off with breast, this seemed to work for us and within a couple of weeks he was fine breast feeding and would take either breast or bottle quite happily. I also used to massage his tummy as he was quite colicky and this also helped.x

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

We had a similar problem with our son when he was born. He latched on and fed for about 20mins as soon as he was born, but we were (stupidly) told that because he had fed so well at birth not to worry about him feeding for the first 24hrs. As a result, he was then too weak to latch on and feed so I had to express from day 2 (which was bloody painful) and we bottle fed him EBM. It took a couple of weeks of persevering and days of tears before it all clicked into place and looking back, I think one of the biggest factors in that was that my son was a very hungry baby and I think it was frustration on not being able to get milk quickly enough in comparison to EBM from a bottle, so what I did was gave him a couple of oz EBM from a bottle to take the edge off his hunger and then finished him off with breast, this seemed to work for us and within a couple of weeks he was fine breast feeding and would take either breast or bottle quite happily. I also used to massage his tummy as he was quite colicky and this also helped.x

yes this is how we have got Jasper to latch a couple of times (also a hungry baby) but as mentioned above, i reckon its given him a bit of nipple confusion

we have gone back to the nipple shield as that is normal for him (he has barely ever latched on without it) and we are continuing to offer him the bare nipple at each feed in order to try and get him used to it (and he does latch on but my big boobs are a problem for him poor love
i am going to take him to the doctors today also, he has clearly got reflux and i think some infant gaviscon might just calm him enough for us to make some real progress with the moving off the nipple shield

my poor wee boy

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

JASPER JUST TOOK A WHOLE FEED OFF THE BOOB

So So Happy

bye bye nipple shields we need you no more i am going to just try and not use them at all now, get him properly on the boob

Am sooo happy - we also have a meeting with the doctor this morning to discuss Jaspers reflux, its not helping with getting him on the boob and from the research i have done he definatly has it, mass hiccuping after feeds, loads of puking (sometimes projectile) followed by screams, screams during feed, comfort feeding even when hes more than full. poor chappy - even if i can give him a short course of infant gaviscon until he is on the boob properly that would be amazing.

 

[Mamafy]

Brilliant news hun

 

[jellybean]

Great news, I hope he continues to feed well!

 

[amyjayne77]

Awww, brilliant!!!!!!!

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

We have had no nipple shields all day today hes doing Really well bless him and finally my less hardcore boob might have time to catch up with my other boob

am so happy its all working, we are really getting to grips with it all now

 

[kiki]

Great news!!

 

[Mervs Mum]

Brilliant!

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

have had to give him an ounce with a syringe this evening... hes just screaming and screaming. We arent using bottles or teats though, just the syringe which is alot better than we have been doing

hopefully now he will settle

 

[Mervs Mum]

Fingers crossed for you

 

[Rosie's Mummy]

Well done, good on you - so glad that things are easier now, its a battle sometimes xxx

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

well last night was a constant battle took me Ages to feed him and he discovered if he clawed my other nipple with his foot, that really hurt lots

he was constantly latching and unlatching, latching and unlatching

absolute pain in the arse but we made it through the night... I just hope we have this sorted by the time mum leaves on Thursday