Thank you so much for all your responses. I truly appreciate it and can't wait to read the links.
When the LC was here, he only latched with the shield. She said he had a good latch with it. She was wonderful and I'm contemplating having her come back, but not sure what else she can do. She had a very laid back philosophy. Let him wake when he wants, don't worry about waking him to eat at 3 hrs, listen to what he's telling you (reading his signs). She was just calm and wonderful and really seemed to understand babies. It all made sense to me, but then I had my pedi telling me to not let him go more than 3 hrs without eating at that age (under 2 weeks). I also am going to look into going to a LL meeting. I feel like I have read and done everything I can, but will keep at it!
I don't know how to multi quote so I'll just answer the questions here.
He isn't remotely interested in latching. When I put my breast to his mouth (I was told to put it by his nose and bring down to his mouth), he does nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's like I'm putting any object there to him.
I've tried nursing at all different times...when he's hungry, when he's not, when he could be starting to get hungry. Nothing.
He's definitely not tongue tied. I double checked with his pediatrician. The nurses and LC in the hospital and the LC that came to my house said that I have "perfect" nipples for breastfeeding. So there aren't any physical issues. Also, no issues at birth. I had a c-section and I heard that the drugs used can affect initial breast feeding.
I tried the SNS at a class I went to at the hospital where I had him. He wouldn't latch on so it couldn't be used.
It was the Medela one.
I've tried different positions and when I was using the shield (the few times he did latch on with it) he preferred the football hold.
I'm currently feeding him with Medela bottles with a slow flow nipple. I just started the slow flow nipples and not the ones that came with the bottles a couple days ago after reading that they're better (since it's harder to get milk out like a breast) if you want to transition to the breast.
Again, thank you so much. I had premature b/g twins who I pumped for 13 months. I never in a million years knew that bf could be so hard. I just assumed that my son would bf straight from birth. I am determined to keep trying! I really really want this to work. People tell me that he's still getting the breastmilk and that's most important and I do agree, however I want that bonding experience with him. My other son (one of the twins) would bf sometimes and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
