Please help!!! Can't get 2.5 day old to latch on anymore!!!

[SamuelsMommie]

Okay, it's 6:30am Thursday here and my son was just born Monday night.  I got him to latch on last night around 2am, and he had trouble settling back to sleep after about an hour of being asleep after that feeding.  So I gave into the paci, which I also used with my first ds, who was tongue tied and had other latch issues but would at least still try.  Before that feeding, we had quite a hard time getting him to calm down and latch on as well.  So now, same thing.  He was awake and more alert and it has been about 4 hours since I last fed him.  My milk hasn't come in yet, he had been latching on perfectly without a fuss before last night in the hospital when he had quite a bad bout of gas.  We've tried every which way to get gas out in case that was the problem, only to finally get him to burp after quite a few minutes of wailing, screaming, crying.  So I assume it might be just from that.  And then when I try to get him to latch on, he roots, shakes his head back and forth like wanting to latch on, but then when we get the breast in his mouth, he just won't latch on and start sucking.  He screams and cries, arches his back.  I try talking to him in a soothing voice while attempting to get him to latch on, he gets his mouth in place and then just won't do it.  I know he must be hungry.  I even tried tempting him with a drop of formula on my nipple, which worked once.  He latched on for a few seconds, sucked maybe once or twice, then stopped and came off. 
What should I do?  Should I try pumping some since he's not getting on now, I don't want it to affect my milk supply or when it comes in!!  Please help!!!

[lisi's mum]

ok, first things first, if your LO won't do it for you get a pump out and pump LOTS. Second thing to do is get your self an appointment or drop in to anywhere with breast feeding support. First choice would be a lactation consultant, but even just go back to the hospital and get a midwife or nurse to help you.

Try letting nature take its course - there is a method called biological nurturing involving stripping down you and your baby, setting yourselves up in a very comfy position and letting them latch themselves. Particularly with skin to skin contact this should help kick start your baby's natural nursing instinct. This link provides a downloadable pdf on how: http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/Pages/howtodoit.html read more on the site for info.

I would really really recommend you get some face to face help though.

[SleeplessInToronto]

If it helps, I can tell you my story. My little one would not latch on at all for the first five days. So I pumped and finger-fed (tube taped to finger through which they suck the milk). This method is recommended by lactation consultants because it's less likely to cause nipple confusion than a bottle. You can also tape the tube to your breast so that they get instant flow at the nipple when they do latch which will encourage them to stick it out (this never worked for my guy but may work for yours as you say that he has latched before). It may also be a good approach for you as your milk has not come in (I had way too much milk).

 Eventually at 5 days he latched once, and every day got better until day ten when I could finally get him latched at each feed. In between day 5 and 10, I always tried to latch him first and if it didn't work I would give a little milk by finger or cup to take the edge off his hunger then attempt to latch again. It was exhausting and I cried at every feed for the first 3 weeks because I was so stressed. Sometimes it would take me 20 minutes to get him latched which is an eternity at 2:00AM. He'd be screaming with hunger and I'd be crying out of frustration.

But eventually it got better. By 4 weeks I stopped bringing expressed breastmilk with me to every feed just in case he didn't latch because I was confident I could get him on eventually. By 6 weeks, I could get him latched in less than 5 minutes. Now he's almost 4 months, latches on immediately and feeds take less than 10 minutes total (with burping). He's never had a drop of anything but breast milk (except for vitamin D supplements I guess).

I remember the whole time people kept on telling me that he would get it eventually, but I never believed them. I had tremendous support from my midwife and the free breastfeeding clinic at the hospital near my house.

We also did what Lisi's mom suggested, lots of skin to skin contact. In fact I spent the first 2 weeks topless and he was in just a diaper. As much as possible he slept on my chest. You can also try latching on in the bath together as it's relaxing for both of you (didn't work for me - my LO just passed out in the tub!).

Definitely pump so your supply is not affected and avoid using a bottle if you can. He will get it - just trust. A great reference book is Dr Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding.

[lisi's mum]

How are you getting on?

[*Amy*]

Hi Samuelsmommie,

When I had my LO he too would often "forget" how to latch on. I used to offer my little finger and allow him to suck this for about 30 seconds and then immediately off my breast - it worked about 90% of the time.
Hope this helps
amy

[SamuelsMommie]

Thanks everyone for your input, advice, and sharing your own experience.    I'm not quite sure what was going on that evening/middle of the night, but I was finally able to get my ds to go to sleep after trying to get him to latch on for awhile and then when he woke the next time, he latched on just fine.  It was very frustrating though as I was trying for a good 2-3 hours to get him to latch on.  So far things have still been going just fine.  He's now 11 days old and everything's going great.  He even has been sleeping for stretches of 4-4.5 hours at night then up for 1-2 hours while we feed/change/etc and then sleeps for another 3 hours before I wake him for a morning feed.  So, all in all, I guess I couldn't ask for anything better.  Thanks again!

[lisi's mum]

ah that's good news!