Transitioning from finger feeding to BF

[ObamaMama214]

I have a 9 day old baby who was born at 36w5days. We have been finger-feeding him using a syringe and a feeding tube attached to our finger. We have been trying to no avail to get him to nurse from my breast.

We have been presenting my breast each time before we finger feed, but he gets so frustrated, pushes my breast away and screams. It breaks my heart, and I feel like I'm torturing him

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any advice? I want him to BF so badly, but I'm getting so frustrated that I can't stop crying about it.

[Ruthla]

Keep on trying. If it's too emotional to offer the breast (and get rejected) at every feeding, then make sure to offer once or twice a day. And maybe try when he's not overly hungry- he might be more open to "trying something new" right after a feed (when he may enjoy comfort sucking) rather than when he's starving and wants milk as fast as possible in the most familiar delivery method.

If I did my calculations right, you'd be at 38 weeks right now if he hadn't been born yet. That's 2 weeks younger than any of my kids were at birth. So he might not be big enough or mature enough to properly breastfeed yet. This all will change in a few weeks- maybe even a few days. He's growing and maturing fast right now.

[maeby]

we finger fed my son 3 or 4 times in the first 2 days of his life. he would latch on but would not suck, just look at me like... what the heck? so we finger fed him and then one night i had dh do the syringe and and replaced my finger with my nipple and he continued to suck. it was about 5 minutes into his feeding... i kind of tricked him into it. he continued to get milk from the tube and that motivated him to suck... it was like a home made sns.

anyway.. good luck! don't hesitate to speak with a lactation consultant.

[minmoto2]

Originally Posted by kristinekristine

we finger fed my son 3 or 4 times in the first 2 days of his life. he would latch on but would not suck, just look at me like... what the heck? so we finger fed him and then one night i had dh do the syringe and and replaced my finger with my nipple and he continued to suck. it was about 5 minutes into his feeding... i kind of tricked him into it. he continued to get milk from the tube and that motivated him to suck... it was like a home made sns.

anyway.. good luck! don't hesitate to speak with a lactation consultant.

This is how we did it too...my ds was in the NICU for the 1st month and finger fed for the 1st couple weeks after his surgery. We would attempt the breast at every feeding, but he wouldn't know what to do. One night, my hubby 'primed the pump' so to speak w/the gavage tube..he dripped some milk on my nipple, then put the tube along side my nipple until ds latched on...it worked! We did that for several feeds & he then got it on his own.

Good for you for staying away from the bottle. I know it's hard, but it will be worth it !

[leigh09]

i'm not an experienced finger feeder, but to get DS interested i would do as a previous person mentioned and put a few drops of breastmilk on my nipple. it worked well for him.
i also supplemented DS due to low supply issues and found it worked best for us to introduce a new way of supplementing when he wasn't starving.

i wish you a lot of perserverance! i remember how hard breastfeeding was during the newborn stages and i am sending you lots of good luck.

[Siera]

It may take him some time since he was a preemie. Keep offering the breast, though. Perhaps you can finger feed him a bit and then offer the breast so he has a little on his tummy and isn't frantic. Also, nipple shields do work for some preemies, although I don't know if that is something you would feel comfortable in trying. It's hard to break some babies of it. He will get used to the breast, though. Also, are you co-sleeping? That's what helped my preemie transition exclusively to the breast.