Help please - screaming newborn

[beep]

My 3 day old son appears starving but is refusing the breast. His latch has never been great-a little too shallow and painfully pinchy as well. Mostly we don't even get to that point because he screams and twists away. He has cried for 7 of the last 12 hours. He sucks his hand and blanket frantically. My milk is coming in and I've been able to pump a little. I gave him about 20 ml by syringe and he gulped it down. His lips and my nipples are blistered and bleeding. I am following every piece of advice the lactation consultant gave to no avail. I am feeling desperate. Any advice anyone?

[Carlin]

s:
We had a very similar problem. It sucks when your LO is hungry but you can't get them to eat but 5 1/2 months later our breastfeeding is going strong.

Here's what worked for us.
1) At this point getting milk into them is the most important thing. The chapped lips are a sign of dehydration, so it's important that they get something into them. So every 2 hours (or less if She was acting hungry, I'd offer the breast, then when she refused, syringe feed her the milk I'd pumped previously. (Usually 10 - 20 mls) then pump, and repeat. lol.
2) After about 3 days of this she started nursing using a nipple shield. At first it took some effort to get her on, but once she got it, it was like she'd never had a problem. She still wouldn't latch on without it but she nursed like a pro with the shield.
3) We weaned off the nipple shield between 3 and 4 weeks.

Good luck with everything! I remember how desperate I was when my DD wouldn't eat. It sucked.

Oh yeah, and I found a lot of good information when I google "belligerently resisting the breast"

Out of curiosity was your DS suctioned at birth? DD was, and I'm convinced that our problems started because her mouth hurt from the suctioning.

[littlecityfarmer]

He will have a hard time nursing if he's really upset... Have you tried swaddling to calm him down? That helped when my babies were too upset to nurse. Another trick is to nurse him in a warm bath-- kind of simulates the uterine environment he's used to, and might help him calm down enough to nurse. Lots of skin-to-skin time (stip baby down to a diaper, take off your shirt, and go to bed to snuggle and nurse) has worked well for us, too.

The blisters on your nipples are from a poor latch-- is there a LLL in your area, or another IBLCLC/LC who can assess latch and give you advice in person? With newborns, I always had the best luck getting a good latch holding baby in cross-cradle (hold baby's head with opposite hand) and "football" hold. Make sure he's not latching right on the nipple, but farther back, with as much areola in his mouth as possible.

Poor latch is a leading cause of nursing issues-- keep pumping, if you can, to keep up your supply, because if he's not latching well, he may not be transferring milk well, and not stimulating full milk production.

Good luck! The early days of nursing can be really frustrating!

[beep]

Originally Posted by Carlin

s:
We had a very similar problem. It sucks when your LO is hungry but you can't get them to eat but 5 1/2 months later our breastfeeding is going strong.

Here's what worked for us.
1) At this point getting milk into them is the most important thing. The chapped lips are a sign of dehydration, so it's important that they get something into them. So every 2 hours (or less if She was acting hungry, I'd offer the breast, then when she refused, syringe feed her the milk I'd pumped previously. (Usually 10 - 20 mls) then pump, and repeat. lol.
2) After about 3 days of this she started nursing using a nipple shield. At first it took some effort to get her on, but once she got it, it was like she'd never had a problem. She still wouldn't latch on without it but she nursed like a pro with the shield.
3) We weaned off the nipple shield between 3 and 4 weeks.

Good luck with everything! I remember how desperate I was when my DD wouldn't eat. It sucked.

Oh yeah, and I found a lot of good information when I google "belligerently resisting the breast"

Out of curiosity was your DS suctioned at birth? DD was, and I'm convinced that our problems started because her mouth hurt from the suctioning.

Thanks. That is very helpful.

My son was suctioned at birth. He had an initial apgar of 6 and needed deep suctioning and a few minutes of oxygen.

[MissLotus]

I'm never on this board (though I'm not new to the forums, wasn't on when my son was a baby) - just happened to click from the new posts page. I'm sorry your baby is having such a tough time. I see a couple mentions of using a syringe, and I'd certainly keep doing that if it worked... but wouldn't a bottle work for the pumped milk? Then he'd get more. I wouldn't want anything to hinder the b'fing relationship, but on the other hand, if he's desperately hungry, and he certainly sounds it, I'd try anything! I guess I'm reflecting on my experience with my son, who would do both breastfeeding and bottle, he didn't care as long as he was fed! Good luck.

[Bluegoat]

Originally Posted by MissLotus

I'm never on this board (though I'm not new to the forums, wasn't on when my son was a baby) - just happened to click from the new posts page. I'm sorry your baby is having such a tough time. I see a couple mentions of using a syringe, and I'd certainly keep doing that if it worked... but wouldn't a bottle work for the pumped milk? Then he'd get more. I wouldn't want anything to hinder the b'fing relationship, but on the other hand, if he's desperately hungry, and he certainly sounds it, I'd try anything! I guess I'm reflecting on my experience with my son, who would do both breastfeeding and bottle, he didn't care as long as he was fed! Good luck.

A bottle will just cause more problems with the latch. A syringe and finger-feeding can supply all of a newborns small needs.

[Latte Mama]

Originally Posted by MissLotus

I'm never on this board (though I'm not new to the forums, wasn't on when my son was a baby) - just happened to click from the new posts page. I'm sorry your baby is having such a tough time. I see a couple mentions of using a syringe, and I'd certainly keep doing that if it worked... but wouldn't a bottle work for the pumped milk? Then he'd get more. I wouldn't want anything to hinder the b'fing relationship, but on the other hand, if he's desperately hungry, and he certainly sounds it, I'd try anything! I guess I'm reflecting on my experience with my son, who would do both breastfeeding and bottle, he didn't care as long as he was fed! Good luck.

A bottle on a newborn less than a week old? Not recommended at all. Especially with a baby that is already having difficulty latching. Syringe or cup feeding is the way to go in this situation. Using an artificial nipple too early can seriously undermine the breastfeeding relationship.

[MissLotus]

I guess I was just lucky; my son would do either/or from the get-go. I hope the OP found a solution - it's sad to think of a baby so hungry.

[beep]

Originally Posted by Carlin

s:
We had a very similar problem. It sucks when your LO is hungry but you can't get them to eat but 5 1/2 months later our breastfeeding is going strong.

Here's what worked for us.
1) At this point getting milk into them is the most important thing. The chapped lips are a sign of dehydration, so it's important that they get something into them. So every 2 hours (or less if She was acting hungry, I'd offer the breast, then when she refused, syringe feed her the milk I'd pumped previously. (Usually 10 - 20 mls) then pump, and repeat. lol.
2) After about 3 days of this she started nursing using a nipple shield. At first it took some effort to get her on, but once she got it, it was like she'd never had a problem. She still wouldn't latch on without it but she nursed like a pro with the shield.
3) We weaned off the nipple shield between 3 and 4 weeks.

Good luck with everything! I remember how desperate I was when my DD wouldn't eat. It sucked.

Oh yeah, and I found a lot of good information when I google "belligerently resisting the breast"

Out of curiosity was your DS suctioned at birth? DD was, and I'm convinced that our problems started because her mouth hurt from the suctioning.

I just wanted to post again to follow up... Back in December I followed these steps and it absolutely worked--and saved my son's and my breastfeeding relationship. Now at almost 5 months, breastfeeding is going really well. I remember so clearly how desperate I was when I started this thread, and am so incredibly grateful to have received this excellent and timely advice.