Newborn refusing to nurse- help!

[WindyCityMom]

I'm sort of at a loss for what to do. I'm hoping someone can help me out. I've got a 12 day old little girl. Nursing has gone great from the start, at a week old she had gained 6oz in 2 days. She was feeding on one side at a time at first, alternating sides with feedings. Then she was doing both sides, about 15 minutes each per feeding (draining both sides). THEN, she was doing one full side and a bit of another per feeding, but not draining. I then altered breasts with feedings to keep my supply up.

Now, she's not wanting to nurse. Her latch is HORRIBLE. We've had issues with her bottom lip not being able to flip out properly, but that was the extent of it. This all really started last night. She has a ton of trouble latching on to my left breast, and both hurt. She constantly unlatches herself.

Last night I was so engorged that I had to pump for the first time.. I just took an ounce from each side though. I didn't know what else to do. I was so engorged that expressing wouldn't even work, I just had stone mounds on top of my chest.

She cries and shows hunger signs, and I put her to my breast, she suckles very fast at first as usual, but after that inital bit, she slows down, and stops. She falls asleep at the breast now and she never used to do that. She is very difficult to rouse.. this is really difficult. Should I try scheduled feedings until she starts nursing more frequently on her own? She just kind of nibbles here and there and last night I doubt she got ANY hindmilk.

I'm very worried. I had suspected she was coming down with a cold (my older daughter just got over one), and suctioned a big ol' booger from her nose this morning... but it didn't help nursing any.

I don't know if it helps any but I figured I'd add that I have a very forceful letdown, she often chokes, nothing works to solve it, even laying on my back to nurse her,

I just don't know what do do!

[~bookcase~]

you could try letting her suckle till let-down, then unlatch her til it slows off and put her back again (use a cloth to soak up the milk/ catch it in a cup if you prefer!)

she's probably responding to the over active let down. try feeding from the same breast for feeds within 2/3 hours of each other, then swap to the other side for the next 2/3 hours. that should calm down your supply if it's overly abundant.

alternatively you can feed her after expressing some milk off first (using hand/pump expressing) as let downs tend to be less forceful as the breast becomes progressively less full.

if you have an oversupply you can also try expressing to 'empty' your breasts as completely as you can, and start from scratch, so to speak. no idea for why this works, but it does for some mums with overly abundant supply

[WindyCityMom]

thanks. i really dont feel i have a true oversupply- her demand has just gone wayy down

[boobs4milk]

i second the pp on the oald advice. i used to have to pump first then feed and when dd got older, i would let her get the first let down and then squirt the fast-flowing milk into a rag. now, i let her deal with it. at 3 1/2 mos, if it's too much for her, she will pop off for a minute.

count wets n poops. she should have 6 soaked dipes (pee) and at least one good poo per day.

good luck!

[boobs4milk]

wanted to add this:
http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?option=...tion&Itemid=17

[gardenmommy]

You might consider having her see a chiropractor. She may be uncomfortable (for whatever reason) when she nurses on your left side, and an adjustment might remedy that. Have you talked with a lactation consultant about her latch? She might have a tongue tie or some other issue that prevents her from latching properly.

Can you rouse her enough to nurse during the night? Sometimes they will nurse better when they are sleepy. I know this is controversial, but IMO, it is better to express and bottle feed a couple ounces of your milk if they absolutely refuse to latch. I think that the risk of dehydration is too great in a newborn. Also, nursing takes a lot of energy, and if they aren't getting enough milk, they simply won't have the strength to keep trying to latch and suck; one sign of that is that they just get very sleepy and lethargic. Since I'm not actually there, I can't say that this is the case with your baby. You are the best judge of what your baby needs. Trust your instincts, you know what is best!

I would definitely keep trying to put her to the breast, frequently. Remove any pacifiers. I would also do what you did to relieve the engorgement, pump enough to make you comfortable and keep your breasts softer. A hot shower can help you let down and relieve some of the discomfort. I don't know what kind of support system you have, but if you can get someone to help with the practicalities of your older child, meals, laundry, etc., you might consider just going to bed with your baby. Sometimes constant skin-to-skin contact can motivate a baby to nurse effectively.

I'm sorry you are dealing with this. It is hard to figure out the best way to meet a newborn's needs sometimes without losing your sanity! You are doing a good job, so don't get discouraged. Be gentle with yourself and your newborn as you work through this.

[WindyCityMom]

Thank you

She's actually done better.. she's been doing one side at a time, alternating sides, about every 1.5-2 hours or so. I had been thinking of the bottle feeding thing and if need be I'll do the syringe feeding, but if i can't do that I'd rather bottle feed her than let her get dehydrated.

Fortunately, she's doing way better. I'm still engorged but I pumped another ounce from each side today, and from here on out (unless she goes on another strike tonight) I'll try and let my body take care of it. During her last feeding, she actually tried to take some of the other breast but only latched on for about 5 minutes.

I did see a LC in the hosp and at our dr's office. the lip thing is the only thing wrong with the latch (when I'm not horribly engorged). sometimes, when I am engorged, I just have to let her proceed with a bad latch until my breast is soft enough for me to unlatch her, and get her latched on right. She's been latching better, not coming off as much as before. I have incredible pain in my right breast when she feeds, not sure what it is but it feels like it's from the lip thing. the lip thing doesn't bother me on the left side- which is odd.

I can't wait until we get all of this down pat so that I can feel more comfortable NIP.. I refuse to use a cover but I hate hate hate to have to fiddle with my boob and keep latching and relatching in front of others. I guess it all comes with alot of time, patience, and practice.

She's peeing and pooping fine though, lots as usual.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by WindyCityMom

I have incredible pain in my right breast when she feeds, not sure what it is but it feels like it's from the lip thing. the lip thing doesn't bother me on the left side- which is odd.

Actually, not that odd. Try different positions. During the newborn period, I had to nurse the right side in cradle hold and the left in football. Now he has to nurse both sides in football. And it took my until 3 months to finally voice to the LLL leader the pain issues I was having on one side - which I attributed to teething. Turns out I was holding him slightly different on that side. Moving him an inch one way or the other (towards his feet or his head) is usually enough to clear it up for me when it starts hurting now.

Also - don't ignore the lip issues. It may be a lip tie, and it's far better to find that out sooner than later. We didn't get a diagnosis of my DS's tie until 6 weeks, by which time I had lost my milk. Find an LC experienced with ties and have them evaluate your LO's latch. And make sure you're helping her to latch correctly both before, and during every feed. It really is crucial to your milk supply. My supply took a drastic dip at about 16 days because of his improper latch (which I didn't even know about), and it just kept going down until I'm lucky to get a couple teaspoons on one side/day (the other side seems to be totally dry).

And sleepy baby is not a good sign. When you get to that point, you need to really work on making sure she's getting enough food, tracking weight before and after feeding, tracking diapers, whatever it takes. With my guy, the sleepy baby bit was a really bad sign of the greater problem - he was so undernourished he just didn't have the energy to suck. So just keep an eye on it.

[gardenmommy]

Very good advice about lip ties! I am glad she is doing better. It is so stressful when newborns don't nurse right. I hope she continues to improve, and no more problems crop up. Good job, mama!

[Pookietooth]

could it be thrush?

[WindyCityMom]

thanks no other signs of thrush so i dont think thats it.

she's feeding better now and is going according to her own "pattern".
every 3-4 hrs at night and every 2ish hours during the day.

NOW, our issue is my crazy letdown. It is SO forceful. She chokes and chokes.. I end up soaked because there's so much milk and she can't swallow it all. She gulps and gulps and a steady stream still runs down the bottom of my breast.. I've had to tuck cloth diapers under my breast at each feeding (which makes NIP fun..lol). Even when I lay flat on my back, I still get the stream of milk flowing out. And the strange thing is, I can't seem to stop it. She is getting enough though.. massive pees and poops every day. I was finally brave enough to start CDing during the day (she has a pretty bad rash from the sposies). I've never seen a baby pee and poop so much!

The lip thing is still an issue and I'm going to look for another LC who may be able to help with that. She goes to the doc on Monday, so I'm going to ask if the LC is there and if I could see her again.

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and advice!

[DaughterOfKali]

Do you have a LLL near you?

[Pookietooth]

My ds had that issue, and he nursed best sitting up astride my leg or right next to me on a pillow (later right on the couch), also while I lay back and he lay face down on top of me. Other was side lying, allowing some of the milk to drip out. Lowering your supply via block feeding can help, but you have to be careful with that -- I totally lost my milk on my left side (and it didn't come back with dd) doing that.
to you.

[WindyCityMom]

I've just been taking the crazy letdown as it is.. I'm too scared to try block feeding.

She's doing great though.. at 20 days old she is 2lbs above birth weight at 9lbs