help nursing was going OK...but now its all gone wrong

[bubbamummy]

My DD is 5 weeks old on Wednesday. We had latch issues early on and my nipples became VERY sore and were bleeding. I was given a nipple shield by a hospital LC which has been a life saver. Weight gain has been awesome (9oz last week!!) and she was able to latch occasionally without the shield too. I was hopeful that we'd soon be rid of it but wasnt stressing as she was doing so well.

She was diagnosed with a tongue tie early on too and at the weekend (Saturday) it was clipped. I was hopeful that things would start to become great and this would aid the ditching of the shield..


Its done the opposite, things have gone awfully down hill. Saturday she was fine, but yesterday she was fussy at the breast-didnt want to nurse long, didnt seem 'eager' to eat. This morning she pretty much completely refused it so she ended up having her 1st bottle of expressed milk while I sobbed I dont think having the tongue clipping has caused this, although maybe im wrong as she has seemed totally fine otherwise-no more fussy than usual, not acting like she's in pain or anything. The clipped area looks totally fine, not red or anything like that. She nused fine during the night...just this morning its all gone wrong. Im totally stressed and I wonder if its just making things worse.

sorry for the essay but I exclusively pumped with DS for a year due to latch issues I never got help with (I wonder if he was/is tongue tied too as my husband was badly) and I DID NOT want to EP for another year...I feel like now ive given her a bottle thats it...ive ruined everything but I also feel like I had no choice, she needed milk in her belly

[jenfl]

I don't have much to offer about the recent refusal. I really don't think that one bottle will ruin your nursing relationship. I had to give DD some expressed milk at a much younger age (her first week) when I couldn't get her to nurse, and we moved past it after only a few bottles.

My DS had a tongue tie, too, and was clipped at 5.5 weeks. We're two weeks past that now and haven't had a huge improvement. Especially when clipped that late, LOs need time to figure out how to use their tongue in the right way. So the clip is rarely an immediate improvement (unfortunately for us).

DS was a bit... "off" for the few days after the clipping. It's probably pretty sore, and even though it might feel fine most of the time, nursing will make her move it and stretch it and probably make it hurt. It was 3-4 days before I felt like he was back to normal.

I hope the clipping helps things long-term for you!

[Parker'smommy]

Ya know, both of my babes would have "off" days occasionally. Actually, my first had off times, every day! And if they acted fussy and didnt' want to nurse...we didn't. I didn't offer a bottle though. I just tried to soothe them another way and then tried to offer the breast again another time later.

[PatioGardener]

here's some info that may be useful:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/...st.html#strike

[bubbamummy]

thanks for the replies, Ive been in such a state of worry today that I have continued to pump and give bottles. Hopefully just for today. I need to regain my sanity-it's been stressful! She doesnt even take bottles that well since she's never had one before and each feed takes forever!

We have a home visit from a LC tomorrow morning. Hopefully she will be able to help us.