Need some help

[Jiniphur]

My 4 week old and I have been trying to breast feed since birth with no sucsess. I strictly breast fed the first week but she lost about 12oz so the doc suggested we supplement so i started pumping. She is perfect wieght now and eats like crazy but its breast milk from the bottle. I dont mind pumping, but would rather breast feed. She had a horrible latch for the first couple of weeks. she has it down better now but she is to use to the bottle. When she latches on she gets fussy and pulls away or falls asleep. What should I do?

[*MamaJen*]

That's a pretty classic scenario -- baby is nursing , doctor tells you to start supplementing (often for a not very good reason) and baby gets nipple confusion.
The nipple confusion happens because getting milk out of the breast and getting milk out of the bottle takes different mouth motions for the baby.
That's great that you've kept up your supply through pumping. The very best thing to do would be to find either a good lactation consultant or a La Leche League group in your area. They can help you work on your baby's latch and get things back on track.
If your baby has always had a bad latch, a lactation consultant can be on the lookout for things like tongue tie, and can also show you ways to get the baby to improve her latch.

[kismetbaby]

Find a really experienced lactation consultant!!!! Its totally worth the money!

You *may* have a tongue-tie issue. Sometimes tongue-ties are hard to diagnose. A LC should be able to rule that out and then give you some good tips for transitioning back to breast. At the very least contact your local LLL.

Did you successfully BF your first child?

If there aren't any other serious issues like tongue-tie, you should be able to slowly convince her to return to the breast. I haven't been in your exact situation, but I wound up using breast shields in the first month b/c of a bad latch and damaged nips and I worried that we would never be able to wean off of these. It took a few weeks, but with a little persistence he did wean off them and is still happily nursing at 8 m. In fact, now he won't take anything plastic!

Here's what we did--don't try and nurse when LO is too hungry, too tired, or too fussy. In the beginning it was only one time a day, I would try a bare-breasted nursing. For the first week or so, he would have a hard time with it. I'd just offer and if either of us got frustrated would stop. Just letting us practice as it were. Then the next week, he was better at it and I'd offer a couple times a day. . .etc. Eventually, he preferred the bare breast again.

Another thought for you,since your LO has gotten used to the easier flow of a bottle, you could pump to start your let-down and then offer her the breast. Then she wouldn't have to get frustrated waiting for let-down which obviously a bottle doesn't need. Some babies will eat in their sleep, have you tried dream-feeding her from the breast? Also spend lots of time with skin contact. Wear her, lay around naked together. Let her be on your tummy and chest and just smell you/be near the breast.

HTH