One step forward, 2 steps back

[LaurieG]

So I thought I'd see what happened if I just let Ellie nurse this weekend, thinking her latch/ suck had improved to the point that she might be able to stimulate my milk better than the pump has been doing. Starting thurs night I didn't give any bottles but just nursed. Since I know I have a low supply I wasn't surprised that she pretty much nursed constantly Thurs evening and night but she didn't get fussy. Friday when I took the boys out to gym class I didn't take along a bottle, a first since she almost never gets satisfied out of the house - can't seem to relax enough to get a good latch I guess. But Friday she did great. She nursed and seemed content. Later in the day when my supply was low she started nursing constantly again but we got thru. Sat started off well. By now I was really optimistic that things were going the right direction and that even if this approach didn't work to build supply a few weeks of dom. might solve all our issues. Sat afternoon she seemed more frantic so I took pitty and gave her 1 bottle. But by that evening, and then all thru the day Sunday she would nurse and nurse but not seem to swallow. So I pumped after she had been nursing for an hour and got 2oz while she was taking 4 oz by bottle. Basically I think I wore her out and she got to the point again where she just couldn't get the suck right.

So, it looks whatever the issue with her suck is (I've got everyone who has looked at her stumped) isn't resolved still. Its better, especially when I've been at work and she's been getting bottles all day. But it isn't resolved.

Does anyone think she'll get it eventually? Is EBF a possibility or do I need to look at a long term solution here? I said 6 weeks ago triple feeding isn't a realistic long term solution but here we are at 3 months (next week) still triple feeding.

Disappointed....

[Violet2]

You know, I'm no expert at all, so my comments may be worthless here, but i think you may be looking at this the wrong way.

You were successful. You made some important strides forward. I don't think it's a sign of complete failure that you weren't instantly able to switch, these kinds of things take time.

You've proven she can do it, now you just have to find a progression that will get you where you want to be.

Latch, ime, is sort of an ethereal thing. Every day is a different latch. So I would expect things to be sort of up and down, good and bad for a while, but it sounds to me like you do have the possibility of bfing.

Okay, my boobs are being paged, I have to run.

hang in there nad keep going, you're doing great!

V

[mom of B]

Don't give up!

My DS could not get the hang of it, I was in tears several times and thinking about giving up trying. His latch was good, and my supply was good, but it was like he couldn't get it all together. At 4 months, it was like he just got it. I think his suck just finally got strong enough that he wasn't tiring himself out and he matured enough to actually know what to do.
I don't think it is too late. You are doing great!

[LaurieG]

Originally Posted by Violet2

You know, I'm no expert at all, so my comments may be worthless here, but i think you may be looking at this the wrong way.

You were successful. You made some important strides forward. I don't think it's a sign of complete failure that you weren't instantly able to switch, these kinds of things take time.

You've proven she can do it, now you just have to find a progression that will get you where you want to be.

Latch, ime, is sort of an ethereal thing. Every day is a different latch. So I would expect things to be sort of up and down, good and bad for a while, but it sounds to me like you do have the possibility of bfing.

Okay, my boobs are being paged, I have to run.

hang in there nad keep going, you're doing great!

V

I know you're right. As soon as I posted I thought "I'm looking at this all wrong". She did great on Friday. We just over-did it. Hopefully no serious damage was done - today she hasn't been able to bf a whole feeding yet. Bottles all day. I'm hoping a few days rest will reset things.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[LaurieG]

Originally Posted by mom of B

My DS could not get the hang of it, I was in tears several times and thinking about giving up trying. His latch was good, and my supply was good, but it was like he couldn't get it all together. At 4 months, it was like he just got it. I think his suck just finally got strong enough that he wasn't tiring himself out and he matured enough to actually know what to do.
I don't think it is too late. You are doing great!

Thanks for the support. And its so good to hear a story similar to mine that ended up successful. Nobody seems to know what exactly the problem is. Like your DS, Ellie seems to have a good latch now (at first she was too shallow). When she sucks on a finger it feels really strong. But when she is nursing it just doesn't work for some reason. But sometimes it works great. Very baffling, and frustrating. Its hard to help correct something when you don't know what the problem is.

[SleepyMamaBear]

i dont know your back story, but i am going to suggest using an att the breast supplimenter, sounds like a lack of milk transfer, or weak transfer, and the bottle could be confusing her latch, i suggest trying a Lact-Aid, and work work work on her latch

[cdahlgrd]

I agree with the pp's! As long as she is latching and working at it, you have a chance of making it work. And using a Lact-Aid would be great too, but will take a little practice.

[LaurieG]

Thanks for the suggestions. We originally opted for a bottle after syring and cup feeding weren't working out. In those days the problem was a very sleepy baby and after she nursed she was so out of it that we couldn't get her to participate in taking the syring and cup so we couldn't get enough into her to get her gaining weight. I considered an SNS but she was struggling with managing the flow of milk so a quicker flow wouldn't have worked and her endurance was poor so a longer feeding also wouldn't have worked. The LC suggested a protocol of bottle feeding that was supposed to help train babies to latch and suck correctly but would keep her from over-fatiguing her oral muscles b/c that always leads to reduced quality of the movements. And we have come a long way using that system.

But now the problem has evolved. It's obviously a problem with jaw and tongue movement, and there is still a fatigue/ endurance element, but I'm not exactly sure what the source of the problem is (everyone has a different theory). Maybe an SNS or latch aid (I'm not really familiar with that one yet) is the way to go. But now I'm back working 3 days a week so she will still be getting bottles from grandmas those days. (I could ask my mom to strap on an at-the-breast suplementer and she would probably do it but my MIL would think I was nuts- LOL) :