More questions about Nipple Confusion

[Dea]

So I had a thread a while ago about my baby who was in the NICU and had a case of nipple confusion. Yesterday she did latch on and she had a grand ol' sucky time, but today she won't latch at all.
Her lip looks like she has a blister though. Could it be hurting her?
She won't suck on a pacifier, only my finger, so I think that her nipple confusion may not be all that bad, but she still fights my breast. Is there something I'm missing? Could my breasts scare her? Would a nipple shield help?

[JamieCatheryn]

It may be she's just having trouble latching correctly, and some times she gets it others she doesn't. You might want to see an LC or an LLL leader for a little guidance in person. Try and avoid the shield if you can since it's hard to wean from, but it often does help with nipple confusion and it's better than no breast for sure. Worked for us after my son was a sleepy newborn and I gave him EBM bottles to get his weight up and jaundice away on threat of losing him (had a manipulating pediatrician).

[sparklett]

Many babies get the little blister. It's not painful. I would second the suggestion of seeing someone in person, just to get some extra support.

[kathteach]

Is it in the center of her top lip? It's a callus (sp?), not a blister, and really common.

Was your baby a preemie? My second son was born at 33 weeks and bottle-fed for three weeks in the NICU, and we were able to transition to exclusively breastfeeding, but it took a lot of time and patience. We had to do something called triple feeding which I can tell you more about if you want. I don't know of any preemie moms who were able to stop bottle-feeding cold turkey.

My lactation consultant believed very strongly that preemies need nipple shields because they need the extra help to shape their mouths. She also told me that preemies can nurse great one day and then the next act like they've never seen a breast. It can be a struggle.

[Dea]

Originally Posted by kathteach

Is it in the center of her top lip? It's a callus (sp?), not a blister, and really common.

Was your baby a preemie? My second son was born at 33 weeks and bottle-fed for three weeks in the NICU, and we were able to transition to exclusively breastfeeding, but it took a lot of time and patience. We had to do something called triple feeding which I can tell you more about if you want. I don't know of any preemie moms who were able to stop bottle-feeding cold turkey.

My lactation consultant believed very strongly that preemies need nipple shields because they need the extra help to shape their mouths. She also told me that preemies can nurse great one day and then the next act like they've never seen a breast. It can be a struggle.

She wasn't a preemie, she had a seizure when she was 2 days old from low blood sugar because I wasn't producing anything. The best guess of what happened is my placenta gave out sometime before she was born and she used her newborn stores before she was born and she just didn't have enough to wait for my supply to come in. So she was in the NICU on IV nutrition for a couple days then they transitioned to bottles, and now she fights the breast, and I won't force her.

I'm interested in triplefeeding. I will try anything. I'm just not ready to give up on trying to breast feed her yet.

thanks!

[veganone]

In case you're waiting for triple feed info... I did that with DD - she was also early, but it would work for any baby having issues eating effectively.

It's basically nurse, pump, supplement with expressed breast milk. It's tiring and time consuming, but worth it. We did it for nine weeks. I pumped after EVERY feed to keep up with DD, but some mommas don't need to do it more than six times a day. It ensures a full supply if babe isn't sucking well, too.

I agree that it takes time to get babies with a rough start nursing well. We were on a nipple shield for several weeks and it made such a huge difference for us. It's just hard for them to figure out the latch, especially if they are overly hungry or frustrated. Just be patient and make sure you have some expert advice from a good LC.

[Dea]

YAY thanks!

[veganone]

Surely - feel free to PM too for support. I fought through a lot to keep bfing and am now very happily bfing at six months and plan to keep going until she wants to stop! It was soo hard at first, but I'm so happy we made it through.

I think that nursing before supplementing really helped DD to imprint on the breast. She loved nursing, even though she never got full doing it at first. We went to exclusively bfing with the nipple shield first, then dropped the shield after that when she was ready. The timing is all sort of a blur, but both were between 7-9 weeks.

[Dea]

SO really dumb question, but how do you use a sheild. I find that she doesn't want it as much as she doesn't want me.