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Gagging at my breast

916 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  PatioGardener
My 3 month old has been FF for 5 weeks now due to some heavy duty medication. My dose is finally low enough that I can start to nurse him again but every time I put him to my breast he starts gagging. He's even vomited.

I offer all the time. The best I can get is a little biting action- but even that leads to gagging. I need some advice other than "keep offering" because it just isn't working.

Will he ever come back to my breast? He was nursing beautifully before I got sick
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It is possible that you have a very forceful letdown and it is spraying the back of his throat too hard. This is common in the first few months of nursing, especially with the first child. (Also you have not been nursing and maybe your breasts are very full) One way to help this is to cause your milk to letdown before he nurses and let the pressure reduce a bit before you put him to the breast. You may only need to let the milk letdown and spay or drip for a few seconds, or you may need to express some of the milk out first, in order to reduce the pressure. It depends on your particular breasts and baby. If this isn't working, try expressing a very large amount of milk from the breast or even try to empty it as much as possible and then nurse him. If you are still having trouble when the breast is empty, then letdown would probably not be the issue. It could be that he is not latching correctly because he is used to a bottle nipple and the end of your nipple is hitting his throat. This is all the help I've got on this. I hope it helps!

Good luck and hugs to you!!
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I wish I had too much milk and a forceful letdown! I have been pumping and dumping for 5 weeks and have barely any milk left.

If anything, he might not like my nipple because it is dry compared to the bottle. Could that have anything to do with it?

Also, he doesn't even pull my nipple into his mouth- just kinda bites down on it and then starts gagging
Well it certainly sounds like it could be some nipple confusion.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T022400.asp

Since it has been so long that your little one has been using bottles, you may want to go see a lactation consultant for help with retraining the baby to suck, or assistance in finding out if there is another problem.
In this case you may want to work with an LC and use a nipple shield (more like the bottle nipple) to woo baby back to the breast. If your supply is an issue, then supplementing at the breast until supply recovers would also be an option. A good LC will be able to help you with both.

Hang in there, Mama!
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