I Think My Baby Is Confused

L.,

Buy a nipple shield. This will help you heal and when I was nursing my daughter this helped her after she received a bottle for the first time. You can get one at Target, they are made by Medila (sp?)

Hope this helps
M.

Congratulations on your newest addition!
Have you tried a nipple shield? I don't usually recommend them to breastfeeding friends who are just sore from nursing but when my first child refused my breast, I tried the nipple shield and it worked. Not only did my breast not hurt as badly but my baby latched on and was able to get reacquainted with me and was weaned off the shield back to just my breast after a week. You don't want to use it for too long though, because it can encourage breast infections with some women. Also, are you using the lansinoh cream every time after you feed and letting your breasts air out before sticking them back in a bra? That will help with the pain. If your milk has come in and your boobs are about to pop, you could pump to relieve the pressure and freeze the milk for later. I am a firm believer of breast only for the first three weeks. This helps with the confusion.

Hi L., breastfeeding can be challenging for sure! It is important to keep giving the baby your breast instead of the bottle so he learns how to latch...this can be really challenging so if you have problems, I recommend you call a lactation specialist to talk to you about it. I talked to one a lot my first few months of breastfeeding and it really helped me. Another resource on line is Kellymom.com It has great resource information about breastfeeding. For more help, here are a few of the area lactation specialists you can call for help.....
Judy Eastburn, Allen/McKinney ###-###-####
Denny Rice, Allen ###-###-####
Wendy Blumberg, Plano ###-###-####

Also the La Leche site is great and you can go to the local site and find contact names there as well who can help you. I hope this helps,

L.

Hi L.,

Baby just found it a lot easier to nurse from the bottle because he has to work harder to get your milk. He won't starve if you don't give in to his tantrum to get the bottle. When my daughter was 3 weeks old the same thing happened and I let her cry it out when she would not latch onto my breast and when she woke up next, she nursed from me really quickly. He'll get back onto you if he is hungry enough - don't give up as yet. Also, it may help to make sure that the nipple you use on the bottle is a newborn one that he has to work hard to get the milk from as well. Hope that helps.

Go w/ Kay. Get a lactation consult ASAP. And know after about 2 weeks, any initial discomfot goes away & you're an old pro.

D.

Keep trying to put him back on the breast. Don't just give in a give him a bottle. Try getting him to latch before he is starving. That way he is not upset. It may take a couple days. I pumped for two weeks and then went back to breastfeeding and my daughter has been going strong. She is now 11 mos.

I had a similar problem with my first. My milk didn't come in fast enough and he got dehydrated & jaundiced and the Dr wanted to put him back in the hospital. I talk ed her out of it & promised to pump and feed him from a bottle to make sure he was getting enough to regain the weight he ahd lost.....Long story short, he appeared to have nipple confusion and refused to latch on to my breast for a while. I was stubborn & determined to get him to nurse so I just kept offering the breast first for a while and then would give him the bottle of pumped breast milk. It tooks him 2 weeks, but he finally got the idea and hang of breast feeding and didn't wean himself until he was 16 months old. I can say it was very HARD and tiring, but worth every moment of effort and sweat I put into it. Another added bonus, all the pumping helped to establish a great milk supply and as you have more kids, your milk will come in quicker.

L.,

You are experiencing first hand the problems that sometimes arise with nipple confusion. It is not too late but get help asap. You are correct that when there is pain, (as other posters have mentioned) it is almost always the latch that is an issue. I would be happy to help you with that and it usually is an hours worth of tweaking positions and reteaching your baby that food comes from the breast. We often think that our babies just like a bottle better because it is "easier". The truth is that they have learned the incorrect oral motor skill with an instant reward. So when they try to repeat that at the breast not only do that bite and hurt the nipple but they actually prevent any milk exchange making them hungry and mad. They cry, we give in.
Please feel free to email me privately or off line and I can certainly offer some help.

K. @ The Nestingplace, Grapevine

L.,

My son did the same thing. They like it better bec. the milk comes out easyer. They don't have to work as hard to get it out. I had to wait till he was older to give him the bottle. If you have to give him a bottle. Try one with the smallest hole so he will have to suck hard to get it out. Your breast will not hurt as much with time...it has been just one week it usually take a few weeks. Good luck...Congratulations on your first baby! E.

Do whay Kay says, she helped me when I had my son at the hospital when my son was having latch issues.

My son did the same thing... I went out and bought a nipple protector.
It feels like a bottle nipple and it helps with inverted nipples. I used it to give mine a break.
You should try the nipple protector late at night, when he's tired and wanted to nurse. Put a little breast milk on the outside of it and place it over your nipple. He may resist alittle but if he's tired enough he won't put up a fight for long. I did this for three days and I was able to remove the protector and nurse normally like I was before.

Good luck,
V.

It sounds like he wants instant gratification and usely when you put the baby to breast it takes a few minutes for your milk to come down so if you would began with pumping a little before, the milk will be ready as soon as he latches. By pumping and giving him the breast milk by a bottle, the flow of the bottle and nipple is a faster flow and not so much work as the breast. You could also try using a slower flow of nipple if you want to pump and give the breast milk by bottle. Also, if you are hurting when he latches, he may be latched wrong. You could try and call the hospital where you delivered and talk with a breastfeeding counselor and ask them questions or even go in to see them and discuss whats going on.

So sorry to hear you are having a hard time. My understanding is some babies do prefer the bottle if they have a hard time latching on. I would suggest to keep trying to breastfeed when you know the baby is hungry and dont offer a bottle except for last resort. It took me a few weeks to get used to nusring and I wrote in a notebook when my son ate and how long on each side. Once I got a hang of it..which took awhile...we both adjusted nicely and he was able to take a bottle as well once he got a couple months older.

No, what you need to do is get rid of the bottle. Your baby is smart and knows the bottle lets the milk come out easier. If you continue to give in and give the bottle you WILL ruin your breastfeeding relationship.

Your nipples shouldn't be hurting that bad at this point. Please seek out a lactation consultant in your area and have them check your baby's latch. Sounds like that might be the culprit.

Also, taking the breaks might be doing more harm than good. Back with my first child, who is now ten, I remember it hurting a little bit in the beginning but then my nipples got used to it and it was easy sailing from there and then with my next children it never hurt like it did the first time. It's new to your nips, and they are going to have to adjust but it will not always hurt, in fact you won't feel a thing if the baby is latching right and you get past the beginning stages where your nips are adjusting.

Good luck!

The nipple on a bottle is easier to get milk out of, that's why he gets mad. Call the Le Leche League or another group for ideas. Maybe you'll get some good ideas here too. If he gets hungry enough and you don't give in with the bottle, he will go back.

There are creams and nipple covers you could use to prevent the pain, and taking a break will not help get you to the point of no pain. Of course, if you were bleeding or had an infection, that's another story, but your case sounds like the normal start-up pain of nursing.

I went through this with my baby girl. She would do better if I pumped until letdown started and then put her on. Don't give up!!

Sign up to join the website www.cafemom.com You can join groups where you post questions and get a lot of great responses. I suggest you join the Breastfeeding Moms group and ask this same question because there are several lacatation consultants on there who will be happy to help you.
You'll be able to get him back on the breast with their help, I promise! Pumping is okay for awhile but eventually you'll dry up which isn't so great if you were planning to go a year or more.
Good luck!!

I agree with the other Mamas... call Le Leche League ASAP. I would also try more skin to skin contact. If you have a wrap wear your lil one in the wrap facing your chest with only a diaper on... no shirt on you ... also try bathing together. If you don't have a wrap go to MAMATOTO.org to access free instructions... you can make them from a sheet even. When my baby went on a strike after a similar occurance thats what we did. I spent lots of time with the breasts availible, but with no pressure to nurse... she eventually decided to nurse again.

Don't give up on the breatfeeding. And don't give in with the bottle. I wouldn't give any more bottles until the nursing is firmly established. The baby won't deny the breast for long - he'll give up when he gets hungry enough. It might be a hard day or two...but it will be worth it!

If you're baby is properly latching, then there should not be alot of pain (especially bleeding). As a first time mom, getting the technique right often requires the assistance of a lactation consultant, although I personally did better through the assistance of La Leche League as another poster suggested (I too had severe pain when nursing initially). Some babies are more particular than others about the bottle versus the breast (my oldest would switch back and forth easily, whereas my youngest absolutely refused a bottle). So, it's impossible to say what will work for your baby, but it is extremely important to work on the issue ASAP, as pumping often is not as effective as building your milk supply as the baby's nursing (when correctly latched). At this age, I don't think you should hold out on the feeding, as it really is important to get him off to a good start.

What you can try is to feed him part of a bottle to satisfy the immediate hunger and then try switching to the breast when he's less hungry. Also, try putting him on the breast before he reaches the point of screaming hunger. I did this to get my second child off to a good start (I nursed him every two hours during the day for the first two months, as soon as he even seemed to be rooting) as I had such difficulty with my first in terms of nursing and overall weight gain (due to initial problems and low milk supply). And, I was extremely successful nursing my 2nd child. I wish you the best of luck and do again recommend you contact La Leche League, as breastfeeding is an art that is best taught mother to mother.

It is possible that he prefers the bottle. And it is NOT the end of the world! Especially if you are still pumping, he'll get the nutrients you want him to have from your milk, you're still extracting milk so it will still do your body well etc.

No matter what you can't allow feeding (no matter what type) to become an allover negative thing! I was shocked to hear that when I was trying to feed at the hospital. The nurses were teaching me that. The same nurses that are usually psycho about a mom breast feeding were telling me not to.

My daughter had a bowel movment in uterine and so they had to clean her out so many times, when it came time to feed she wanted nothing to do with it.

I had ever intention, desire etc etc to breast feed and was told I wasn't going to be able to. You can't beat yourself up over things like this! It lead to some postpartum that I was able to work though but I brought it all on myself.

As hard as it is, just keep going one day at a time. You can still feed him bottle skin to skin so you get that bonding time still! In fact that may be soothing to him... But also, get help from time to time as well. I know from experience (and I was NOT able to keep it up) that pumping and keeping up with that schedule of cleaning and feeding the baby and then pumping again, is tough! Be sure to take help when you can. Anyone can feed him the bottle...

Best of luck! ~T.~

Keep offering him the breast if he refuses pull him off and try again in a few minutes. I would not keep pumping and offering him a bottle. I had the same problem with my dauther and had to pump every two hours for the first 2 1/2 months which was very hard. One day I decided I was so tired of pumping and I only offered her my breast when it was feeding time. When she was hungry enough she nursed. I know that sound rough, but it worked I continued to nurse her until she was 10 months old.

Don't worry L.. So many times your baby can tell if you are upset, and take your cues on how to act. Since you have been tearing up when you nurse, you are probably apprehensive about having your baby actually suck from you again! :) This is quite normal.
Don't worry. Stay calm. Your baby WILL nurse from you again. You might want to call your baby's doctor (because I forget), and ask if you should withold the bottle until your baby nurses from your breast again.
Believe me, this seems huge to you right now, but looking back on it, it will not be that big of a deal.
Good luck!

Call LLL or a lactation consultant. He has nipple confusion. It's better to wait to introduce a bottle until 4 weeks but then you do have the difficulty of them taking a bottle if you wait longer, trust me--I have 4 children and none have ever used a bottle.
Keep trying to nurse too! Don't give up, it will work!

I just want to encourage you to keep trying and don't give up on breastfeeding. I had a difficult time with my first, and was determined to have a more successful experience with my second. Even then, I wanted to give up many times because I had to work through the pain. I kept telling myself - I'll give it one more week and then a week would go by with a little improvement and then I'd go another week. It took a full 6 weeks to really get to where I wasn't dreading every nursing. Now I really enjoy it and have had very little problems. I didn't have a back latch, either, because it did eventually get pain-free. Sometimes it just takes time. Good luck!