8 day old baby suddenly won't latch?

[Louise88]

He's latched like a champ since day 1, if my oh feeds him he does get a bottle but I'd say he only gets 1 bottle a day. Since yesterday afternoon though it's like he's forgotten how to latch and properly fights it, he only wants the end of the nipple in his mouth and refuses to open his mouth any wider, if I try to get him to open wider or bring him to the breast he starts cryinging and fights against it. We spent 6 hours on and off last night to get him to latch and he just ended up over tired and hungry so I gave him a bottle of formula, once he was asleep I expressed milk into a bottle and this was his next feed when he woke up then expressed another bottle for his next feed, this morning I've tried him on the breast again and were having the same battle. It's like he wants my nipple but doesn't at the same time. Any ideas before I completely give up breast feeding? I never had this problem with my daughter.

 

[Debi]

Sounds like nipple confusion. Often when really young babies are given a bottle they can start to prefer it over the breast because the milk comes out faster and it takes less work (older babies can more easily switch between). Maybe try lots of skin to skin and camp out in bed for a day or two if you can, nursing as much as possible? Skin to skin really encourages nursing. I'd try not to give too much formula, or if you do give formula make sure you express at the same time to keep your supply up. Don't give up! There will be plenty more with better advise than me.

 

[Pearls18]

I think it's nipple confusion too. We have used a dummy this time, and after the first time he did what you described so I banned the dummy for a couple days, then we tried a different one and he's been fine although I do notice sometimes the feed directly after a dummy use can be a little sore as he latches differently. If you want to carry on BF I would try a break from the bottle for a couple days.

 

[babyjan]

Yep sounds like nipple confusion, if you want to stick to bf I'd stop the bottle feeding x

 

[mummytobe_93]

My baby did this from day three and I stopped breastfeeding and ended up expressing when she was three and a half weeks I started trying to breast feed again, it took hours of her crying and fighting to latch and now she does it pretty much instantly she is now five weeks! Stick at it, I really wanted to give up but I had to ignore her cry and try. Also you can try giving 1oz of formula to take edge off hunger so he's not so grouchy and then try to get him to latch on again? I also tried actually holding my nipple and putting it in her mouth rather than pulling her towards it, it works for me. I sometimes have problems with her not opening her mouth enough and it can be frustrating. I find she does that more when she's very sleepy and not very aware.