Curling up when at the breast?

[gertrude]

Hiya

My LO is combination fed. I did think I was going to have to go to 100% formula but we're trying hard to remain combination fed with LO having the breast first at all feeds (though I usually have 1 feed off a day).

Since becoming more relaxed my milk has increased (typical eh ) and whereas before I could get 1oz max from expressing I can now get between 2 and 3

However, LO doesn't seem to want to feed anymore. She has done combination feeding since she was 10days old and it's worked really well for us and for a while last week she had a great suck on the boob and we had some really good feeds.

That's all changed though and for the third day running she just won't latch. Instead she just curls up in a tight ball and bashes her head against the boob and moves so I get a friction burn She doesn't want to latch to suck so I'm having to express as often as possible to try to maintain my supply.

She does this the second she gets near them (either side) whether she's offered the breast first or bottle first.

It's starting to make me really upset tbh, after all our battles I thought we had established a good routine with the combination feeding - whilst it's not what I want it was working for her but now it's not.

I have been taking fenugreek tablets to help maintain what I have and I did wonder if they could be making the fussing worse but it's been going on longer than I've been taking those

any ideas?

 

[CeriB]

I would imagine that she prefers the ease of drinking from a bottle, TBH. Milk from a bottle just pours out with minimal, if any, effort from her. Nursing from you takes more effort and time.

If you supply has increased, have you thought about weaning her off the bottle? If she does have a bit of nipple confusion or she is getting lazy at the boob, the only way to get her back there more often may be to remove the bottle?

 

[MelanieAnn]

Agree with pp.

Skin to skin resolves all sorts of issues. Breast refusal is quite common after this sort of complication, and soft, non-pressured skin to skin often makes things better. Baths together can really help, too.

If you really want to breastfeed, could you work with an IBCLC? Because this sort of thing is complicated, and generally requires a lot of ongoing support.

 

[punk_pig]

My LO did a weird thing where as she got to the breast instead of tipping her head back when opening her mouth she would push her chin to her chest and hunch her shoulders up - does that sound the same?

I never got a straight answer from HV about what this was but others suggested wind, reflux, tiredness. She grew out of it, but she never refused as badly as your LO. I could get her on in the end by swaddling her and being firm in my control of her shoulders. Have you tried a swaddle?

If you have a very active let down she could be daunted by the amount of milk she has to deal with, and if fenugreek has done it's job you could have a larger volume of fore milk coming through at let down and it could take longer for the slower flowing milk to appear - which could all be too much for her at the moment.

 

[gertrude]

and as if to prove me a liar she just ate perfectly from me

babies - little monkeys they are