Help with my 2-month old - rejecting the nipple

[CzechCzar]

Hi there,

As mom is asleep with baby I thought I'd post our situation in the hopes that one of you can help.

Our baby is exactly two months old. She had a completely natural childbirth - 30.5 hours in labor (go mom!) - and she has been exclusively breastfed, except for the first few days when mom's nipples were bleeding.

Baby's grandmother advised us to get baby used to using pacifiers, as they can help calm a crying baby. We have only recently - within the past two weeks - had any success with them.

A little more than a week ago, baby got her first round of vaccinations. She was extremely fussy for a week, and now she seems to have returned to her old, happy self. With one big exception: at night, when she is fussy, she does not take the breast, and is only happy with a bottle. This is obviously bad.

My thoughts on this are that one of two things are happening - either she's just in the two-month growth spurt, in which case it's merely an odd proclivity that will disappear with time, or she is getting used to the plastic nipple, and is confused at mommy's breast. We are using NUK pacifiers, primarily.

So, my question is, how likely is it that she has gotten used to the plastic nipple, and is getting confused by mom's breast? We want to feed her exclusively breast milk, so if she's starting to get accustomed to the plastic nipples and forget how to use mommy's, we want to nip this in the bud, and readjust her to exclusively breasts. If she is getting used to the plastic nipple, how should we get her used to the breast again without starving her?

 

[rachelleigh]

We just FINALLY got past nipple confusion/bottle preference at 2.5 months after struggling with breastfeeding from day 1. It took a ton of work to overcome and it was an incredibly trying experience. I think you are doing the right thing by trying to nip it in the bud early.

We ended up seeking the help of an occupational therapist who specialized in breastfeeding. Our baby had a tongue tie and some other stuff going on from birth but we weren't able to see how he was progressing because he refused the breast. She felt that the issue was that he was used to the instant gratification of the bottle and wasn't willing to "work" for a letdown at the breast. We were given a SNS (supplemental nursing system, I think?), which is this little soft silicone bottle that holds 2oz with a tiny silicone tube at the bottom that is about a foot long. You fill up the bottle with expressed milk, tape the end of the tube near your nipple so that a bit of the tube goes beyond the nipple. You can have someone hold up the bottle or tuck it into your bra strap up near your shoulder. There is a little stopper that can keep the milk from flowing. When the baby is latching, you make sure the milk is flowing so they immediately get it when they latch on. It's a great way to get the baby back to the breast. I seriously never thought I would be able to nurse exclusively and now my baby hasn't had a bottle in over a week. This was going from baby screaming, flailing around and having a massive freak out every time we tried to nurse to baby loving nursing as if it's the only way he's ever fed! So it can be done and we were kind of an extreme case.

I'd look into finding a lactation consultant who might be able to help and could provide you with an SNS if you want to try it. It's a lot of work but for us was totally worth it!