Ineffective sucking

[kdmalk]

I feel like I am going to have a question every day.

As I prepare to go back to work in a few weeks, we have started giving LO the occasional bottle. Though we have now switched to the Kiinde bottle where he has to actually suck to get the milk, it seems to be too late. He isn't really working for that either. And the result is that he isn't really getting anything out of the bottle at all because he won't suck effectively. He just wants it to dribble into his mouth.

Now he is doing very light suckling at the breast. It doesn't seem like enough to really be getting much milk and he is only swallowing every 6-8 sucks for the most part. He will have a short burst of energy in there somewhere and swallow every couple sucks for a minute or two, but then he is back to the light, quicker, and useless sucking. I am letting him stay at the breast for an eternity now to make sure he is getting some food. Even with compressions, he is still not really sucking and swallowing. His sucks seem pretty ineffective. I am having to wake him to eat, so he is being a lazy eater because he is still sleepy. even after a change and trying to rouse him, he will just go right back to sleep when I put him to the breast.

My worry now is that he isn't getting enough to eat. All he is doing is sleeping. I worry that it is because he isn't eating enough and doesn't have the energy to be awake. He is still having enough wet and poopy diapers, so I guess it can't be as bad as I think, but what can I do to get him sucking effectively again before he ends up getting himself seriously dehydrated? This has been going on for a few days now.

 

[lolalei3]

Going through exactly the same thing! Is your Lo putting on weight? I've found expressing and feeding him that as a top up is helping but it's all very frustrating!

 

[noon_child]

Now he is doing very light suckling at the breast. It doesn't seem like enough to really be getting much milk and he is only swallowing every 6-8 sucks for the most part. He will have a short burst of energy in there somewhere and swallow every couple sucks for a minute or two, but then he is back to the light, quicker, and useless sucking. I am letting him stay at the breast for an eternity now to make sure he is getting some food. Even with compressions, he is still not really sucking and swallowing. His sucks seem pretty ineffective. I am having to wake him to eat, so he is being a lazy eater because he is still sleepy. even after a change and trying to rouse him, he will just go right back to sleep when I put him to the breast.

How often would he feed if you didn't wake him?
Does he have any alert periods in the day/night?
Is his weight gain good?
Do you have any pain or distorted nipples?

 

[kdmalk]

Now he is doing very light suckling at the breast. It doesn't seem like enough to really be getting much milk and he is only swallowing every 6-8 sucks for the most part. He will have a short burst of energy in there somewhere and swallow every couple sucks for a minute or two, but then he is back to the light, quicker, and useless sucking. I am letting him stay at the breast for an eternity now to make sure he is getting some food. Even with compressions, he is still not really sucking and swallowing. His sucks seem pretty ineffective. I am having to wake him to eat, so he is being a lazy eater because he is still sleepy. even after a change and trying to rouse him, he will just go right back to sleep when I put him to the breast.

How often would he feed if you didn't wake him?
Does he have any alert periods in the day/night?
Is his weight gain good?
Do you have any pain or distorted nipples?

During the day, I have no idea how long he'd sleep if I let him. I let him go 4.5 hours the other day (that was the only long stretch for the whole day/night) and I finally just woke him. He stirs, but always goes back to sleep. At night he consistently wakes to eat every 2-2.5 hours.
He does have a couple alert periods during the day. Usually a short one in the morning and then he will be awake for several hours in the afternoon or evening.
His weight gain has been great. Our scale at home won't give the same weight twice, so we can't keep up with it at home, but his last visit to the doctor was a week ago and he has gained fantastically. Doctor is pleased.
I do have the lipstick nipple on occasion. I typically don't have pain, but sometimes he refuses to latch with his mouth open wide enough so I take a bit of a beating when that happens, but it isn't all the time.

After keeping a careful eye on him, I do think he is probably getting enough to eat. He seems to be a bit more focused when eating and is actually eating for the most part now. But it still worries me that he is so lethargic.

 

[noon_child]

Sounds like maybe he still has his days and nights mixed up a bit. As long as he DOES wake for feeds it isn't concerning if there are times of the day when he'd prefer to sleep (make sure you try to sleep too as it won't last forever).