newborn won't latch

[J.D.]

Hi guys

In hospital with my one day old Georgia. Intended to exclusively bf.
Had a traumatic birth with lots of narcotics so she didn't manage to latch that first hour.
Midwives have been trying to help. Mostly have been squeezing my nipples so tight they ache now and shoving them in her mouth. She does get a latch but only sucks once or twice before giving up.

She cries all the time. I'm expressing as much colostrum as I can but it's not much. Her blood sugar dropped after birth and now she's been cup feed formula twice. It was either that or put her in the special care unit on a glucose drip.

I'm exhausted, crying,, but trying so hard. Any ideas?

 

[Nicolalove353]

My son had issues latching also. They only thing I can suggest is a nipple shield. I wish someone told me about that sooner. Not sure though if that is the problem for you or not? Congrats on your new baby!

 

[merristems]

Hiya I wouldnt go down the nipple shield root unless you absolutely need to if shes having latch issues this will exasperate the issue. My girl had latch issues too even though we had a drug free labour. Any colustrum you can give her is amazing and you wont get much to begin with. I had to hand express for two days which killed me and barely got any like 0.5ml! Eventually the put me on the breast pump and I got an ounce off both boobs by day 3. We cup fed her the colostrum and ebm milk which helped her figure out how to use her tongue and she did evenually latch brilliantly once she had some food in her tummy and wasnt tired. Not to say our story ended there though we have had to supplement for first 7wks but im building my supply now and she only gets the odd ebm top up. Dont be afraid to ask for help or to tell them to back off! Sit skin to skin with her as much as possible, I always bfed her topless in hospital, it was so hot in there! The best advise imcan give is take it feed by feed, try to believe that you can get her on. Have they checked for tongue tie?

 

[Elmo5]

Hiya I wouldnt go down the nipple shield root unless you absolutely need to if shes having latch issues this will exasperate the issue.

I have to disagree on this point. I also suffered from a baby who would not latch, and I was not allowed home until feeding properly. On day 5 they suggested nipple shields and this is what got us kick started. I eventually weaned her off them about 4 weeks later when she was that little bit bigger.

You need to be expressing every couple of hours, and ask if you are allowed to use the hospital pump once your milk starts to come in.

The only thing I can say is persevere, lots of skin to skin, and try to relax. It is worth it in the end.

 

[noon_child]

I know the formula wasn't what you intended but it was used to replace that post-birth feed that you didn't manage to have (through no falut of your own!). It is done, forget about it and move on - a few sips of formula doesn't mean you can't go on to breastfeed your baby perfectly well.

Grabbing your boob and pushing it in to LO's mouth is very old-school practice and not what trained lactation consultants would recommend. I was so frustrated in hospital because the lovely, properly trained L.C didn't work nights (which of course is when babies want to feed) and the staff who were on call were of the battle-axe midwife variety. I got different advice from each of them and felt very lost and my nipples were damaged - which made future attempts to latch more traumatic, so persevere with trying to get a 'good' latch and not any latch at any cost.

If you don't like the MW approach tell them to back off, and request proper LC support. If there aren't any in the hospital maybe an LLL or NCT rep could visit you in hospital?

I hand expressed cholostrum too and it is normal for there to only be a tiny bit (0.2ml each boob!). I was told babies are born fat so that they can survive with only these tiny bits of cholostrum.

 

[Mum2BKW]

Wait until baby has a REALLY wide gape before you try to latch her, you might need to react quickly as some babies don't hold their mouths open for long. On occasion my Hubbie would pull her bottom jaw down slightly to encourage her to open wider when she was being lazy
Move the baby to your breast (not the other way round) and make sure her chin is first to touch, it should hit the very bottom of your areola or even slightly below. Your nipple should be right at the top of babies mouth so you can see the top of your areola but not the bottom.
If the latch hurts for more than about 10 seconds (it will be sore for the first few sucks) take baby off and try again.
You'll get there - both of you are learning! Good luck Xx

 

[J.D.]

Hi guys

thanks for the replies. I'm so exhausted I'm having trouble keeping up with anything.

the problem is apparently my nipples -- completely flat. Georgia is trying so hard, doing everything she should, but nothing seems to work. Tried the shields.

We ended up switching to bottles so that we could get discharged and go home. I was just exhausted and crying all the time in the hospital. We got home today and so far I've expressed about 60mls and she has drank it all. She's also drinking the formula, but I figure every drop of breast milk I can give her will help.

I'm going to try and pump every day now and see can I build up my supply. If I can't have her on the boob, at least she can get as much actual breast milk as I can provide.

 

[noon_child]

Hi guys

thanks for the replies. I'm so exhausted I'm having trouble keeping up with anything.

the problem is apparently my nipples -- completely flat. Georgia is trying so hard, doing everything she should, but nothing seems to work. Tried the shields...I'm going to try and pump every day now and see can I build up my supply. If I can't have her on the boob, at least she can get as much actual breast milk as I can provide.

Do your nipples stand out after you've used the pump for a few minutes? If so, you could try latching her on at this point.

 

[Anh1982]

My daughter spent a couple days in NICU and was formula fed at first, and even a couple days once she came home until my milk came in. We used a nipple shield for a few weeks until we got the latch figured out, but now she's about a week shy of eight months and has been EBF ever since my milk came in. Don't feel bad, you can still get there! (I took advice from nurses and a lactation consultant along the way until I found advice that worked for me and my daughter.)

 

[girlnboots]

My baby was a "Lazy nurser" in the hospital. If my nipple wasn't in the back of her mouth, she didn't understand the concept to suck. The shield helped amazingly, but bfing didn't go so well so we ended up formula feeding anyways.

We had to give my baby some formula in the hospital as well. Didn't seem to effect her in the slightest except for getting her blood sugar back up. No worries

 

[makemeamammy]

We had the exact same problems in the hospital and for the first day or two afterwards and I had no drugs either. Your nipples do take a few days to get used to the sucking I found and once my milk came in DD seemed to understand it better. I would attempt getting her to latch after 5 mins of pumping or by one of those 'latch assist' nipple sucker things to pull out your nipple before a feed. I think, as it's been a few days and you are pumping your nipples won't be as sore.

Best advice I got for cracked nipples was to rub a bit of colostrum/milk on to them, leave them exposed to dry then a bit of lansinoh and if possible another few minutes exposure in the air. Mine cleared up a treat and haven't bothered me since.

Hugs to you, I found those first few days so hard and was so exhausted by her constant attempts at feeding on agonising nipples so I really feel for you. Xxx