My breastfeeding story.

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sfp0701
Liam's Mommy!

Member since 1/07

9764 total posts

Name:
Tricia

My breastfeeding story.

So here's how it went...

Liam was 3 weeks early. So we knew we would have some nursing issues. I tried to nurse him right after delivery with the help of my midwife.. but, he just couldn't do it.

The whole night and next morning I tried and tried. He was able to latch on.. and then did nothing. No suckling at all.

I finally got the lactation consultant in.. and honestly she was useless. She taught me some holds and said to keep trying and then told me to give him formula. She was right with that. He hadn't eaten at all and it was the next afternoon. he was already at risk for jaundice being early and not eating would just make it worse.

So, then my Mom came up. She got him to latch on and suckle like 3 to 4 times. Then he would release and we would relatch. But, it went on forever and wasn't nursing. So we gave him some more formula. I tried all night again and nothing.

So, the next day the lactation consultant gave me a hand pump, and nipple shield. She told me that he has a weak suck and it would take a week or two to develop a good one. She told me to pump to bring down my milk, point out my nipples and eventuall I could feed him that in a bottle. She told me that in the meantime I have to try nursing all the time, feed him formula and have him practice on my finger.

I called my Mom distraught. I just knew that this little guy was having so much trouble and that a bottle would just ruin any progress we made. In fact.. the little bit of sucking he learned was gone after he ate two bottles.

So, she had Dh run to BBB and pick up this Medala product that she used with some of her patients.

It is a bottle with two straws coming from it. You fill it with milk (formula or breast milk). You take the straws and place them down your breast onto the nipple and tape it on above your nipple. The baby is then placed on your nipple and he sucks. He gets immediate feedback because the milk flows from the tube. He is also learning to suck/strenthen his suck. He is also getting breast milk because he is actually sucking your nipple. He is also stimulating your milk supply.

After two uses.. YES TWO... Liam learned to breast feed and now has the strongest suck! He never had a weak suck. He needed to be taught that milk comes from the breast and sucking brings it out. Then we worked on his latch and what positons worked best. For me, it is the football hold. If he is fussy, it's the only one he uses. At first it is all we used.. but, after one day, we are using some other holds with some success.

Honestly, I was so upset and frustrated and I knew in my heart that bottles, for this little guy, were not the answer. It would just reinforce his weak sucking behavior because a bottle and breast are sucked two different ways.

So, the product is called the supplemental nursing system by Medela. When my midwife came and saw how successful it was for me, she called another patient and recommended that she try it.

Posted 5/16/09 10:46 PM