Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

DS is 8 weeks and I've been exclusively pumping since my milk came in. He latched perfectly in the hospital but once my milk started coming in, he wanted no part of it bc my nipples changed a lot... so, I started to pump. I will put him on the breast here and there when I don't have a bottle prepared, and he will latch and fall asleep RIGHT AWAY, so he hasn't fully fed from my breast. Is it too late to give it a shot at BF and cutting down the pumping? I just feel like I gave up too easily and am regretting it now. If anyone was successful with this, I would love to hear about your experience! Thanks!

Update:
So I tried getting him to latch once last night and twice this am... he was squirmy and wasn't interested. To avoid he and I getting frustrated, I just gave him a bottle. Well!!! He just woke up from his nap and I tried again and this time it was a success!!!! He fed for 10 minutes on each side and is as happy as can be right now! THANK YOU SO MUCH LADIES!!! I hope he keeps this up!

Message edited 2/3/2011 2:38:12 PM.

Re: Too late to latch?

My DD didn't latch until 7 W 5 D so NO it's NEVER too late. She just self weaned at 23 months! '

DO a search for my name and BFing and you'll get my story and what I did. FM if you have any questions.

If you want it you can make it happen!

Re: Too late to latch?

Not too late!! IMO, the earlier you get that latch right, the better! You can always add more pumping in but it can be difficult to correct a latch the older your baby gets. I WISH I did it earlier!

You can do it!!!!

Re: Too late to latch?

Oh wow, I'm so happy to hear this!

Is skin-to-skin still important at this age?

Re: Too late to latch?

Definitely never too late!! A friend of mine EP'd for her daughter until she was 6 MONTHS old and then put her to the breast and had NO issues!!

Re: Too late to latch?

not late at all.
same thing happened to me.
just before 2m after reading about it on here I decided to try it and it worked.

Re: Too late to latch?

Posted by Maria31

Oh wow, I'm so happy to hear this!

Is skin-to-skin still important at this age?

Re: Too late to latch?

Thank you SO much ladies!! I really hope this works for us.

Re: Too late to latch?

Defnot too late!! I had problems the first two weeksbut didn't want to give up totally so I EP'ed for 10 weeks and then devided to give it another try. After about 2 or 3 days DS latched with no problems. He was almost 3 months old. He BF's like a champ now at 6 months. Good luck!

Re: Too late to latch?

Defnot too late!! I had problems the first two weeksbut didn't want to give up totally so I EP'ed for 10 weeks and then devided to give it another try. After about 2 or 3 days DS latched with no problems. He was almost 3 months old. He BF's like a champ now at 6 months. Good luck!

Re: Too late to latch?

my DD didnt latch until 3 months old...I was lazy and didnt want to pump one night...and I said .. let's just see...and she latched from then on with no problems...and went a full year!

Never too late....sometimes they are more "mature" later on so can do it better (that is what I told myself anyway!)

Re: Too late to latch?

DEFINITELY not too late! DS was not latching properly and was having such a hard time BF in the beginning so I EP for the first 6 weeks. Someone on the boards suggested I keep trying to put DS to the breast so at 6.5 weeks I gave it a try and he latched on perfectly. ITA with the pp who said that sometimes they can do it better when they are more mature....that's what my ped/LC had told me also. He is now 10 months old and we are still going strong!

Re: Too late to latch?

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

BUMP for Update!

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Congrats - great news!

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Thats awesome! Keep it up a little more each day and as he gets better at it and more efficient at nursing you should be able to exclusively BF! Just give yourself both time to adjust!

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Wow, that is great!!

Also, if it gets tricky again what worked for me was a bath. I got in the bathtub with him and made sure he was super relaxed first and then tried latching. It was a miracle to me because we were having SUCH a hard time but he did latch!! Maybe try that if you need to..

You should be so proud of yourself! It is so convenient to BF and you can always pump more if you want to in the future.

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Congrats!

If you want to keep it up, I'd suggest offering the breast first. If he gets frustrated or uninterested, give him a bottle and try again later. I did something similar when I weaned DD off of nipple shields, and we've been going strong for about two weeks.

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Posted by Maria31

DS is 8 weeks and I've been exclusively pumping since my milk came in. He latched perfectly in the hospital but once my milk started coming in, he wanted no part of it bc my nipples changed a lot... so, I started to pump. I will put him on the breast here and there when I don't have a bottle prepared, and he will latch and fall asleep RIGHT AWAY, so he hasn't fully fed from my breast. Is it too late to give it a shot at BF and cutting down the pumping? I just feel like I gave up too easily and am regretting it now. If anyone was successful with this, I would love to hear about your experience! Thanks!

Update:
So I tried getting him to latch once last night and twice this am... he was squirmy and wasn't interested. To avoid he and I getting frustrated, I just gave him a bottle. Well!!! He just woke up from his nap and I tried again and this time it was a success!!!! He fed for 10 minutes on each side and is as happy as can be right now! THANK YOU SO MUCH LADIES!!! I hope he keeps this up!

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

Re: Too late to latch? *UPDATE - SUCCESS!!!*

What a great update!!! So glad it's going well!!