Help! Nipple rejection!

T

Tiggee

Member
My baby is a week old and refuse to latch, cos the 1st few days no milk and baby tried to latch and suck but no milk so he was very frustrated and cried so we fed him fomular milk. But now i have a very good supply of milk but when I attempt to latch, he will cry until very jia lat! So I'm currently feeding him EBM.

Anybody can give me any advice on how I can get my baby to latch again?
 
B

biBee

New Member
my bb also din wanna latch initially... same story as yours... Nw she's 5+ mth and takes from bottle and breast :)

I tried different ways
-use a nipple shield: If the 'plastic' feeling is what my baby prefers, then I thought I give her something similar. It did help her to stay on my breast a little longer and helped me with nipples sore from pumping. But she soon realised the 'shape' is different from the teat on the bottle and started to cry again. I have avent, medela and pigeon ones but only tried the avent type.
-change to wide neck bottles: the shape of standard size teat is different from nipple on breast so I thought of getting her used to 'opening' her mouth wider first. I used tommee tippee at first and now bb likes avent bottles (gd also cos i can pump in directly and store).
-Try latching bb on when she is not so hungry: If bb feeds every 2h, I'll try to latch her on 1/2 h earlier. Or I bottle feed her for a while first then switch to breast. The idea is to let her get used to the breast. I thinking latching on is something bb has to learn if she already prefers bottle. If she gets too upset after a few tries then I would let her try again later.
-check the milk flow on your breast: even now my bb will fuss and turn her head away if the flow is too fast/slow. If breast is full and causes fast flow, try to pump out some milk first before offering breast to bb.

It's important that she doesnt reject immediately when you bring her near to your breast so don't force if she doesnt want. You need alot of patience to keep trying until she gets it. Support from your hubby/mother/best friends helps too!
 
Amulet

Amulet

Active Member
wat i did was to go cold turkey on bottle..

no bottles, no EBM, no pacifier.. only breast.. either you take it, or you goes hungry..

within 24hrs, she's back on breast again..

they will have this insatiable urge to suck on something.. if you offers nothing else to suck other than ur breast, the child will relent n take your breast willingly soon..
 
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A

ast0212

Member
I did the exact same thing as Amulet and it worked. I struggled with my boy for 3 months till I realised it was the bottles and stopped them completely. After that he got used to the breast and took to it like a pro.
 
T

Tiggee

Member
Maybe I should go cold turkey on him. But he always cry until very poor thing, like as if ppl bully him.
Is it okay to just let him cry it out?
 
Amulet

Amulet

Active Member
Tiggee said:
Maybe I should go cold turkey on him. But he always cry until very poor thing, like as if ppl bully him.
Is it okay to just let him cry it out?
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of coz he will cry, just like he will cry wen he becomes 3yo, insist on eating potato chips for 3 meals and didn't get it.. just like ppl bully him..

but it's perfectly fine.. it will stress you n others around for sure.. but he will be just fine.. pacify him by carrying him, singing to him, ect.. keep offering the breast every hour..

be sure to grit ur teeth, toughen ur heart n hang on.. giving up halfway is really waste of time and effort.. the next time round u wan to try cold turkey again, he is going to put up a even tougher fight..

he should gave up n agree to latch on within 24 hrs-72hrs..

if u are worry about him being dehydrated, u can still give him EBM via syringe.. just dont give him anything to suck..
 
T

Tiggee

Member
Amulet said:
of coz he will cry, just like he will cry wen he becomes 3yo, insist on eating potato chips for 3 meals and didn't get it.. just like ppl bully him..

but it's perfectly fine.. it will stress you n others around for sure.. but he will be just fine.. pacify him by carrying him, singing to him, ect.. keep offering the breast every hour..

be sure to grit your teeth, toughen your heart n hang on.. giving up halfway is really waste of time and effort.. the next time round you want to try cold turkey again, he is going to put up a even tougher fight..

he should gave up n agree to latch on within 24 hours-72hrs..

if you are worry about him being dehydrated, you can still give him EBM via syringe.. just dont give him anything to suck..
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I'll try on Monday when my mum isn't ard, cos she very heart pain when my baby cry den will ask me to feed bottle.
 
S

SunshineSheens

Member
This is the very reason why introducing the bottle so early is not advisable specially if you really want to breastfeed your baby. Recommended age of babies to introduce bottle is ATLEAST 5weeks. Baby for sure will get nipple confusion if you introduce it earlier than the said age.

You need to get rid of all the "temptation" (bottles, formula milk, pacifiers) and be firm on offering your breasts to baby. Go to kellymom.com and look for nursing strike, there are some tips there. It's the same procedure being done for nipple confused babies :)
 
Mommyforallseason

Mommyforallseason

Member
Do not try to starve your baby into nursing. Your baby is not refusing to nurse just because he doesn't want to and is being stubborn, so ignore anyone who tells you that "baby will nurse when he gets hungry enough.

In general, a baby who won't nurse, can't nurse. Your goal is to (hopefully) identify why baby can't nurse and either remedy the problem, work around the problem, and/or preserve your milk supply until the problem remedies itself (sometimes necessary for ill, small or premature babies).

Keep baby as full and happy as possible, i.e. continue to offer expressed mother's milk, banked milk, formula or solids (if baby is old enough), but gradually get closer and closer to the nursing position, skin-to-skin, etc

Maintaining milk supply when baby is not nursing

Make sure that a physical problem is not causing baby to resist nursing. Could baby have a birth injury or other condition that makes positioning for nursing painful? Is baby having problems with breathing while nursing or coordinating sucking and swallowing? Does baby have an overactive gag reflex that makes nursing uncomfortable? Does baby have severe reflux that makes feeding painful? Does baby have a sore throat from suctioning or other medical interventions? These are just some of the things that might interfere with breastfeeding.

Sometimes a baby will aggressively refuse the breast for no discernable reason - this baby will often resist being held, and may also be easily overstimulated. These babies can be transitioned to breastfeeding, but it should be done very gently so that baby becomes comfortable with being at the breast
 
S

SunshineSheens

Member
Tiggee said:
My baby is a week old and refuse to latch, cos the 1st few days no milk and baby tried to latch and suck but no milk so he was very frustrated and cried so we fed him fomular milk. But now i have a very good supply of milk but when I attempt to latch, he will cry until very jia lat! So I'm currently feeding him EBM.

Anybody can give me any advice on how I can get my baby to latch again?
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I forgot to add, not everybody gets to have milk right away after giving birth. Your baby needs colostrum on his first few days, not milk. I advise you read on kellymom.com or do check la leche league's website. You will learn a lot from these 2 websites.
 
T

Tiggee

Member
I tried for a day, but he still refuses to latch. I'm getting very exhausted from washing bottles and the pump.
 
whomovedmycheese

whomovedmycheese

Active Member
How about dripping a few drops of milk onto your nipple and let your baby recognize the familiar smell then attempt to suck? That's what the lactation consultant did when my bb didn't recognize my nipple. If he is able to recognize it, next step is to latch whole day. O ya, which bottle r u using? I had nipple confusion initially too and immediately changed it to nuk. After that ok already
 
T

Tiggee

Member
Currently using advent. Maybe I shld buy NUK bottles. I tried the dripping method, but it doesnt work. He still cries and refuse to latch.
 
whomovedmycheese

whomovedmycheese

Active Member
Tiggee said:
Currently using advent. Maybe I shld buy NUK bottles. I tried the dripping method, but it doesnt work. He still cries and refuse to latch.
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I suggest you might want to go back to Tmc and get the lactation consultant for help. I had gotten help last time too and my hb and myself felt it was money spent worthwhile. Btw, I had gone to the one at mt a instead.
 
J

Jinny

Member
Agreed to attending lactation consultant at Mt A! I can attest they are really patient with you and baby. They will guide you and teach you proper latching. There's group session and 1 to 1 session. I attended both, there's good and bad. In group session, the time will be distributed to other mummies so you might not get the whole attention from the consultant during the entire hour but you get to see how and wat problems other mummies there face and can share your problem. 1 to 1 don need to wait for other mummies' availability, and u get the consultant's full attention.
 
J

Jinny

Member
Tiggee said:
I'll ask my hubby abt it. Dunno if my mum will let me out during confinement. If not, I'll have to wait till confinement is over.
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Try not to wait too long if not baby will reject ur breast more. Bring your mom or hubby( not allowed for grp session) along, wear jacket to keep yourself warm. Ur mum or hubby will also benefit and understand the greatness of breastfeeding. I also attended during my confinement with hubby, and he totally convinced in total breastfeeding and very supportive. To me, baby's feeding is more important than my own health so I just go during confinement..
 
whomovedmycheese

whomovedmycheese

Active Member
Jinny said:
Try not to wait too long if not baby will reject ur breast more. Bring your mom or hubby( not allowed for grp session) along, wear jacket to keep yourself warm. Ur mum or hubby will also benefit and understand the greatness of breastfeeding. I also attended during my confinement with hubby, and he totally convinced in total breastfeeding and very supportive. To me, baby's feeding is more important than my own health so I just go during confinement..
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Totally agree.. I think you should attend it asap if you can. I attended the one to one session with my hb and he felt it's money worth spent.
 
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