Please Help - 3 weeks old and stopped latching on!

[DomesticG0ddess]

Any advice would be appreciated because I am at the end of my tether and close to giving up bfing. Have had a lot of pain on the left side since he was born, treating us both for thrush incase it is that (still not completely sure), and on Friday took him to a breastfeeding group where the mw diagnosed him with tongue tie, which could explain the pain. So she snipped his frenulum. Friday eve, Sat, Sun, all fine - still painful, but good feeding and seemed a bit more efficient, not taking a full hour, etc. Saturday especially he seemed very settled. Anyway, woke up for feed at 11pm last night and was completely unable to latch on. We tried for a long long time. He wanted to, but really couldn't. So we cup fed him, which is OK, and have done a couple of times since.

Since then he seems to have managed to get some milk from the right side, but I am not sure if it was just dripping into his mouth.

I can't express and cup feed any longer than today really because DH goes back to work tomorrow. I really want to bf, esp as I struggled last time, but I just don't know what is going on. Does he need to relearn how to latch? If this was the case I would have expected it to be from Friday. Has anyone had this happen to them?

Just to add, the mw has been and says the tongie tie snip looks fine, she thinks it could be stomach pains, but I don't see how this would make him try to latch but not be able to. Spoke to LLL woman who thought it very odd too, but would email me some links later. Don't really know where else to ask.

I think it's odd, too.

The sort of things that spring to mind include

• ear infection
• torticollis (though why now?)

Thrush is unusual in v. young baby.

He's not fighting at the breast from what you say - he wants to latch on but can't. Very strange.

Does he appear to have difficulty co-ordinating sucking and swallowing and breathing? Could it be a blocked nose, if so?

Hope you get this sorted.

Meantime keep him close and with ready access to the breast and see what happens....

Thank you. I didn't know what torticollis was, so looked it up, but you're right - why now? I guess worth bearing in mind though. What other signs would there be with an ear infection?

I don't think he has trouble co-ordinating because he is drinking/swallowing from the cup just fine, though it is difficult to tell how much he has.

It was just so weird that he went to sleep nursing fine and woke up unable to? I am so worried he is not going to get enough milk that I am going to end up using a bottle.

Anyone else?

have you tried to have a look under his tongue?
it seems incredibly unlikely given the antibacterial properties of breastmilk and the way the mouth heals, but i wondered if it could be infected and causing pain?

tho i guess then you would expect other symptoms like temperature and unhappiness...

do you have a local LLL group or anything you could go to where they can see you in person?