3 mo old STILL not feeding after cold - any ideas?

[AngryGnome]

DS is 3 months old, and I am breastfeeding him. He has had a cold, which he is mostly over now, although he is still a bit snuffly.

Whilst he was poorly he couldn't feed properly, so I just did little and often feeding with him. However, he now seems to have forgotten how to feed! He will latch on but only suck for a minute or two. I posted on this a few days ago, and i was hoping that he would just start getting back into the habit of feeding. The longest feed he has had in the past week is about 10 mins. Still plenty of wet nappies and dirty nappies (excitingly coloured green poo, and he is well in himself.

I wondered if this could be a nursing strike? I've checked the Kellymom website, and it suggests bottle feeding expressed milk alongside bf'ing to make sure he is getting enough nutriotion, and then phase out the bottle as he starts bf'ing again.

The problem is that I have never been able to express much milk (the most i can express in a day is about 1-2oz) so I will have to supplement with formula...if i do this I am worried my milk supply will fall and then I'll end up having to stop bf'ing altogether.

Any ideas???

Hmm. In that minute or two, is he sucking much? Swallowing? How often is he feeding?

Have you been suffering with engorgement? (I'd expect that, if he'd stopped feeding.)

You say he's snuffly, is his nose blocked? Do any of the options for unblocking it tempt? (steam, goop on a flannel near him, the weird bulb thing to suck it out, or sucking it out directly)

I'd assume he's ok, I mean he's still peeing and pooing lots, so he must be getting milk, he's decided he wants to feed little and often.

Is he feeding often in the night? That would be annoying. Some babies around this age like the first let down, and then get impatient with slower letdown. Breast compression (google, with 'jack newman') can help with that ...

thanks not quite cockney

He does suck frantically for those few minutes, and then something seems to go wrong! I don't think it is a latch issue, but suddely nothing seems to come when he sucks. He is currently feeding about once an hour, but seems quite grizzly in between feeds so i think he is hungry. I think it might be something to do with impatience about a slow let down. He has always been quite an impatient feeder and fussed whilst waiting for the let down, but he seems to be getting worse since his cold. He is able to feed better at night, and I'm a bit concerned about getting into a pattern where his main feeds are in the middle of the night rather than through the day. At the mooment though, I'll just settle for getting milk into him at any time!

Thanks for the advice re. breast compresssion, I'll check it out.

Ooh yes I would recommend breast compression too, its what worked when my DD was all enthusiastic for the foremilk then couldn't be bothered to get the hindmilk as it was quite an effort. What works for me holding my boob like you would a hamburger and it helps with let down.