What to do about a "lazy" EBF baby plus a suitable bottle/teat to use while I am in hospital

[SweetApril]

Hi there. I wonder if anyone can help.

DS (8wks) is EBF but it has been a real struggle in terms of weight gain (very slow) and generally because he is such a slow/lazy feeder. Takes at least 1.5 hours to feed because his sucking becomes less strong after a few minutes and he often falls asleep there very quickly and no amount of tickling, undressing etc will disturb him.

If anyone has any tips on how to improve this or at least can suggest if/when he might improve by himself I would be extremely grateful. I saw a breastfeeding counsellor at the beginning and go to a peer support group every week but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of advice to sort this out. I tried breast compression (found article from link on here) but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Also I have to have a hospital test in the next couple of weeks and have been told I'm not able to bf for 24 hours afterwards. I'm planning to start expressing this week and store it in the freezer to give him during that time and to express during the 24 hours to keep up supply even though I'll have to chuck it out. Anyway, can anyone recommend a suitable type of bottle to use during that time - basically one that's not too 'easy' and therefore likely to make him even lazier at the breast. Also, how much am I supposed to give him at each feed? I really don't have the foggiest!

TIA

periods don't affect supply, we're just unlucky that they start early. Some people report increased fussy behaviour at certain times of the month.

Looks like you been given plenty of advice, but I just wanted to say that DD generally put on a max of 3oz a week.

I am also a very big boobed mummy and it took ages with both my children to find comfy positions. My DD (nearly 6 months) puts on 5-6oz per week and is very satisfied and now down to 5 mins each side per feed, although in the first few weeks fed for much longer.

Have you tried to use a sling/stretchy piece of fabric around your neck and under your boob to lift your boob slightly, there is a diagram of this technique in the book 'Bestfeeding'.

As for the periods, you must be super fertile, I too got mine back after 3 months with each baby despite ebf!

You sound like you are doing wonderfully, the feed time will decrease once you get the latch right, you just need to persevere.

With big boobs, you often do need to support your breast - not to lift it in place as such - but to hold it still so the baby can maintain the latch. Once the baby gets older, you can generally stop the support - DD supports my breast herself by grabbing a bit handful of it as she feeds.

I cannot recommend switch feeding enough. Could it be perhaps that you (like me) have a slow letdown so your baby gets a bit of milk and then loses interest as it doesn't come fast enough? This sounds like the problem I had when I was feeding DS2. Switch feeding is the breastfeeding equivalent of unblocking the drain so to speak. I did it with DD in the early days and I can't believe the difference it has made to my supply and overall efficiency of feeds.

Hi again, everyone. Thank you all so much for your continuing support.

We are persevering with the rugby hold and switch nursing and both have helped improve things a bit although I can see that DS is already "getting used" to these changes! Initially it certainly kept him more awake but now he is settling into it I think he's starting to snooze again. Definitely switch nursing does help although it's hard going in the middle of the night!

Islandgirl - did you try the boob sling thing yourself? It was suggested to me early on by the breastfeeding counsellor but she hadn't seen it in action, so to speak, and neither of us could find a decent pic anywhere. I might try and find a copy of that book on ebay - bit pricey to buy on amazon.

I saw the counsellor again who checked the latch and says it's absolutely fine - which is good but also a bit frustrating because I'm constantly looking for ways to make improvements.

Am having a bit of a crisis of confidence this week as I am worried he's not getting enough calories and that's why he's not gaining more weight. He's not crying for food all the time but maybe he's kind of got used to it and now thinks hunger is a normal state

Arh, ignore me. Have had a long sleepless night so a bit fed up.

Tittybo - I am still trying to find out the name of this drug - radiographers constantly busy - and then I will probably come back for more of your fab advice if that's OK.

TittyBo - I've just heard back from the radiographer's assistant that, depending on the results of my blood tests (which are not available yet), they will either use Prohance or Multihance. I've had a very quick google and it seems that these are gadolinium-based but I presume that's not exactly the same as gadolinium. So now I'm thinking I should not feed for the 24 hrs. But I will contact the specialist pharmacist anyway. The assistant couldn't help much as they rarely have breastfeeding mothers in for MRI with contract dye, apparently. Glad to hear any advice you may have.

Oh, and I forgot to say the dosage will be 10ml.