Can babies learn to BF after 3 weeks?

[PlantGirl]

Hi,
I had a baby girl (Alice) three weeks ago at 35+4. (Due date was 28th March.) After a night in SCBU and a bit of jaundice she is doing very well. However, she has not got the idea of how to breast-feeding, despite all the efforts of midwives and bf helpers in the hospital who tell me that position and attachment is fine.

I REALLY REALLY want to bf, and am worried that she has got too used to bottle teats (which were necessary in the first few days to keep her weight up). I have been expressing and feeding her formula top-up (about 50/50).

Can anyone tell me whether she is likely to learn how to do it after this amount of time? Or am I doomed to fail? Does anyone have experience of a baby (premature or not) learning to bf after a few weeks of bottles?

Thanks,
Helen

Yes, she can learn. DD didn't wait that long, but it was 3 weeks before we were on the up and I felt we were starting to get there. She was in SCBU for 3 days tube-fed (she didn't have a "sucky" feed at all for her first 3 days), then bottle-fed, then top-ups (formula and ebm then ebm) and now she's been ebf for some time.

Do you use a teat that she has to work at to get the milk? And do you insist on a decent latch even with bottles? We found that we had to get DD used to opening her mouth wide, and putting her tongue down, with her bottles before she got the hang of doing it with me.

That's one side of the issue.

The other is that ideally you need to transition her top-ups to just ebm, so that you know you have enough milk for her and don't risk a weight dip if you transition to ebf and then need to increase your supply dramatically. Do you have a double pump?

Yes, this is possible. You do need expert, knowledgable support - and a plan.

50/50 formula and breastmilk needs to change asap. It's good you are producing milk but expressing needs to take place at least 8-10 times in 24 hours inc at night - any less than this and your milk will dwindle.

Lots of skin to skin; responding to each and every feeding cue; not judging adequacy of feeding by how long the baby sleeps; 'wearing' your baby in a sling close to you; all these things will help. Is there someone among the ppl you have already seen who you feel really knows her stuff?

My DS cracked it (sort of) after 3 weeks. It was a long, hard slog though and we never settled into a fully bf routine as I had had enough by that point , luckily I was always able to express loads although I did use formula at night. We bf about 50% of the time until 3 months when he refused to latch on again so I just expressed for a few weeks until my supply tailed off. Not the start I had planned and TBH I took it one feed at a time, would he latch on / did I have some EBM in the fridge or would it be formula?

The bounty lady that visited me in the hospital after I had DS said her DC took 7 weeks to latch on .

It is totally possible but I agree that you need help from bf counsellor or similar.

My DD was 31+1. She was tube fed then bottle fed then when she was about 7 weeks old she finally latched on and hasn't looked back. I was slightly different in that I was already expressing all her feeds, so we just went cold turkey on the bottles, with her getting weighed twice a week by the HV to check she was doing ok.

I would second the suggestion that you up the expressing if you can. It is exhausting feeding and caring for a baby plus frequent expressing. But worth it.

I still bf DD at 11mo.

Yes, it is possible. For reasons of destroyed nipples, my DD spent the first 11 weeks feeding expressed milk from bottles or from the breast via shields. I just couldn't let her on the breast directly they were so damaged. At 11 weeks I gave biological nurturing a go and we've never looked back. She's now 5 months and still EBF and my boobs are fine.

Yes very possible. My DS was bottle ed EBM until he was 6 weeks and then took the breast with the aid of nipple shields. He fed until he was 4 years old .

Do you have a local LLL group you can contact for help? My local group was a great source of support and one of their leaders helped me, mostly over the phone.

How often are you expressing atm?

Thanks for all your words of encouragement. I am expressing 8 times a day for 20 minutes but only get about 30-40ml each time. 20 minutes was suggested to me by a midwife in hospital. Is that long enough? (It's already hard to do along with 3 hour feeds!)

I was also prescribed Domperidone to increase lactation, but it has had little effect. Today I bought some 'nursing tea' from a Napier's herbal shop. Has anyone tried this?

I'm going to be referred to a breast feeding expert by my health visitor tomorrow. It's just very dispiriting as she shows now signs of interest in latching, and I can't quite imagine her suddenly getting it!

Helen x

PlantGirl, I have PM'd you with some info.

Thanks Tiktok - much appreciated! x

I have today got the book what to expect when your brest feeding and what if you cant, by Clare Byam Cook (Im pg and hoping to BF)

one of the case studies was for a child who was bottle fed for 7 weeks and then went onto be breast fed. I had no idea that was possible

I think I'm just reiterating what others have said, but yes it can be done. My DD would simply not latch on to me at all for 5 weeks, so I expressed and topped up with formula. Eventually, after offering the breast first at every oportunity, and using nipple shields initially, she just "got it".

I was encouraged to keep trying by my Mum telling me my twin brothers both learnt to bf after six weeks of tube and bottle feeding in hospital.

Don't give up hope if it's what you want x

Domperidone will only help if you are getting the milk out of your breasts otherwise your breasts will continually be signalling that less milk is needed.

20 minutes is a common target suggested, but you need to be expressing until nothing comes out - and then for a minute or two more.