8 week old has stopped sucking breasts

[yumcha888]

hi everyone,
I've been exclusively breastfeeding my DS (now 8 weeks) and noticed yesterday that he still seemed hungry after each feed (sucking fingers, moving head from side to side looking for nipples) and my breasts didn't feel like they'd been emptied properly. Towards the end of the day he was getting really lethargic, just like in his first week when I wasn't producing enough milk to satisfy him. I topped up with formula and he had 60ml, so he was obviously starving!

Why has he stopped sucking at my breast?

Also, I can't get the hang of pumping at all. I'm using the Medela electric pump but it produces almost nothing and when I squeeze my breasts manually milk squirts out. I'm really worried that if this goes on for any longer my supply will dry up.

Any advice?

Sounds like your latch maybe needs a little attention. Back to basics, try and see a lactation consultant asap. Also some minor tongue ties go unnoticed for quite a while and only manifest themselves later so again, worth getting a LC to take a look.

I don't think it's a latch issue, he's latched on as usual, it's just that he isn't sucking forcefully enough. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was getting lazy....

What are his wet nappies like? Are they dark/dry?

Does he normally have a bottle or was it a one off yesterday?

When he feeds does he have a 'suck, pause, suck, pause' or 'suck, suck, pause, suck, suck, pause' pattern or is there lots of sucking but no pausing?

Have you tried during a feed to encourage suckling?

I'd 2nd athrawes suggestion of speaking to a LC/BFC or try calling one of the breastfeeding helplines.

Hi, I have been having similar problem.My 6 WO sucks and seems very hungry and keen on feeding. He latches on properly and eats eagirily for a minute or two, then starts to move away from my breast and doesn't want to suck anymore, yet is very hungry :( I end up expressing and feeding him like that otherwise he doesn't eat hardly anything :(
What am I doing wrong?

Hi TruthSweet - thanks so much for the reply - his nappies are normal, he's only been pooping once a day since he's given up sucking but if he's eating less, I guess that's to be expected. Today, after giving him formula yesterday we're back to two noisy poops a day. Before yesterday the only time he'd had a bottle was his first week when he'd lost a little too much weight, otherwise we've been successfully breastfeeding for 2 months. I've just left a message on the NCT breastfeeding helpline and will go to a BF clinic on Monday so hopefully they'll have some ideas...

Hi Lennie82, poor you! At least you are getting something out when pumping... my boobs don't seem to work with the pump but milk comes out when I hand express so I know there's something in there :-S

I'll let you know what the NCT people say...

Ok, spoke to the NCT counsellor who basically told me to not feed him formula and feed him every time he is hungry for a week and see how his weight is. I'm a bit nervous about not giving him formula but will try it for a couple of days and see what happens....

Did the counsellor talk to you about how easy it is for a baby to take milk from a bottle regardless of the actual hunger/satiety felt by the baby (lot of stimulation to suckling reflex/milk drips from bottle-baby swallows-causes vacuum-milk flows equalise the vacuum-baby swallows) so your baby might have taken 60mls but not needed as much as that.

You could try a babymoon for a afternoon/day/weekend - that's where you and baby get skin to skin and snuggle (Dad can join in to!) and you let baby feed as often as he wants even if it has been mere minutes since the last feed. It's a good way to up supply and to get to know baby's cues (some can be quite subtle which can be very annoying if you are trying to work out what the heck is up with them!).

Good luck and keep us all updated with how things go. All the best.