8wo breast 'rejection'? Getting desperate

[Nyunya]

Ladies I really need your help and collective wisdom!

I have an 8 week old ebf DD who has a sore throat - tonsils are up etc. She didn't feed from 2am-4pm on Saturday (screaming every time I put her to the nipple), until we worked out what was wrong and got the calpol in her, then she fed fine on Sunday and Monday (with help of calpol). Yesterday, however, she could not latch again for most of the day (same screaming). I expressed some milk which she happily took from a bottle at about 5 o'clock. She also is fine sucking finger (ours or her own) and takes a dummy, both of which seem to sooth her throat. I think the reason she did not feed on Saturday was because the nipple goes so far back in the mouth it hurt her throat.

She feeds well at night when I get her early on in her rooting before she is fully awake, so feeds when she is pretty much asleep.

Is it possible that she has a bad association of my breast from the pain it caused her before? If so, has anyone else had this and what did you do to combat it?

Bfing has been absolutely fine until this episode.

As you can imagine I'm feeling pretty rubbish - oddly feels like a rejection of me!

Would be grateful of any advice?

PS - I'd love to express and bottle feed her till she can take the breast again, but I only seem to be able to get anything out when I'm mega engorged, which only happens once a day when she's not feeding - and then its only enough for one hungry feed.

Its perfectly normal to feel rejected Nyunya so don't worry about that .

Poor DD and poor you, has the GP checked her mouth, throat and ears to make sure there is no infection? If not it might be worth taking her today.

There are ways to get her back to the breast, you've already sorted out feeding whilst she is dopey and there are other suggestions here. It's probably worthwhile giving one of the Bfing Helplines a call too, have you got the numbers?

I'd get her ears checked, they refuse to feed if they have earache. Hope she's feeling better soon.

Thank you! My husband is a GP and has checked her out...though not her ears, so I'll get him to bring his ottoscope back to check. We cannot see any other signs of infection other than swollen tonsils.

Thanks for the link, Jilted, I had a look art Kellymom this morning when I posted this and thought 'at least she's not as bad as that!' Have managed to get a lick out of her and she's now opening her mouth rather than screaming, but pushes nipple away once its in there! I have asked hv to give me a call and will get onto a helpline too!

Just feels pretty crap.

The swollen tonsils could be making her ears hurt while feeding if they are pretty swollen. Babies use thier jaw differently when feeding at a breast than they do feeding from a bottle so it's alot more painful for them to suck at the breast as the muscles that they use are really close to the ears. I'd keep her on regular calpol for another 24 hours regardless of ear infection to see if it improves when the tonsils go down. Poor thing :(

Agree with Rika on keeping the painkiller up for the next 24 hours. As for the ears, no matter what I took them to the GP for when mine were babies I always asked them to check their ears, think its a good idea to get your DH to check them tonight.

I'd also give the Bfing Helpline a call before speaking to your HV. Many HVs have had little training on Bfing and with the helpline you know you will be getting uptodate, evidence based information .

Just spoke to dh on the phone & shared your thoughts about ears "aaah of course!!" he said. And went on about something else which I didn't quite understand but was obviously related to ear problems and feeding etc. The glands behind her ears are also up so could indicate a problem there. Will keep on with calpol for tomorrow too and see how she does. Want to avoid antibiotics if at all possible!

At lunch time I managed to get her to latch just before she fell asleep, which made me feel so much better I was able to express a little (probably about half a feed) When she woke up she was calm enough to latch again and then she fed a bit too! Hurrah!

Many thanks again, am feeling much better!

Hope she feels better soon .

You might notice your supply drop a little over the next few days as she's not been feeding as much, just feed as much as you can when she's on the mend and it will get back to normal after a few days... She'll probably want to feed like a demon once the pain is gone anyway, they know booby milk makes everything better :)

Thanks Rika, and JiltedJJ. I'll keep offering as often as possible to get my supply back up - maybe express a little too if she's still struggling to feed. Isn't it funny that when I really 'needed' to express I was so stressed about it I couldn't, and then when its not so important I'm able to get more off!

Managed to feed her a little twice this afternoon/evening too - yay! Found a very strategic way to use the dummy: let her suck till she was calm, then whip it out and offer the breast. Seemed to work well. Didn't push it either so she wasn't screaming so much which was definitely better for my nerves!

DH checked her ears this eve and they are a little inflamed. He thought that they must have been worse over the last few days if they are only a little sore now - which is great as it gives us more explanation of what's going on, and means she's on the mend so hopefully no need to antibiotics.

Thanks again for your help and support!