6 week premature DS taking ages to feed EBM. Why?

[thrifttwig]

Hope someone can help....My DS who is now 6 weeks and born at 34 weeks is taking ages to feed EBM, Normally 40-60ml can take nearly an hour. I did try changing the teat but it was way to quick and he dribbled most out. I am mix feeding (also BF and bottle) and formula bottles he can finish in 20 mins.
Does anyone have suggestions or explain why this is happening?

The only thing I can think is that you might have excess lipase in your milk. I have this, it means the milk starts to taste a bit grim quite quickly after it's been expressed, and annoyingly this happens even if you freeze it. (the milk isn't actually off or bad for the baby, it just tastes horrid).

Try a taste test - next time he is slow on a bottle of ebm, taste it and see what you think.... Or you could put some new ebm in the fridge, taste after 12, 24, 36, 48 hours and so on. Milk without excess lipase should stay fresh and sweet tasting for up to 4-5 days in the fridge. if yours goes nasty much quicker then you may have the excess lipase thing. I found my milk only stayed nice tasting for 12 hours.

I have a theory (totally unproven!) that excess lipase is more likely if you have a prem baby (my DD was also a 34 weeker) as your body is trying to make the milk easier for your baby to digest, so produces extra lipase to break down the milk fats.

Interestingly The Alpha Parent has just posted on this today...

www.thealphaparent.com/2013/10/triumphant-tuesday-breastfeeding-with.html

I take it you've spoke to a breastfeeding counsellor? If not, they can be helpful - there tends to be NCT ones in most areas so perhaps worth trying? There is something called an Easy Cup (by ARDO) but I think they're recommended to use with professional help (certainly initially)

Hope it all works out for you!

Thanks for the advice, I'll give your theory a test! I have seen three different breast feeding support and they have been great, I just forgot to ask about the EBM as we had some other struggles to deal with.
Thanks again