baby will latch but won't suck

[buildalegohouse]

DD is 5 days old. We came home yesterday and have had lots of midwife support in hospital but we weren't able to crack the problem.

She has an excellent latch and I have a good supply but she won't suck. Initially she wouldn't even suck my finger as she puts her tongue to the roof of her mouth. She has stopped this now and will put her tongue down for finger feeding. The midwives all said that she has a strong suck now and she is being lazy, there is no reason she shouldn't be able to feed.

She will latch and suck once or twice and then stop and usually fall straight to sleep on the breast. She has lost 9.5% of her body weight so midwives advised formula feeding through a syringe but this just seems to be making her lazier.

Any advice other than sticking with it? I keep trying to get her on the breast and ends up frustrated, crying and exhausted. (Me too!)

Have you tried lots of skin to skin? Different feeding positions such as lying down on your side?

I really wouldn't recommend syringe feeding for quantities over a couple of ml. Cup feeding would be better. Are you expressing? If you do then you can give this in a cup rather than formula and it keeps your supply up. There's a technique to cup feeding though. You don't pour it in. Sit baby upright and they kind of lap it up.

We are doing lots of skin to skin. We have tried lying down, rugby ball and sitting positions. We have a little success with all of them, she seems like she is going to do it and then stops. It is so frustrating.

We did try cup feeding with one of the midwives but it wasn't helping with her tongue positioning.

I am expressing and will have to begin using the bottle for expressed milk and formula as we cannot keep it up with the syringe. We did use a teat once in hospital too and she will suck that! I am desperate to breast feed her but it is most important that she begins gaining weight or she will have to go under pediatric care. She was 3 weeks early and has dropped to 5lb.

Nipple shields? Could be useful in the short term if it helps to get her to learn to put her tongue down.

My DS has the same problem. He wouldn't suck at all at first, and was mostly syringe fed colostrum in hospital. We managed to bumble our way through few weeks of feeding despite his inconsistent suck, but it was made easier for him by my oversupply and fast letdown. Turned out to have a posterior tongue tie and the lactation consultant thought this was the problem. But after it was cut, his suck barely improved. The lactation consultant we saw is a bit flummoxed about it, and suggested we see a speech therapist as there is not much more she can do.

Sucking on your finger, naii side down, and doing "tug of war" is a good exercise for strengthening the tongue. It was also suggested to use the other hand to cup the cheek and draw it forward at the same time as sucking on a finger to stimulate the suck reflex.

I have read very little about full term babies with this problem, which makes it even more frustrating!

Thanks, this is helpful. I will try nipple shields and stick with the expressing. It is seeming less and less likely to work though now and I feel quite disheartened.

do have her checked for a tongue tie. this happened to us (thick posterior tie) and DS is now ebf. try bathing together and letting her latch in the bath. also, just keep trying. she's still tiny - her mouth/tongue will get stronger!

Is there a breastfeeding specialist you can ask your midwives for a referral to OP? Or would you consider seeing a lactation consultant privately? Either of these will have more tricks up their sleeves than midwives, and better knowledge of latch and positioning. Have you looked up biological nurturing on Google or YouTube? By 'lots' of skin to skin, full days at a time is what you need - not just an hour here and there. Also, have you tried getting in the bath with her?

Also, do consider cup-feeding like a PP said. If you introduce a bottle, it is highly unlikely she ever will latch and suck on your breast.

I always thought that tongue tie is the go to answer but please get it checked. Ds has a very thick tt and a lip tie that wasn't confirmed until he was 9 months.
I expressed,bottle fed and bf as much as I could he got a lot better at bf at about 10 days old. I had to stop feeding for my medical reasons at 6 weeks but ds luckily switched between bottle and breast quite easily so it's doesn't have to be the worst thing.

Also try and relax as much as possible when trying to feed, easier said than done but does help.