Baby stopped latching - so sad :(

[Thefaceofboe]

My 5 week old randomally stopped latching a week ago, after previous worries about slow weight and I’d been topping her up after a feed. Over night she just stopped latching and I’m wondering if it’s bottle preference as she seems to hate my soft nipples and won’t even take them in her mouth.

Ive seen the infant feeding team and she said I’m doing everything right but baby wouldn’t latch for her either. I’m now using shields which she sucks on but doesn’t ’latch’ as such and I know she’s not getting enough milk.

I am so sad and stressed and I can’t pump enough to keep up with her now.

Is it worth seeing someone private? Has anyone had this and been able to get their baby to latch again?

If you do want to continue BFing then yes it's worth seeing a Lactation Consultant or phoning one if the BFing helplines and seeing if there is a BFC in your area that can provide some RL support.

It might be worth talking to a BFC anyway about your experiences with BFing and how that's making you feel

Talk to your local NCT group and La Leche League person. Or your HV. Good luck; it sounds difficult.

I’ve spoke to HV who referred me originally and the followed my appointment up after with a phone call but it seemed like a dead end. Also phoned BF helpful but didn’t have any new suggestions and was only so much they could say.

I have booked for someone to come to the house on Monday im just not feeling hopeful

Yes unfortunately some babies do find bottles easier and stop latching because they know a bottle will come.

topping up will also affect supply so it’ll be harder.

it is one of the issues with introducing bottles early. I don’t think enough mums are warned so they can be mentally prepared.

as pp have said get some decent advice. I happened to have a great (male!) hv who said not to give bottles, but to feed, feed, feed, and eat well myself. Also to keep more of on eye on your baby’s health and appearance than the numbers on the scale. He also made an interesting point that if there is an issue with weight gain, such as a metabolic disease, formula can boost weight but will also mask the underlying issue.

it’ll be hard but if you want to bf you may just have to set a week aside and feed and sleep. If it’s too hard then you can move to bottles. Mixed feeding imo is worst of both worlds!

Her weight gain was only 5g a day so I felt like I didn’t have a choice, especially as she was only a small baby at 5lb 4oz. Her latch was always poor prior to the bottles, which I imagine is the cause of the poor weight gain.

you say set aside a week to feed and sleep, but I physically can’t get her to latch, she just screams at the breast now, how long do I persevere because she wouldn’t be getting any milk at all?

Im pumping a lot so hopefully maintaining my supply but it’s draining.

Personally OP I think you've done the right thing. I've had small babies that don't feed well / gain weight and it's just a totally different ball game to a baby that is a decent size and has reserves. My eldest was below 0.4th centile at one point and it was such a stress to get milk into her. Keep trying to latch (but no pressure if she doesnt), lots of skin to skin, nice baths etc and hopefully she'll come back. We also had a week where DD2 just screamed at the breast for no apparent reason and refused to latch - in the shower when hand expressing, a huge milk clog came out. So try some hand expressing as well as pumping. Presumably she has been checked for all the usual suspects like tongue tie etc? I hope a bit of 1 to 1 support helps on Monday. 💐 because it isn't easy.

@Slowfeedingbaby

She has been checked for oral ties - all good. Kind of wish she had so at least it’s something to work with.

Since I posted this she’s feeding a lot better with using the shields, but I’m hoping to get some positive advise tomorrow. We’ve done lots of baths and skin to skin where she seems interested in feeding but when my nipple goes to her mouth she gently sucks it and cries. I suspect it’s because it’s not long and hard like the shield/bottle teet.

Hi @Thefaceofboe

Did you have any luck? I have come to mumsnet searching for advice as I had to do combi feeding too, and all of a sudden one week my DD just refused to latch. It makes me so sad. She lost a lot of weight at birth and I was advised to give formula top ups, she has regained and is well over her birth weight now at 5 weeks.

I've tried nipple shields and doing skin to skin - any advice? She screams if I try to bring her to breastfeed. It just doesn't seem like a safe place for her anymore. I've had a frenulotomy done which hasn't had any success - she had a mild tongue tie and midwives advised to go for it.

Or if it hasn't worked out, any advice on coming to terms with the situation? Agree with a PP that mums should be made aware when being casually advised to "just top up until baby makes their birth weight" that their breastfeeding journey might come to an abrupt end!

I think it's possible baby just wants the free flowing milk quickly! Where as on the breast they have to work for that let down for a minute or so.
Try expressing some milk gently first, baby in just nappy skin to skin :) maybe baby just wants milk free flowing like the bottle straight away x