6 week old suddenly not latching

[InvisibleDragon]

My 6week old DD has suddenly stopped latching and feeding well.

She latched and fed really well since birth, has had almost every feed from the breast (odd few expressed milk feeds in first 2 weeks) and has been gaining weight well.

Since last night, literally from one feed to the next she has stopped latching well. She goes to latch, but then turns her face sideways or shuts her mouth too much so only the very end of the nipple is in her mouth.

Then when I was trying to breastfeed her she was getting frantic, making loads of feeding cues but still not latching and feeding, despite there being loads of milk.

She has been obviously hungry so I expressed milk and fed her from a bottle. She had lots.

Tried breastfeeding again, same issues. I've tried different holds, different places, different ways to encourage latching but she won't really do it.

She seems well in herself, apart from being very cranky. No fever, no sneezes.

What on earth is going on? And what can I do to get her actually breastfeeding again? (No shade on bottles, I know fed is best, but it had been working so well!)

Update - after some trial and error I got her to breastfeed by using a nipple shield. Still no clue what is going on here but at least she's had a proper feed from the breast now!

Glad she’s had a good feed @InvisibleDragon.

Have a look at this video on getting a good latch.

If you do want to offer a top-up, have you thought about cup feeding.

And if Lo is still struggling with latching, has Tongue Tie been ruled out?

Could be thrush - check her mouth for any white spots or patches. It makes feeding uncomfortable so can cause sudden problems with latching

That was going to be my suggestion.

If you think it could be thrush @InvisibleDragon, have a read of this article from the LLL

Thank you everyone. I took DD to the GP morning and also called the health visitor.

No sign of thrush, the consensus is that it's likely DD has some mild virus or gastric bug that is causing discomfort and affecting feeding.

Plan is to monitor for signs of dehydration and continue to offer feeds as much as possible. GP also prescribed baby gaviscon to try if things don't resolve as she is slightly refluxy.

She's had a couple of more normal feeds this morning and currently snoozing on my lap, so fingers crossed things get back to normal soon!

She's still really reluctant to breastfeed directly. I think it might be a nursing strike. It's so upsetting, because obviously she needs to feed so has been having bottles of expressed milk, but I can see her developing a bottle preference because she doesn't have to wait for the milk to start flowing.

Can you switch the bottles to cup feeding which has a similar lapping action to BFing?

I’ve combi fed DD (nearly 1) with breast and bottle since birth. If it is a strike, I would persevere with bf or just give an oz or 2 from the bottle if she’s frustrated & then move over to the breast. The last thing you want to do is encourage the strike, remember that most women just BF & if their baby did this they’d have to just continue to offer. Babies won’t let themselves starve off of a strike xx

Just wanted to update to say that after a couple of days we got feeding back to normal!

Spent most of a day letting her sleep on my lap and offering her milk every time she stirred. Got lots of snoozy feeds in that way. Also pumped a bit to get the milk flowing when she was getting frustrated in the evenings.

After that she was pretty much feeding as usual. It definitely messed with my supply for a few days, as she was having to really wait for let downs by the evening for a week or so afterward, but things gradually evened out again!

Thank you all for the helpful tips and support!

Good to hear it all worked out! Bank all these solutions in the back of your mind, if she is anything like our DD she will do this again later down the line 🤪