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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

'nipple confusion' - comments anyone ?

191 replies

hub2dee · 14/07/2005 17:45

Hi all,

Our baby (one week old) was in NICU / SCBU for a few days, fed mostly on NGT (nasal tube to tummy) and bottle. A few sucks on the breast, but not much so she could conserve her energy.

We are now home, and have been continuing to bottle feed, and try at the breast, but not for extensive periods as the baby seems to find it difficult / boring / tiring - it's obviously not as 'easy' as sucking on a shaped teat with gravity assisted milk delivery !

A health visitor today said to dw that our baby has 'nipple confusion' and basically she should have been bfing more, earlier, and that in her experience, if we don't 'crack' bfing in one week, that will be it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, DW was somewhat upset at this.

The HV suggested a nipple guard might help.

Wonder if anyone had similar experience to relate.

I appreciate that at the end of the day, DW must be the one to make the decision, and she must do what she feels happy with. I think if she felt perseveering might work she would feel happier trying, IYSWIM. As it is, having the baby struggle /cry for 15 / 20 minutes is difficult IYSWIM.

It was suggested to us that the 'baby to breast for 5 minutes, followed by a bottle' would not be a helpful way to develop the baby's ability to bf. Possibly feeding from a cup would....

Hmmm.... any comments MN crowd ?

TIA.

OP posts:
PeachyClair · 18/07/2005 13:40

Cor, you're on the ball aren't ya? PMSL!

SDo you want the full CV? Tee hee.

Original poster
hub2dee · 18/07/2005 13:58

Just a persistent googler with well-honed cut-and-paste muscles.

OP posts:
chipmonkey · 18/07/2005 16:49

15 min is brilliant! Well done, Dee and Camille!

chipmonkey · 18/07/2005 16:49

And I couldn't cut and paste to save my life!

hunkermunker · 18/07/2005 17:30

15 minutes is fantastic! Go Camille, go Dee!

A good midwife, eh? Glad to hear it

Sorry for dragging you out of the pub...

Original poster
hub2dee · 19/07/2005 20:04

We went up to Oxford today to see the counsellors at the John Radcliffe breastfeeding clinic. Met JennyWren there which was fun, and DW did a big feed mid morning and another just before we left. The extra help / advice / hands / skill really helped.

DW was chuffed. And it looks like you did really well too JW !

Driving back took about 2 hours which sucked (forgive the pun) - M25 at standstill. Getting there was OK - 1 hr 15 maybe. Worst thing was the totally insane lack of car park places - all parking bays full, loads of cars parked up on the grass etc. !

Thanks to all for bits of advice.

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 19/07/2005 20:07

It sounds as if they're doing really well.

JennyWren · 19/07/2005 21:41

Hi! I'm really glad that you found it useful! Today was a good day for us too - I managed to latch dd on again on the other side, after you left.

If you do come up again, my tip would be to try to arrive before about 10am. Easier said than done, I know! But parking is easy then.

If you don't come again, please let me know how you get on - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you all.
JennyWren

hunkermunker · 19/07/2005 21:44

Brilliant, Hub! Wonderful news - well done, Dee and Camille (and you for finding a parking space ) xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Original poster
hub2dee · 19/07/2005 22:18

Hi sneaky, WWB, JW...

Might come up Thursday, wil have to see.... long drive for us...

OK, Wise ones:

V. sore breasts (lots of milk and expressing)....

Hot towel or cold ?

OP posts:
misdee · 19/07/2005 22:19

cold.

misdee · 19/07/2005 22:20

btw was going anti clockwise round the M25 earlier, and the other side was at a standstill for at least 4junctions (17-21). were u stuck there

hunkermunker · 19/07/2005 22:22

Savoy cabbage leaves in the bra. Honestly.

Hot towels will stimulate milk flow, so probably cold.

If she has a lumpy boob, tell her to use a wide-toothed comb to literally comb her breast, over the lumpy bit, towards her nipple, whilst standing under a warm shower. Fingers also work when not in the shower, but the comb applies even pressure.

Original poster
hub2dee · 19/07/2005 23:07

Oh well, she went for a hot shower... seems better...

Yes, misdee, I was in one of those lumps of metal going nowhere fast.

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 19/07/2005 23:09

Yep, cabbage leaves are wonderful. Straight out of the fridge so they're good and cold.

hunkermunker · 19/07/2005 23:09

Has to be a Savoy cabbage though - don't go stuffing chinese leaves in her bra

Wonder how many men have been sent out to buy a Savoy cabbage and wandered up and down the fruit and veg section trying to remember what it was they were looking for, before coming home with an iceberg lettuce?!

Glad it's eased a bit for Dee. Does she mind you discussing her boobs online, btw, Hub?

bubble99 · 19/07/2005 23:11

A warm bath/shower to cause leaking to lessen the engorgement. It does get easier. I was in agony when my milk came in for Elijah. It's supposed to get easier with each subsequent baby as the breasts 'know what to do' but I found regular expressing difficult as the milk wouldn't flow initially. Warm baths seemed to help to get rid of a lot of it, straight down the plug hole of course, but there was always enough for him when I fed him.

And HM's combing suggestion sounds logical too. She knows a lot about combs, having spent so many hours grooming her feet.

Love to you all.

XXX

WigWamBam · 19/07/2005 23:15

hunker, I thought it could be any round (ie vaguely breast shaped) cabbage?

jinglybits · 19/07/2005 23:25

When ds was born i was kept in hospital for 3 nights because he was huge 10lb 7oz and would not suckle! he just didn't want to latch on (dp blames it on him not being put straight on my stomach but handed to me 5 minutes later but thats beside the point, plus i did feed him in that moment for about 10mins and it all went well!) so...i was ordered by a senior midwife to give him a bottle the first morning because otherwise i would be starving him! And then again in the evening and the next afternoon, all the while continually trying to get him to latch on with every cry but with no success. Then another nurse chided me for bottle feeding him and said that i was messing up my chance to b/f if i did not stop giving him bottles, this went on for the next day with me getting utterly confused and weepy between all the conflicting nurses advice and opinions and just wanting to do the best for my new child and obviously not starve him or cause him any distress. It was suggested that he would suck if my milk came in so i was hooked up to the electric pump a few times to get things going (agonisingly painful!!) nothing seemed to work and i demanded to go home. Once home i decided to go cold turkey on the bottles and only offer him my breast, after about 20hrs (i don't remember precisely) i glumfully sent dp out to buy formula/bottles/steriliser etc. Whilst he was gone and i was dealing yet again with ds's incesant crying i somehow contorted myself on the bed and ended up with him underneath me while i straddled over him on the bed breast dangling into his mouth and he took a feed!!! and fell peacefully asleep! for a few weeks after that i could only feed him lying down! although thankfully i did manage to adapt positions to lying on my side! and slowly we adapted into the usual arm craddle position! At that time dp continued feeding ds at nights with a bottle and that was just fine, i presume because he was used to it in the first few days. We never seemed to have any problems with nipple confusion. However i have always had an absolute abandance of milk, so much so that i was able to exclusively feed ds up to past 7mths with him steadily gaining weight, and yet bacause of this milk surgance (that continously leaked onto my tops we dropped off the bottle feed and discovered at 3mths when i fancied an evening out with friends that ds would no longer take a bottle! HE had completely forgotten how in the short space of a few weeks, i would therefore advise that if you want to switch between breast/bottle it is an ongoing occourance and not an erratic one or you may have problems. But it is definately possible with minimum fuss despite what the professionals may have you believe! I am now actually quite glad that he refused to go back to the bottle as he has been drinking from a non-cup since 10mths and took to that like a duck to water as he didn't get teat confusion facing the spout! I now know quite a few mums who are having a hard time switching from bottles to sippy cups and i would never have anticipated this problem earlier on so its all turned out nice in the end! ...althoughdp doing some of the feeds fgor all those long months would have been a blessing!

jinglybits · 19/07/2005 23:27

oh didn't read any of this except the title! for engorgement i found hot baths and breast massage the best...ooh sounds a bit kinky! also just pumped like mad with my avent or stayed in bed with ds for the day (any excuse!!)

Original poster
hub2dee · 20/07/2005 09:07

Oh crapola. Fever during the night. V. V. sore breast...

Probably mastitis.

Docs at 10:10.

Oh, what fun.

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 20/07/2005 11:04

Hope she gets it sorted out soon. xx

hunkermunker · 20/07/2005 11:07

Comb the sore bit like I described, honestly. Keep feeding from the sore boob too.

Can't write more - but will check later to see how you're doing. Hugs to Dee xxxxxxxxxxxx

Original poster
hub2dee · 20/07/2005 11:18

She's expressed from both, and will plough on !

We found hot towels helped get the flow going (for when you want to feed / express) and cold ones relieve some of the soreness.

Doc prescribed unusually strong penicillin apparently to attempt to knock out any infection in a day or so.

Thanks for the well wishes and for the ideas. I'll grab a comb later, hunker.

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 20/07/2005 11:21

She's amazing - give her a big hug from me and tell her it will get better, I promise xxxxxx