Former NICU baby still won't latch

[Mack]

What branch is your dh? If navy or marines a visiting nurse from nmcrs can come out to visit you. Pm me for more info. ( navy here)

[jessnic]

Originally Posted by KatrinaLoves Bun nursed yesterday, and actually got a fair amount! It was an excruciatingly shallow latch and he did a lot of biting (OUCH), but he was effectively-ish removing milk. Tried again a few hours later, and nada. One of these days it's going to click. I hope. Frankly, I'm close to giving up. Not with providing him/them milk, but with actually breastfeeding. I might just be an EPer until they're old enough to wean. If so, then such is life.

Do whatever you have to do My DS didnt get the hang for 2 months lol, and it drove me batty! Other than that is everything else going okay, are you getting any help?

On my smart phone which is clearly not as smart as it seems to believe

[KatrinaLoves]

Originally Posted by Mack What branch is your dh? If navy or marines a visiting nurse from nmcrs can come out to visit you. Pm me for more info. ( navy here)

Army. Go figure, lol. :-) thank you so much though!

[KatrinaLoves]

Originally Posted by jessnic Do whatever you have to do My DS didnt get the hang for 2 months lol, and it drove me batty! Other than that is everything else going okay, are you getting any help? On my smart phone which is clearly not as smart as it seems to believe

Yep :-) thankfully I have family less than an hour away. They've always been fairly dysfunctional, so they've blown me away with the amount of support they've poured out. I've yet to go more than a full week without someone coming over for a few hours to hold the babies so I can clean and get things done, or to mow my lawn.

Thanks for checking in with me. It's very sweet of you. :-)

[Lady_B]

Check for a lactation consultstant at your local wic or LLL. Both helped

[Aydinsmom]

My NICU baby didn't nurse for 4 months. I EPd and tried so hard to get him to latch and transfer milk. In the end I think him getting older and stronger made a difference. It also helped that at Xmas I took a few weeks off from trying to nurse and stuck with bottles. When I tried again in Jan, things were much better. I think the break helped both of our frustration level. Not sure if it would be possible for you, but it might help you keep your sanity. But with two babies I can't imagine breastfeeding issues. It was so hard with just one! Good luck and congrats on what you've done so far.

Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

[jessnic]

Originally Posted by KatrinaLoves Yep :-) thankfully I have family less than an hour away. They've always been fairly dysfunctional, so they've blown me away with the amount of support they've poured out. I've yet to go more than a full week without someone coming over for a few hours to hold the babies so I can clean and get things done, or to mow my lawn. Thanks for checking in with me. It's very sweet of you. :-)

That is good to hear!! I was hoping you were getting some help!

On my smart phone which is clearly not as smart as it seems to believe

[KatrinaLoves]

Originally Posted by Aydinsmom My NICU baby didn't nurse for 4 months. I EPd and tried so hard to get him to latch and transfer milk. In the end I think him getting older and stronger made a difference. It also helped that at Xmas I took a few weeks off from trying to nurse and stuck with bottles. When I tried again in Jan, things were much better. I think the break helped both of our frustration level. Not sure if it would be possible for you, but it might help you keep your sanity. But with two babies I can't imagine breastfeeding issues. It was so hard with just one! Good luck and congrats on what you've done so far. Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

That's so encouraging. That's pretty much the approach I've been taking. I nurse when I can.. but I mostly just pump and have given up trying to MAKE it work. I've gotten a little bit of passive-aggressive flack from a couple relatives over the lack of time at the breast, but I shrug it off. They've never had twins, much less with their husbands deployed.

Anyway... last night, when we were shopping and I left the pump at home (and forgot to pack formula just in case)... I got pretty desperate, as I didn't want to go home yet, and I put him to the breast. Guess who latched and nursed in the Kohl's dressing room?!? My Benjamin!
He wouldn't nurse again later that night, but today I tried again and he took a FULL FEEDING at the breast! It's still a shallow latch, but hallelujah... just when I was losing all hope, it clicked for him!

I'll continue to give him opportunities to nurse here and there, but will keep doing bottles until he's a strong enough nurser for it to be effortless and stress-free for both of us.

Hallelujah, the child nurses!

[kushie tushie]

Just saw this thread. You can do it Katrina!
I had major issues with DS who was a NICU baby. He was full term and didnt go to the breast for the first time till 4 1/2 weeks. He didnt completely "get it" for about 3 weeks. It took a lot of work and a lot of help. Keep pumping and follow the boys lead.

Amanda . Blaming my phone for typos and crap.

[Fashionably Green Baby]

A lady in my breast feeding support group has twins and one won't latch. They are like 5 months old. Anyways, she nurses the one twin and exclusively pimps for the other and tries to latch her regularly. She just still can't quite get it. Just keep your head up and do what you have to do. I had a very rough breast feeding experience with ds so I understand half of what you are going through. Oh yeah, just a thought but does he possibly have a tongue tie?