Seeking Relaching Advice

Why try so hard to get the child back on the breast? Move forward with the attitude that you have conquered one battle. Yea to weaning of the breast. I had a horrible time weaning my daughter as she got a little older. Don't go back you will just regret it.
A.

Hi - Have you tried calling a breastfeeding center to see if they can give you any advice on what you may be able to do to help with the latching? The La Leche League,they might have some ideas.
I am no expert but it sounds like he may not have been getting enough milk when he was waking so frequently, and now is getting what he needs from the bottle so he may just not want to breastfeed anymore. Just a thought?

I only managed to nurse my three kids for around three months each, then everything went away. I feel that I gave them their needed immunities, and that we bonded well in that time. My youngest is 37 now, and that was their start to becoming decent human beings, of whom I'm very proud. But just the start...
I don't like to see Moms feel guilty for anything they can or can't do... as long as your heart is in doing the best for your child, the duration of nursing isn't that critical. His preferences enter into this as well, and it sounds like he likes the bottle! You've done a good job, nursing him as long as you did. You can still hold him when you feed him and keep the closeness.

I can understand what you are going through, I had a similar problem. My advice is to nurse him on both sides and then pump each breast for 10min every 2 hours if you can. The more you pump the more milk you will produce. As for the latching part, my daughter would not latch on either. What worked for me is the nipple shield made by medela (oops spelt that wrong). It is in the shape of a bottles nippple and you place it over yours. It really worked for us, after he gets use to it and has been nursing for a few minutes slide it off and he should continue to nurse. It may take a week or so but it works. I think Babies R Us sells them and you can also get them from you lactation nurse. Hope this helps.

L.

Power pumping is something used to increase milk supply. I did it with my first. With a Medela breast pump, pump for ten minutes and them off for ten minutes. Do this cycle for one hour. Do this once a day and combined with increase water consumption. It is a bit of a pain but it works to increase your milk supply.

wow... the only thing I can think of - which may seem cruel in some ways.. is let him get hungry enough to want to nurse instead. or maybe only give him half the bottle then ask him to nurse...and decrease the amount you give him in a bottle each time so he gets the idea.... and pumping is going to be the key.. try a gentle massage on your breasts too to stimulate the milk flow also... and one other thing.. even though many doctors may say NO WAY! try drinking a half a glass of wine or share one beer with your husband.. with third and fourth child, I had a difficult time producing milk, I found out sort of by accident that after just a few sips of a glass of wine, my body relaxed enough to "let down" and get the milk going... which was a plus for my fourth because they almost put her in the hospital at 5 weeks because she was not back to her birth weight until then.

I also strongly urge you to find your local LeLeche League (look them up in the phone book) and see if someone can visit you or consult with you over the phone.. they are a non-profit organization and I was given very helpful and FREE advice from them when I had my first child. Your child's pediatrician might have a lactation consultant you could speak with too. So see about giving those a try also. Good luck.

Hi C.,
I don't know how to say this delicately, but maybe Nature has run its course. I almost went into "my" story, but feel free to email me if you'd like to hear it. Let's just say that I never did get the chance to breastfeed, and though it was a type of loss, Luke was very healthy and he is very close to both daddy and mommy:-)

Maybe you want to be grateful for the time you've had. Perhaps you want to determine, just to know where you stand, how you really feel about the issue, and that it may be a lot of work. I've seen lots of mothers stretched to and beyond boundaries for their breastfeeding desires. If it's worth it for you, then try for a while to see if you want to pump every couple of hours to bring up your milk. It's an entirely personal choice. Just try to balance your needs and your child's.

(so I hope that was gentle enough;)
A.

Dont really have too much advice for you, but wanted to just share. I tried for a month to get my DD to nurse. Complicated by jaundice and a busy toddler. It got to be this huge struggle of stress that we all hated, and pumping all the time took time away from my children. It was very hard to give up but I realised that it really wasnt worth the struggle. She got that first milk that is so very good for her. I felt the need to explain why a SAH mom was feeding her babe formula but have learned to ignore those who pass pre-judgment. I wanted to nurse so bad but it just wasnt something she wanted to do. OH, and I saw a recipe for formula in an old baby book, it was mostly evaporated milk and sugar, and a whole generation or two was largely raised on that and did just fine. Hope all works out, Jen

Hi C.,

I definitely think it IS POSSIBLE to resume nursing again! There's nothing quite as wonderful as nursing a baby, and you're clearly wanting to return to that amazing relationship. I would recommend talking to a lactation consultant. Most local hospitals have LC's available who would be able to help you, just call and make an appointment. Beyond Birth also does in-home lactation visits if that would work better for you. Their website is www.beyondbirthservices.com. Sometimes insurance companies will cover lactation services, so you can check with them about that too.

You could also call Nursing Mother's Counsel. They offer free breastfeeding phone support by trained peer counselors. The NMC website is www.nursingmotherscounsel.org. Their phone number is ###-###-####. It sounds like you could really benefit from some professional help to get your son nursing again. Not all is lost though!!! Keep with it and just do the best you can :)

And remember, if all else fails you still provided him with valuable breastmilk for six whole months, which is a great start to his life and a lot more than many babies get. You're doing the best you can and that's all anyone can ask :)

Regards,
A.

I haven't had experience in this area, but i HIGHLY recommend contacting La Leche League. http://www.lalecheleague.org for support. They are AMAZING!!!

Good luck and don't give up yet! What kind of pump are you using? When I was nursing, I found that the Avent Isis hand pump worked the best by far (I also had a top of the line Medela). The best thing to stimulate milk supply is the baby suckling, something the breast pump usually doesn't do, but this pump really had a different feel.

I don't know what LLL recommends, but I know a lot of people have had luck with nipple shields as well. http://www.medela.com/newfiles/20mmshield.html. http://www.medela.com/newfiles/20mmshield.html.

If you want him to continue to benefit from your breast milk, I'd say keep pumping! He will still get it in bottle form. I don't know how to get a baby to relearn to latch on, but it seems odd that he forgot in 2 weeks. Are you saying you switched him to formula and never offered your breast again during the last 2 weeks? Now you are wondering why he isn't interested? Maybe because you took that option away, though I can't imagine why he wouldn't go back to it. Babies don't wean themselves this early. Maybe your supply is so low he doesn't get enough for his efforts.

Call your local LLL, they know everything! Or look up the Nursing Mother's Council if there is one in your area.

Look at all the wildly varied advice you've gotten! I think personally, I'd just start pumping like mad and trying to get him to attach whenever possible...if I felt like breastfeeding exclusively again.
I just had baby #2, and while I enjoyed the first 2 weeks of exclusively breastfeeding, I also resented being the only foodsource, so I started pumping bottles out so that hubby could help, and so that she would get her meals more quickly.
It's okay for you to feed baby what ever you think works best for you, and for your family.
There are times when she looks for my nipple, still and it's been a month and a half. I do wonder about letting her pacify, but the few times I tried it, she was content until the little bit left after pumping was gone, and then she screamed and didn't want ANYTHING. Very frustrating, so I went with the lesser of two evils, and fed her breastmilk, exclusively pumped, until 2 weeks ago, when my pumped breasts failed to increase their supply to meet her demand through a growthspurt.
I am choosing to look at this positively, like, she's getting the best of both worlds. The good stuff AND the vitamin D and iron.
Best of luck to you, what ever you decide, and please don't beat yourself up over this.
Happy Holidays,
A.

If there's stll milk, you're not out of luck. Keep trying. Keep pumping. Talk to other moms, see if you can contact someone in the Laleche League to come over and help. Babys need to learn how to latch - it's not automatic except in some cases.

Try to contact someone in this web site - http://www.llli.org/resources.html LaLeche helped me a LOT, especially with my daughter who was latching on so hard, I could barely breast feed for 2 months! They have contacts you can talk to. Good luck.

Have you tried contacting La Leche? If there is a way it can be done, I'd bet they could help. I'd keep pumping, even if you're not getting much. Could it be your breast pump? Some are great, but some are really crappy.

One of my twins weaned himself at nine months. He just flat did not want the breast any more. The other twin would probably have nursed until Kindergarten if I would let him! Don't get too down on yourself if you're not able to get him to latch back on. Six months of exclusive nursing is absolutely outstanding!!!! You've done great!

I don't know about the re-latching because both my sons gave up nursing on their own because of lack of supply/ the milk didn't come as fast as a bottle. I did go 11 months with both. I could not pump much after 6 months. I tried the fenugreek. It didn't work for me. With my second son I went to this great health food store run by a very knowledgeable woman. She gave me several options for increasing breast milk and another for formula.
Get Liquid Chlorophyll. Put a teaspoon in a bottle of water. It tastes minty. It increased my supply right away. She also suggested powdered goats milk instead of formula. The times my son had formula, his diaper stunk for a week. When I supplemented with goats milk, you could not tell the difference from breast milk. I made the mistake of giving him a taste of fresh, so now he does not like the powder. No big deal. The best price is at Alberson's. $3.00 a quart. He is almost 2 and still drinks about a gallon a week.

It is bittersweet when they stop nursing. Truthfully, I was ready to be done and they were ready for more independence. Good Luck,
A.

You can keep trying to pump. My experience has been, your body only makes enough milk in connection to the demand. You fed your child for six months on breast milk which is wonderful!! My daughter stopped after six months and is doing great! try not to worry about it or put pressure on yourself. The first couple of months is important for breast milk because your child receives antibodies to help with their immune system and you can't beat the nutritional value. Try to think of it in terms of reaching that next level, soon you will be able to introduce foods to your child and it will be just as beneficial as the breast milk was. Good luck to you, you are doing a wonderful job!

it seems like he has made the decsion for you-
my daughter wasnt allergic to milk but some formulas are thicker and harder to digest and thus waterfall vomit... ask your doctor if he is allergic - or try the goodstart comfort proteins formula

I am really happy to hear that you are trying so hard to get your babe back on breastfeeding. It would be too easy for most people to give up.
When I had nursing/latching problems with my newborns, I called the Mother Baby Center###-###-####). I don't know where you are, but this is a Bellingham organization. It was free and they came to my house for regular breastfeeding check-ups for 6 weeks. There might be something like that in your area. If not, I would at the least call your local La Leche League to talk to someone. When you first have a baby, you have to teach them to latch on correctly. You may have to re-teach him. I wish you tons of strength!

Have you tried La Leche League? There are meetings everywhere and they have a 24 hour help line: 877-452-5324 I hope that you are able to work it out. My daughter woke every 2-3 hours until she was 9 months old, at that point her doctor said that she is plenty big to not eat that often at night and to let her "cry it out". That worked. Now she is almost a year old and only wakes in the early morning for a feeding. Hang in there. I'm sure there's a way!! :)

Hi C.,You might just be out of luck. When baby decides it's over, it's over. I had one baby stop the bottle/nursing at 7 1/2 months. I was frantic wondering how this tiny person was going to get enough nutrition. I didn't need to worry. She's 40, healthy and has 3 children of her own. My other two nursed exclusively for the first 8-9 months, and then would nurse two or three times a day until they were two. Funny thing for these two; they stopped nursing as soon as they were toilet trained. Babies do what they do and we can't outguess them. If your little buddy is doing well on formula, leave it at that. You and your boy have had good, quality months of nursing.
Best to you.
J. S

Hi,

Have you considered supplementing your pumped milk/formula using a lact-aid or SNS (supplemental nursing system). This would provide an incentive for your baby to suckle with milk flow at your breast. If you can check out Dr Jack Newman's video at www.kellymom.com, he has a great video clip showing an older infant returning to the breast with the sns.

Good Luck
D.

I really don't know how to get your little one to start latching again... I am always told to just keep trying! If it doesn't work, try some more! I hope everything works out for you!

Hi C.,
I would contact your local chapter of the Le Leche League. You might, in the mean time try a glass of beer, as that generally increases milk production temporarily. Good luck to the both of you and please let us know what happened.

Best wishes,
T.

Perhaps trying bottles that have the nipples and shape of the breast will help with the transition back to the breast?? To increase supply, try pumping frequently, hourly? You don't have to express a lot of milk or spend a lot of time, but just stimulating the breast may help more milk to be produced. Whatever the outcome, be encouraged that you have a desire to care for and nurture your baby as you are able. May you be blessed.