4 week old stopped breast feeding?

Question

My wife has been breatfeeding from the start but on Friday we took our son to the Dr. it turns out he has only gained 6 oz from his birth weight. The nurse told us to suppliment formula 3 times per day. We did this - now he won't latch on. Only wants the bottle. We have a crying baby and a crying wife mom. Any advice? Is this normal when you suppliment? (and yes, of course I'm being supportive) :)

Answer 1

breast feeding doesn't work best for every mother and child. I fed mine for 5 or 6 weeks and then it was time for the bottle. I wish that young women would stop beating themselves up for useing a bottle. Just feed the baby and love the baby and keep the baby healthy. THAT"S the way of good mothering. It's really not all about how long you nurse. If the bottle is working for your baby's health then that's what you do. Welcome to motherhood. Understand that for the rest of this childs life you will have your expectations met about 5% of the time. there is nothing wrong with bottle feeding. think of it like this... if, when your child gets older and is ready for table food, you spend 4 hours in the kitchen putting together your best and most popular meal. it's a meal that everyone in your family loves and it's a very healthy meal. You set it on the table with pride and expectation and the little one says " I only like jelly on white bread".

Disapointing? sure.
Falure as a mother? not at all. Just a matter of taste.

Answer 2

Your baby has nipple confusion. It's generally easier to take milk from a bottle than from the breast, so your baby would prefer to do a little less work and chooses the bottle. You can try to supplement using other forms of feeding, like a catheder, which your wife will place against the side of her nipple while your baby nurses, so he'll be getting both breastmilk and formula during the feeding. Also, the point is that your baby is gaining weight. You're not necessarily starving him if he gained 6 oz, but most doctors would like to see more of a gain. I would encourage your wife to pump with the feedings that he refuses the breast, so she can keep up her supply. Contact a member of LLL or a lactation consultant for more assistance. Doctors are endorsed by the formula companies and will be pursuaded to introduce babies to formula a lot of times when they're doing just fine on breast milk. Good luck.

Answer 3

Sadly, that sometime happens. Its easier for the baby to suck from a bottle. So sometimes, the baby will stop breastfeeding because the bottle is easier. She can pump her milk if she wants and feed him that way. She could also look for breastfeeding nipples for the bottle, so its closer to natural. Check the flow speed of the nipple holes too. Get the slowest you can so the milk comes out the least amount per suck. She might also want to spend the money for a feeder system where she attaches a small tube beside her nipple so the baby sucks, but can get formula and breastmilk at the same time. Talk to her doctor and see what options there are. Good job being supporting. A baby weaning that early is devistating. She probably feels like the baby is rejecting her. He isn't, he's just liking the laziest way to eat.

Answer 4

When my daughter had her son, he wasn't gaining weight either... but he was at her breast all the time! Come to find out, he was not sucking like he should and she wasn't producing milk as she should (although she was huge!). She HAD to stop nursing him and started giving him a bottle right away. He started gaining weight immediately. Keep supporting your wife, but remind her that it's more important that your son get the food he needs (no matter how that is!), than where that food comes from! Have her express her milk if she wants him to have breast milk. The baby shouldn't be crying if he's well-fed. He's crying because your wife is upset. In the big scheme of things, in 16 years she's going to look back on this and wonder why she was so stressed out. Especially when he's running out the door with a bottle of Mountain Dew!

Answer 5

I was told by the midwife that when I was breastfeeding my daughter to make sure that if I gave her any bottled formula that I made sure that she was breastfed more than bottle fed in ratio otherwise the baby would lose its ability to latch on. It sounds like this may have happened to your wife. I don't think there's much you can do, maybe keep trying to get your baby to latch on for a week and if that doesn't work you'll have to keep giving your baby a bottle. At least she's tried her best. remember - breast feeding is only best if its best for mother and baby.

Answer 6

He's probably not latching on anymore because he's relating her breast to little food and the bottle with lots of food. She should keep trying to nurse him and pump like crazy to up her supply. Of course give him formula in the mean time so he doesn't lose weight and gets nourishment. Have her put her breast milk in the bottle too so he keeps getting the taste of her milk. I'm sure she just wasn't producing much milk in the beginning but she can build her supply up by pumping and nursing like crazy. GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 7

6 oz is how much in kg?
mine gain abt 50% - 70% of her birthweight at 4-5weeks.
however, i heard, if baby is already big sized at birth, they probably gain not that much as compared to those average size babies.

Besides weight, you also can use the soiled diapers to guage if your baby is doing well or ok on breastmilk.
How many wet diapers and poo poo per day.
By right, your 4 week old shld produce at least 8 wet diaper per day. breastfeed baby tend to poo poo more and the texture shld be yellowish to greenish color. it also will be more watery.

I'm also a bfg mother (cow to 2 nurslings), and the above are what i get 2 girls.

Suppliment with formula will
1) confuse your baby = nipple confusion = sore nipple for ur wife
2) make baby prefer bottle cos it's easy to drink from bottle then latch on (that's why now he won't latch, cos it's a lot of work!)
3) decrease breastmilk supply.
4) emotionally affect myself (i'm not sure of others, but it sure affect me for it makes me feel bad)

Do visit a Lactation consultant if you can as soon as possible.
It will help you and your wife to determine where the problem lies..

All the best to you and your family

there are also websites for you to check out.
www.bmsg.com.sg (SG breastfeeding support group)
www.kellymom.com (good site to do research on breastfeeding)

Answer 8

You need to contact a Lactation Consultant or a La Leche League Leader. A LLL Leader will help you for FREE and with this situation she will most likely be willing to visit you at home to help out.

Did the doctor even try to address breastfeeding management before he suggested supplementing?

The child's latch needs to be checked to see if that is part of the problem. If his latch isn't good, he isn't going to transfer milk efficiently.

How often/long had she been nursing him prior to this? At this age, especially with weight gain concerns, he needs to be nursing AT LEAST every 2 hours around hte clock.

When he was nursing, was he ACTIVELY nursing the whole time he was on the breast or was he "flutter sucking" for comfort? Could she hear him swallowing?

STOP the bottles. If you must supplement while you are working out the breastfeeding problems, use another method. Talk to the LC or LLL Leader about getting a supplemental nursing system (SNS) that will allow him to get formula or pumped milk while nursing at the breast. Try using a spoon, medicine dropper, oral syringe or a soft cup (like comes with Pepto Bismol) instead. This way his sucking needs will continue to be met at the breast.

Have her try latching him on when he is only about half awake. She should have lots of skin to skin contact with him. She can try pumping just until she gets a letdown prior to nursing and then offer the breast. This will let baby get a quicker reward. Or you can stand behind her with a dropperful of milk and drip some milk over her nipple into the corner of baby's mouth to coax him to latch on.

If baby isn't latching, she needs to be pumping to keep up supply.