baby will only stay on a min!

[grumpy]

we have been struggling with breast feeding for about a month it started with him being ill, then he just screamed at the breast from then on....now he's 2.3wk old and will only suck for about five mins at most....im not pumping but still have the water from the breast...he is on five 0z of formula...but keeps being sick.so far have tried the tubes coming from the bottle to the breast ....he didn't seem to like it at all.although he did suck for about 15 mins...but the bottled milk ran fast which upset him i think. he fed really well from birth then , we introdused the formula .....becuse when the midwife came and weighed him he had lost over ten per cent of his weight ...he was 3 days old at this point...i thought he was feeding.we were advised to put him on formula straight away to get his weight up.....which we did in one day.so he was able to stay out of hospital. what can we do ?thankyou.

[KerrySmithIBCLC]

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time! Fussiness at the breast can be caused by a few different things. It's possible that you have a strong milk flow and he has a hard time keeping up with it when your milk lets down. When he fusses, can you hear him gulping the milk? When he pulls off, does your milk spray out? If so, trying different positions can help him better manage the fast flow. Making sure he's latched really well with a deep latch helps. Having him nurse so that he's sort of above your breast will also help (you can achieve this position by latching him in the football hold and then reclining back so he's sort of above you). Also, you can hand express until your milk lets down and then latch him on after the flow has slowed.

He may also be fussing because the flow is too *slow* for him. Doing breast compressions while he nurses will help with this. You can read about how to do breast compressions here:

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/15breast_compression.html

When you say he's on 5 oz. of formula - is that per feeding, or total for the day? Once breastfeeding is going well and he's gaining appropriately, you can then focus on slowly weaning him off the formula, but I would not start doing that until he has good weight gain. How is his weight gain now?

What do you mean that he keeps being sick? What's wrong with him?

If you need to be supplementing him, then I would recommend pumping if you can, after feedings or between feedings. This will help increase your milk supply, plus you can supplement him with your expressed milk instead of formula.

It sounds like you may need the assistance of a lactation consultant in person. I would really recommend that - she can help make sure you're breastfeeding effectively and your baby is gaining well, and she can help you wean off the supplementation and go to breastfeeding exclusively.

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