Hi - I am new here and hope that a few of you have some input or advice on this. My daughter is 13 wks old and has never EBF. I have been pumping. It started in the hospital... we had a very good labor and delivery and she latched immediately, but had a poor latch and caused me pain. I saw a lactation consultant in the hospital who gave me a nipple shield to use for a week or two until my daughter grew and hopefully would latch better when her mouth was larger. During those first two weeks, she wasn't transferring milk well... and therefore wasn't gaining well and my supply was going down. So, my LC said I needed to pump and bottle feed my breastmilk to get my baby's weight up. So, that is what we did for the next two weeks. Then, at four weeks old... I went to see my LC and my daughter latched perfectly! It was wonderful. She would show frustration at the breast, but when I could get her to latch... she transferred milk well and had a good latch. So from that point on, I tried to get her to nurse. She already acted like she preferred the bottle, but I worked with her, etc. I really would only get about one nursing session a day with her b/c she would immediately scream when I brought her to the breast or put her in any nursing hold. Then at 9 weeks old, she had her first routine shots and was also teething.... so I decided to give trying to breastfeed a rest. I didn't want her to get a worse aversion to my breast since she was fussy from shots and teething.... and already would fuss at the breast anyway. Well, during the four or five days that I didn't try to nurse.... I guess she completely got used to the bottles and will hardly ever latch now. I have been doing tons of skin-to-skin in the past four weeks, I have tried to use the nipple shield so she will feel the plastic nipple and hopefully latch, but she doesn't go for it. I have only gotten her to latch a handful of times if I'm able to trick her or get her when she's super happy and MIGHT latch on. She acts happy at the breast and if I express some milk.... she will lick at the nipple, etc... but to put the nipple in her mouth.. she will spit it out as though she doesn't want skin in her mouth and prefers the bottle.
So.. one of my main questions is... does anyone have experience getting an older baby on to the breast? Is it too late for us? I have seen two LC's and they both were worthless on any ideas. I have been trying to do research on anything else I can do to bring her to the breast. I terribly want to nurse my daughter and have PLENTY of milk to do this. Any suggestions or encouraging words would be so helpful..... I would really appreciate it.........