Preemie refusing to breastfeed

[@llli*honeybutton]

I'm experiencing something very similar right now, OALD, screaming at the breast and refusing to eat when awake. I offered the breast daily in the ISCU for 35 days and he hasn't ever had an issue with latching...when he wants to! It's that he is outright refusing me. I've gotten the same advice to have an all day in bed nursing time to get him used to it, but I feel bad/ afraid/nervous letting him scream him self silly! It doesn't seem right refusing him my EBM from a bottle so he will take the breast is it cruel? Because it feels cruel, but i desparetely want him to EBF! I want to be rid of this pump! He is gaining weight fine and could be off the enfacare fortifier if he just ate from me like he was born to do! Help! The only chance i get to have the breastfeeding experience is when i sleep with him at the nipple and he wakes up rooting but still asleep and he eats for 5 minutes and goes back to sleep. (So in summation I have OALD, oversupply, reflux, dependence/used to bottle, and GASSY BABY going against me right now)

[@llli*manitobamommy]

I would say if he's really that distraught then it's probably working against you at that point anyway. Have you tried giving him a little bit from a bottle just to take the edge off, and then try nursing with him a bit calmer? And/or hand expressing a bit before you offer so it comes faster?

[@llli*lllmeg]

The only chance i get to have the breastfeeding experience is when i sleep with him at the nipple and he wakes up rooting but still asleep and he eats for 5 minutes and goes back to sleep.

I think this is key. this is your in, you can build on that. Given the chance, breastfed babies often root and nurse at the breast when asleep, falling asleep, or just waking. When a baby is refusing the breast, offering the breast or having the breast available at these times is a way to key into that instinctual rooting behavior.


Is the oald causing the breast refusal? Because addressing that might help. Kellymom.com has a good article http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supp.../fast-letdown/

This video is made to illustrate a 'laid back' nursing position, (which might help with oald as well) but it also illustrates quite well how a baby will begin to cue in their sleep, and if the breast is available right then, as in this video, they will often start nursing even before they fully wake.
http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/video/bn3clip.html