Barbara,
        I have also seen some suck difficulties in later children of large
families.  I hesitate to blame the breast, sometimes the mom has so many
responsibilities that she does not have the time to spend with a slow feeder
that may be required for weight gain.  This does not seem to be the case with
your mom...
        When a baby is unable to make an SNS work, or a baby needs "jump
starting" at the breast, I prefer to use a syringe and 5 french feeding tube.
Mom slips the tube into baby's mouth after latch on, and gives a .5 to 1cc
bolus of milk every time the baby stalls (I teach the difference between
pausing to breathe and stalling).  This, coupled with pumping hindmilk to use
in these syringes, seems to help when baby has a weak and unsustained suck
secondary to excessive weight loss.  If there are other suck issues, these can
be dealt with as well for best effect.
        Loved your post on weight loss, amen to using weight loss as a screen
to identify babies who need further assistance to learn to bf.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC  [log in to unmask]