Dear Lactnetters,
I am posting this with the permission of a very desperate but committed mom of a 5 mos old baby.
She couldn't breastfeed her older daughter (now 2)very long, because after a while the baby started to refuse the breast, not gaining well (no bottles, no pacifiers yet). After trying several things, none of them worked, she gave up, and fed the baby with EBM via bottle . the baby did not realy liked that either, and has been ever since a poor eater and a very slow gainer.
When the next child was born the mother was very determined to breastfeed this time. But after a couple of weeks the same thing happened again: the baby started to refuse the breast more and more often (no bottles, no pacifiers, no shield), cried a lot while nursing and was apparently in discomfort or pain. The mother had an oversupply, the baby was often choking on the milk. The baby also had very watery green stools. So we talked over positioning and successfully reduced her supply, but the problem continued to persist.  Then the mother told that the child is hypoton (actually the older one was also hypoton). But it seemed that still, the child is able to maintain vacuum and suckle effectively, but she just doesn't want to. meanwhile the stools worsened and the baby was given lactase (doctors wanted to wean her on lactose-free formula).
At that time the baby practically couldn't be fed, sucked her tongue all day, cried a lot and didn't gain. Mom was on dairy-free diet.
baby started to refuse STS too, as it reminded her to nursing.
The mom came across an article on reflux and took the child to a gastroenterologist. The child was diagnosed with very severe reflux. Her oesophagus was badly damaged. It turned out that the other child has reflux too, that's why her appetite is still bad.
She was given some coating medication (cisaprid, Propulsid), but no improvement in eating habits.
Mom tried positioning, but it didn't help. The baby only wants to suck her thumb - poor thing suffered so much, it's the only comforting thing she knows:o((
With the first child mom tried to tape down the thumb, so that the child cannot suck it (sort of like what we recommend when weaning from bottle back to breast) with tons of STS, which worked for a wwhile, but then everything worsened again. But then, that child wasn't treated back then.
So the mother thinks she would try that again, and also going to bed with the baby, being STS 7/24.
What is your experience in cases like this? how long does it take, until some improvement shows? do you have any other suggestions they could try? The mom is willing to do practically anything to be able to continue breastfeeding.
TIA,
Eszter Schneiderné Diószegi
psychologist, IBCLC from Hungary

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