A baby who is taking the breast should not be finger feeding. The
supplements should be give at the breast, with the lactation aid. Babies
learn to breastfeed by breastfeeding, not finger feeding, cup feeding or
syringe feeding, much less bottle feeding. And there is more to
breastfeeding than breastmilk. Coach Smith has some guidelines, those are
mine.

1. Babies learn to breastfeed by breastfeeding. (Corollory: Mothers learn to
breastfeed by breastfeeding).
2. There is more to breastfeeding than breastmilk. (Another reason for
babies to be on the breast, and *not* finger feeding unless absolutely
unavoidable.

Here's what I would do with this situation.

1. Fix the latch. Sorry, can't help by email.
2. Teach the mother how to know the baby is getting milk (open--pause--close
type of sucking).
3. Use compression to keep the flow up once the baby is no longer drinking.
4. When the baby no longer drinks on the first side, switch to the second.
And switch back and forth until the baby does not drink reasonable amounts.
5. Introduce lactation aid with expressed milk and let baby drink as much as
s/he wants.
6. Use fenugreek and blessed thistle to increase supply.

See handouts at websites below:

http://www.erols.com/cindyrn/drjack0.htm

or

http://www.bflrc.com/jn_arts.htm

Fenugreek and blessed thistle are discussed on Treatments for Problems.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC