Dear Wise Ones, I have been working with a mother who is nursing her second
child. Her first she did not nurse. She tried but did not have the support she
needed. When second baby was abour 5 days old, mom was very scared about
having enough milk. She was giving baby bottle one time a night and nursing
the rest of the time. I observed feeding looked good so we decided to go for
it. Nurse the baby at least eight times for as long as he wanted for 5 days
and return. Returned and baby did not lose any weight but did not gain. At
that time we decided to use the SNS at the breast. Baby is gaining however at
8 weeks mom is still having trouble with him falling asleep at the breast and
feeding is frustrating. Of course when I see him he does well. But mom reports
feeding takes so long and when she thinks he is done, he wakes up and wants
more. I have been so baffled by this as this sleepiness is not getting better
but worse. Here is my theory. Because mom has less milk producing tissue that
is connected to the ducts that are still conected to the nipple, baby is
geting the  hind milk sooner than normal and this milk is giving the baby a
false message that he is satiated when he really is not. Lately we are having
more diffilculty with the baby gaining as much weight as we would like. I feel
like I can play with the SNS to get enough milk into the baby, but the real
problem is the falling asleep. What do you think? Do you think that this is a
reasonable explanation for the sleepiness? PS  Mom puts baby on, baby gets
milk, when baby stops swallowing mom turns on the SNS. Thank you for your
help. Camille