Hi,
I've been working with a mom off and on for awhile with limited success. With her permission, I'm asking for any suggestions that may help her.
Baby is now 17 weeks old and exclusively breastfed. Delivery was unremarkable. She had some difficulty with latch the first day, but with help, baby did better. She claims her milk came in full force the very first night! Initially, she called me with classic symptoms of oversupply (choking, green stools, fussiness, good weight gain.) She began one breast per feeding and used cabbage leaves with good results.
About 3-4 weeks ago, baby began latching on nipple only and biting down during feedings. He nurses every 2 hours for only 5 minutes....lots of loud gulping. Last week, he began throwing up large amounts after most feedings, but this has now subsided. Weight gain is still good (baby has double his birth weight already!). Stools have spaced to one a week and are soft yellow. She continues one breast per feeding.
She came in for help today. Her nipples look okay except for soreness all around the base of her nipples. She feels like he'll "bite them off." She has a strong desire to continue breastfeeding, but is at her end with the pain. She feels strongly that oversupply is not the problem. In fact, her breasts were soft prior to feeding today. Baby latched on quickly and was gulping loudly after the first 2 sucks. He pulled back and bit down hard, but kept gulping. When mom broke his suction, milk shot all over his face! We tried a nipple shield, but he got incredibly angry and refused to suck. I had mom pump through the first let down and offer breast again. By this time, he was so angry, he refused breast with or without shield and refused EBM in a bottle too. After 45 minutes of screaming and mom trying to calm, he fell asleep. A couple of minutes later, he latched on to the breast that was not pumped and gulped for 5 minutes (poor latch, but we were afraid to irritate him again). Nursing in upright position and Australian hold aren't very helpful.
I sent her home to try pumping a bit before the next feed and catch him when he's still sleepy and to introduce the nipple shield again with the hopes he'll become accustomed to it. What I'm wondering is: Can anything be done to slow down her oxytocin release? Can this be caused by a physical condition that can be rectified? Any suggestions would be so appreciated.
Thank you,
Billie Frye
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