Dear Heidi,
About a year ago I had a similar experience with a baby not latching. This
mother had birthed with midwives in our Birth Centre so had no medications
or interventions during birth; the one unusual aspect was that a physician
had insisted in inducing her since he thought she was 42 wks - so she went
to the hospital for gel and then came directly to the birth centre to
labour. They believed when they saw the baby she was probably around 38 wks
gestation and was only just over 5 lbs; baby Madison seemed to have been
upset by being brought into the world early! With many numerous consults and
weekly contact with us  through a drop in breastfeeding class - every trick
in the book was tried. A very determined mother but an equally determined
baby - fussed whenever held close to the breast. Mother nicknamed her mad
Madison. Mother provided breastmilk by bottle exclusively since birth but at
3 months was ready to quit pumping since there had been no improvement in
the baby's behaviour - she was still strongly adament not to have anything
to do with the breast. One of the midwife's and myself sat and discussed all
the options with the mother -we felt that as adults we knew what was best
for this baby and what she would miss if not able to breastfeed - but the
baby of course did not know any of this and had not been receptive to
anything we had tried to date. The absolute last resort and a most difficult
option was to go cold turkey - no bottles or anything else - love and love
and love with the only option for food was at the breast. This baby was a
good size at this stage ( over 12 pounds)  and I didn't feel there was any
anatomical reason why she couldn't breastfeed - just  behaviour and
conditioning to the bottle. We had tried a nipple shield early on with
absolutely no luck.  We left the mother with both our pager numbers if she
decided to do this and she needed to call us for support. The next morning
the mother phoned to tell us that Madison was on the breast - she had
decided to get tough and by eight hours she was on - it was a very hard
eight hours for both parents but they just cuddled and loved and cried and
didn't give in. Once she was on they never looked back - Madison was an
intense nurser - and was not interested in solids until nearly eight months
and last I heard she was still an avid nursing toddler. Mother gave us
permission to share her story - the challenge and the joys of achieving what
she most wanted to do.
This was definitely the hardest case of not latching I have ever seen but
the fact that this mother was still determined to breastfeed and willing to
take this huge step probably contributed to her success. Not sure how many
mothers would actually attempt this but it certainly worked for them.
Maureen Fjeld, IBCLC ( LC since 1987 and LLL Leader, 1976)
Calgary, Alberta

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