Colleagues,
    I would like some help or ideas from you on this one.  Mom is an
elderly primipara (34 years old).  Baby was born by caesarean section.
    Initially baby received some bottles (AWK!) as mom was exhausted
after a prolonged labour.
    Baby is now 3 weeks old and not back to birthweight, but weight is
almost there.  Mom is pumping after feeds using a large-bore electric
breast pump and obtaining between 20 and 50 ml.  Mom is takikng motilium
20 mg. four times a day and her supply is slowly increasing.
    Baby is getting breast attempts, followed by finger-feeding with
expressed breast milk or formula.  He seems to like the formula better
than he does the breast milk.   Baby was and still continues to be,
extremely sleepy.  When he is put to the breast or is finger-fed, he
immediately goes to sleep and is taking a long time to feed (almost an
hour).  Parents are watching for early feeding cues, but while he
exhibits them, he does not stay awake.
    This baby has an extreme breast aversion and fights all attempts to
latch to the breast.  Both parents are exhausted.  We are now trying to
get him from finger-feeding to the breast in the morning when he is most
alert and more able to stay awake during feeds, it seems.
    However, Mom has developed an incisional abscess which is starting
to drain.  She was on clindamycin for a week until the last dose this
morning.  Mom reports her milk tastes bitter. Baby takes breastmilk
slower than formula
My questions are:
    Does anyone have any experience with Clindamycin making breast milk
taste bitter
    Parents are getting tired with the length of time finger-feeding
takes and are wanting to give the baby's supplement by bottle (they
already do so in the middle of the night - their choice).  Does anyone
have any idea how long you can feed a baby by finger-feeding alone?
    Mom cannot climb into a warm bath with the baby and has been trying
to rest him on her bare breast with no requirements for him to feed, but
he shows no indication of wanting to feed.  Any other suggestions to
help him??
TIA!

Jeanne Hagreen, RN, IBCLC
Prince George, British Columbia, CANADA
"One LC in the wilderness"