Dear Laurie and Debbie,

Overabundant flow would also be my first guess, however, I pump only when
my son is sleeping or having a bottle (I pump at 7pm, 11pm and 3am. He has
a dreamfeeding at 10:30pm, breastmilk in the bottle, and sleeps 7pm to
7am). That said, my body during the day makes just enough for him and I do
not have to pump in between feeds or after feeds, I don't get engorged,
breasts feels soft, and when I returned to work for couple days, while
pumping during the day every 3 hours I would make just enough for his
bottles - around 2.5-3oz from each breast. I do not have overactive
letdown, and while my son would pull away from the breast during a letdown,
I would not observe any spraying, not even leaking. Too much foremilk isn't
an answer either, as he completely finishes the breast and rarely takes a
second breast during a feed.
I have read a final report from the ENT yesterday night, and it was
confirmed that he has 80% of his airway blocked by the adenoids
hypertrophy. This makes me believe that the poor little guy just can't
breath during breastfeeding, and the gulping sound might be not from
gulping on milk, but desperately trying to take a breath. I have also tried
nipple shield today, but it was more painful than without it as he started
biting on it and just the suction felt like too much. We also tried the
straddle hold position as Laurie suggested, but he just doesn't want to do
that, and with my breasts being quite pendulous, my nipple is around his
chest in that position and I would have to unnaturaly hold it up. Baby
lying on top to feed would be even harder, as my breasts completely lost
the elasticity due to being bigger few years ago, and losing almost 60lbs 3
years ago, and in supine position, they roll completely to the sides.
Reflux desease has been adressed by the ENT as his esophagus was very
swollen during an endoscopy. He has been od 2ml 15mg/ml Zantac q 12h since
he was 2 months old.
I will adress the possible bacterial infection on Monday Laurie, thank you
for the suggestion. For now nursing is just so extremely painful and I'm
losing hope - I have no idea how to breastfeed a baby that can't breath
through the nose. As for the cow's milk protein intolerance, I have been
soy and dairy free for months now.
With the bottle, he does much better. I can still hear the gulping, but not
nearly as much as at the breast, even with nipple flow nr 3 that he has for
a dreamfeeding. I can't figure out how that happens, as I bet this flow is
faster than my own.
I just have no idea how to breastfeed a baby that struggles like that. ENT
says he doesn't believe the surgery to remove the adenoids is neccesary
just yet, as my son is keeping his growth curve. He wants to use the "wait
and see" approach. Also surgery is under general anesthesia so that's quite
major for such a little baby and it really scares me. I believe the only
reason why he didn't fall off the growth curve yet is because 90% of my day
is trying to figure out how to feed this poor little guy. Again, I'm just
so at loss.

Karolina

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