Laurie,

You mention epidural.  Did the mom perchance also get Stadol?  It tends to
really whack out a baby's suck, in my experience.  The baby will open, attempt
to latch, & then "bang" the tongue against the nipple without actually getting
a good suckle.  I notice that even the totally bottlefed babies have trouble
after Stadol.  There seems to be a "window" of time, like over 1-2 hours
before delivery, that administration of Stadol seems to do the most damage.

Has anyone else noticed this?  I experienced it first-hand with my youngest 9
years ago.  Had one dose of Stadol (thought I was doing good to avoid the
epidural, given that he was posterior AND I had stomach flu & gas pains worse
than the labor pains!), about 2 hours before delivering.  Peter sucked like a
"nipple-confused" baby on the delivery table, and was 3 months old before he
actually latched & nursed correctly.

Carol