I have been helping a mother whose baby has become very particular about what she allows in her mouth. I am reaching the end of my skills and knowledge, so I am asking for help! Unmedicated birth, with brief suctioning, then to mother's breast within 10 minutes of birth. Baby nursed very well for about 20 min on each side. Mother had no pain, and latch was good. Medical staff then do prolonged, deep suctioning (removing several tbsp of fluid). Baby otherwise healthy, and promptly refuses to nurse. (surprise!) Mother continues to attempt to latch baby on. She has wide, flattish nipples (evert well while pumping), and baby does have a small mouth. Baby sometimes takes nipple into her mouth, but it is painful for mother. She pushes out the breast in a minute or two anyway. Baby will open mouth but not wide. She sucks her fingers and her lower lip as well. Staff worked with finger and cup feeding. Finger feeding worked fairly well. Baby will eventually accept finger, but purses her lips around finger, gags if goes "too deep" and thrusts her tongue. Staff suggest nipple shield and eventually mom tries it (had negative experience with n.s. with first baby). Baby hates it and gags. Outright refusal of Avent nipple. At this point (5 days pp): Baby has good rooting reflex and opens mouth readily, just not wide. After trying many nipples in the hospital, baby is only willingly taking the bottle with a Playtex breastfeeding orthodontic nipple. Baby also feeds very slowly--up to 30 minutes to take 2 oz from bottle or finger feeding. Mom must actively feed her, moving the nipple around in her mouth. Mom is sore with cracked nipples after trying to feed baby for first 4 days. Pumping doesn't really bother her (Purely Yours). Mother expressing lots of milk, and doing some skin-to-skin/co-sleeping (she is caring for her 15 month old too). She is frustrated, but also extremely dedicated to breastmilk--pumping for 8 months for her first. But she really wants to directly breastfeed this time. Brilliant ideas, anyone? Thank you. Virginia Bobro IBCLC in private practice __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html