Hi: I do have permission to share this story of a client I am working with:

  I am working with a client that came into my office when baby was 8 days old, exlusively breastfed for the first 4 days and breastmilk bottlefed for the next 4 days.  Full term, good birth weight ( forget exactly). On Day 5, baby had significant weight loss ( almost 10%) and peds suggested feeding baby with bottle every 2 hours.  Peds wanted mom to get 2 ounces in after each breastfeed. 

   Breastfeeding difficulty issues were not taken seriously by peds. Nor was moms complaint that baby is very sleepy, difficult to wake up and having a "stuffy nose" since birth -that mom wonders out loud to peds, if this is why baby is having difficulty nursing. 

  Mom is given saline drops and told to give to baby, along with using bulb syringe "whenever baby is stuffy and can't eat."... sigh.....

  On Day 8,  ( day of consult) baby was about 2-3 ounces below BW.  So, baby comes into my office well fed, but with a stuffy nose, that mom says has been that way since birth & very, very sleepy.  Mom says baby is very difficult to wake up and does poorly at breast - difficult to get to latch on and when does, falls asleep within seconds of coming to breast.  

  Mom tells me that she is very frustrated as first baby nursed beautifully and she never had a problem. New baby has been a struggle and although she is not giving up, it has been so difficult, she has felt like giving up at times. 

  After through exam of mom's breast, baby's oral anatomy, mom's health history relative to breastfeeding, I determine that for all intense purposes, this should be working real well.

  Baby is, of course, sleeping at beginning of consult.  I had a very, very difficult time waking baby up.  Color looked good, appeared well-hydrated, Just did not want to "come out of it's sleep" and also very interesting to note - barely opened her eyes.  I undressed, massaged, stimulated, played with, and after about 15 minutes of this, baby opened eyes and woke up enough to bring to breast.   moms latch could use a bit of adjustment, but after a few minutes I stopped teaching mom and latched baby on myself, as I could see baby was on her way to sleepy land again.  Did achieve an excellent latch and after five minutes of strong, nutritive sucking, baby fell asleep at breast and would not wake up again.  Put baby on scale, mostly to stimulate, and baby drank 18cc's in less than 5 minutes. YUP, mom has nice milk supply.

  used cold cloths to stimulate baby and each time baby would wake up and be put to breast, would promptly fall asleep in feeding position.  Mom says:  see, this happens all the time.  When I asked parents when the last time they saw baby open eyes, they had to think.........  perhaps last night for an hour or two.  And before that?  Parents could not remember.....

  Had mom call peds, while they sat in my office.  Told them that peds would probably ask the usual questions regarding food intake, output and weight gain and will be happy with answers.  Told mom that she will need to be firm about having baby seen.  As expected, peds did not take mom seriously. As  a last resort, I heard mom say:  well, I am sitting in the office of an LC and she says that a baby of 8 days old should be more alert, opening it's eyes, interested in the world around her, showing hunger cues AND all my baby does is sleep, very, very deeply and is not interested in anything and goes days in between opening her eyes.  

  With that the peds asks to speak to me. I speak to peds and hand the phone back to parents and they are told to come in right after the LC appt.

  At Drs office, peds say Yes, baby is stuffy, but here use these nose drops for 3 days and let's take a chest x-ray to make sure all is okay and Nope.. nothing wrong.  lungs are clear. Go home and enjoy baby... She will become very active very soon --- don't worry.

  Mom leaves frustrated. Calls me back up. Takes my advise regarding alternative care and decides to see a chiropractor.  Cannot get appt. over the weekend and on Day 11, sees chiro.  

  On the way home from chiro, mom calls me on her cell and says:  Do you hear that???

             ***********************************************

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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html