Had a mama come in with her 6 week old worried that baby was not "able to latch" for the last 2 days. Up until 2 days ago, baby was nursing well every 2-3 hours on both sides (about 10-15 min each side), no BF problems. Mom denies any change in routine, diet, or medication. Mom has been hand expressing and letting baby "lick and drink" since baby is "not feeding well", has lots of milk, and does admit that baby will latch occasionally at night "for a few sucks" and then come off.
  On observation, baby is a chubby healthy BG- 6 lb at birth and 11 lb at 6 weeks!!!  Alert, active, curious. Does not appear in distress but does grunt and squirm often. Mom reports no change in stools or voids- stooling every few hours- mustard color, normal consistency (I did observe a diaper change). Some increase in spitting up. Abdomen not distended. Baby just does not seem hungry. We got baby to breast (mom states baby BF "only latched and sucked 5 times" 3 hours before) and baby can latch, suck a couple times, then comes off and just does not seem interested.  She does not choke or sputter. It does not seem to be teething related.
  I came to the conclusion that this is not an issue with cannot latch when hungry, but that baby has no interest in eating. So, either baby is just not hungry or something is bothering her. I referred her to her pediatrician and am monitoring her- what am I missing? Seems to me that mom has oversupply as baby has gained so much weight with such little effort- is it possible baby is getting enough with the occasional snacking? She has just lost her appetite for a couple days? Mom states she did try to give baby a bottle of pumped breast milk but baby would not suck on nipple.
  Any experiences or information would be helpful!

 Sheila Waterstrat, RN, IBCLC
Olympia, WA

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