Hi, all:  I need some ideas from your collective wisdom.  My friend with
the 32-week premie who is now 4 months old is having significant problems.
Although the baby early on demonstrated excellent latching and seemed to
gain well at the breast initially (when the mom was pumping gallons of
milk and had a prodigious letdown), had a week during which mom was
deceived into thinking that she was doing great at breast but didn't gain
an ounce.  Supplementation with ebm was begun and mom got a scale for test
weights.  Supplementing at the breast was too long and drawn out a process
with the SNS (some improvement with the Lact-Aid but not enough to make
parents' life bearable).  Finger feeding seemed the best, and whenever
possible mom also put baby to breast (she's also pumping q2hr during the
day).  However, the baby seems to latch well to the breast, suck until the
MER, then promptly fall asleep, consistently getting 12 cc from the
breast.  She seems to love "hanging out at the breast" but has no interest
in actively nursing.  When dad (who had been doing the finger feeding) had
to go back to work, they had a crisis of sorts, because the baby continued
the same behavior at the breast (and Lact-Aid at breast was no better in
terms of intake), but then refused to finger feed from mom.  On the advice
of their pedi, they started bottle-feeding, which initially was also a
major struggle but now seems to work relatively well (this is so that at
least the baby-sitter can feed the baby), and during the night feedings
dad still finger feeds.  By the way, the baby is thriving.
Mom has resigned herself to never having the full bf relationship she had
hoped for, and plans to pump until she has enough ebm to age 6 months.
She is open to continuing the "hanging out at breast" and even willing to
pump enough to give baby at least one fresh bottle of ebm a day beyond 6
months.
Has any of you had any similar situation?  Any ideas about how to get this
baby to actively feed from the breast?  These parents have done real
heroics to ensure that this baby receives only ebm, and I'm sure that even
if the baby continues to behave this way, the nursing relationship will
still be special (and the baby may someday turn around and nurse fully
anyway).  But if anyone has suggestions that might help this mom realize
her original dream, it would be great.  Thanks, Alicia.