I saw a mom and baby today 6 days post-partum. I delivered the baby, a very fast, unmedicated delivery. Baby was 8 lbs 10 oz at birth (3/8/03), 7 lbs 15 oz at discharge on 3/10/03. Today, on a different scale he was 8 lbs 4 oz. While weight gain is fine, this baby is driving his mom nuts. Baby latched well for the first few days, then begin to struggle to latch, causing mom soe nipple soreness. She would often have to relatch him several times to get a comfortable latch. The soreness is nearly gone now, but baby tends to be sleepy at the breast. He wakes to feed, nurses well for a few minutes, then goes to sleep, but wakes and screams if taken off. Once awake, he goes back to breast readily, but falls asleep again quickly, and this cycle is repeated. He often takes well over an hour to finish a feeding in this manner and then wakes again in 10-20 minutes to start over. He is stooling 6-7 times a day, and wetting about the same. Mom reports his urine was dark yellow or orange the first 4 days, but now nearly colorless. Mom is really tired, and is also struggling to care for her 20 month old toddler, and 5 year old as well. Her first baby nursed only a few weeks, second about 9 mos (lots of problems in the beginning with both of them, I took care of her with the second and after the first month they were a very content nursing couple.) today in the office, he latched well and painlessly, and nursed vigorously for about 10 minutes without falling asleep. Mom reported it was the most vigorous he'd been in several days. She was very relieved with his weight gain and felt inspired enough to commit to continuing for at least a while longer. (although she suggested I come home with her, since the baby did so well in my office!) I suggested she try breast compression, and switching sides when baby starts to get sleepy, but wondered if there are any other ideas to help this little guy transfer milk a little faster. Mom is more than willing to feed frequently, but constantly is kind of hard on her. The IBCLC from WIC will be seeing her Tues., 3/18 also. If anyone has any other ideas, I will call her and give them before then. Jennifer Tieman Family Physician Mom to 3, and new baby #4 expected 5/31/03 *********************************************** 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