The breast feeding trials continue

The trials continue. After a break for Thanksgiving we have again been practicing breast feeding at least once a day. The attempts are emotionally and physically trying for all involved so we rarely do more than once a day.

Pre-Thanksgiving Jac had gotten up to 38 swallows in one session - and last Friday we got him back up to 30 swallows in one session. We feel like are making good progress in refining our positioning and Jac now seems to understand that my breast has milk - a major accomplishment as far as I am concerned.

We now think that we have hit a wall - because of the use of the nipple shield. The nipple shield is not designed for long term use and is recommended to SLOW breasts that are too fast for a baby. So - we think we have gone as far as we can with the nipple shield. It seems clear that Jacie is getting frustrated with the breast because of the slow flow - because when he is not upset he is quite willing to latch on and suck. we think the slow flow is what makes the subsequent latches harder - and we almost never get past 3 separate latches - and with his bottle he routinely latches on 10 times - although he does get mad with the bottle also - it depends on his mood and how hungry he is and what time of day it is.

So - we have an appointment on Thursday with the Lactation Consultant at BCFH to see if we can learn how to get latched straight on to the breast! Wouldn't that be something!