When Does A Baby Latch?

[Anonymous]

I’m the same poster from 5/29 and 6/02 about my newborn not gaining weight, and if pumped milk has the same benefits as nursing. I switched to pumping shortly after his two week appointment because he wasn’t gaining weight. He had a “ weak” suck and the LC said he will may get better with age and his latch and suck get stronger. I’ve been exclusively pumping since then with the hopes that we can switch to breastfeeding. My baby is now 14 weeks old and won’t breastfeed. We have tried at least once a day since 4 week to see if he would latch and he won’t. He had been gaining weight and he is happy and healthy. I’ve been considering switching thing to formula, but then I start to wonder if he will eventually catch on and want to nurse. I have 6 months maternity leave and I’m considering pumping until then to see if he will nurse. I don’t plan to pump with work or pump when my he becomes more active unless he’s breastfeeding. Do you think he will ever latch? Should I keep pumping until 6 months or switch to formula?

[Anonymous]

I know you don’t want to be at this but he probably won’t latch if he hasn’t already. It’s okay to keep pumping and trying if that works for you, but it’s okay to switch to formula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know you don’t want to be at this but he probably won’t latch if he hasn’t already. It’s okay to keep pumping and trying if that works for you, but it’s okay to switch to formula.

+1

[Anonymous]

I think it's up to you and how difficult you find pumping to be. A lot of the benefits of breastmilk can be had from just one bottle a day.

He might latch, he might not, the only thing I can think to do is to spend time in bed with him, when he's hungry, both of you topless and the room dim and a little cool, not really pressuring him but just offering the opportunity. That's the standard advice I got from my LC and it worked.

[Anonymous]

He might but at 14 weeks, I'd be making other plans. I'd move to formula but that is just my personal preference. You can also pump. You can also keep trying and pump. There is no wrong answer as long as your baby is getting fed and you are not making yourself crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know you don’t want to be at this but he probably won’t latch if he hasn’t already. It’s okay to keep pumping and trying if that works for you, but it’s okay to switch to formula.

+1

+2, and I'd totally switch to formula at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the same poster from 5/29 and 6/02 about my newborn not gaining weight, and if pumped milk has the same benefits as nursing. I switched to pumping shortly after his two week appointment because he wasn’t gaining weight. He had a “ weak” suck and the LC said he will may get better with age and his latch and suck get stronger. I’ve been exclusively pumping since then with the hopes that we can switch to breastfeeding. My baby is now 14 weeks old and won’t breastfeed. We have tried at least once a day since 4 week to see if he would latch and he won’t. He had been gaining weight and he is happy and healthy. I’ve been considering switching thing to formula, but then I start to wonder if he will eventually catch on and want to nurse. I have 6 months maternity leave and I’m considering pumping until then to see if he will nurse. I don’t plan to pump with work or pump when my he becomes more active unless he’s breastfeeding. Do you think he will ever latch? Should I keep pumping until 6 months or switch to formula?

I am in a very small minority that had a baby latch at 4 months. Dont try and do it while he is awake. Try during twilight sleep or a nap. Continue to do skin to skin. I took skin to skin naps every afternoon with him to help my supply when I was EP. He latched during an afternoon nap one day. We still had to go to the LC a few times afterwards 1- because I didnt believe it was actually working 2- it was still a bit shallow 3- needed to do weighted feeds to ensure the transfer was enough bc with pumping you can see how much you are producing and well PPA is a b*** just an FYI. I tried breastfeeding for the first few weeks and we had so many issues. Tongue tie, lip tie, reflux, other issues. I stopped trying around 4 weeks and just EP but would try to latch one/week when both of us were calm- a hard balance since PP was a very difficult time for me and he had reflux.

Switch if you need to or want to. Theres no point in continuing to EP if you are going to stop when you go back to work. Youll want to transition to formula before you decide to stop and IME the longer you breastfeed the more hormonal swing as you wean.

Make the best decision for your family.

[Anonymous]

My first never latched, and I pumped for 6 months. In retrospect I should have switched to formula much earlier. EP is no joke.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried a nipple shield yet? Mine wouldn’t latch without one until about 6 months but was able to nurse quite easily while using it. Probably worth a try if you haven’t already. Otherwise I’d probably be inclined to pick a deadline and do formula if it doesn’t happen by then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you tried a nipple shield yet? Mine wouldn’t latch without one until about 6 months but was able to nurse quite easily while using it. Probably worth a try if you haven’t already. Otherwise I’d probably be inclined to pick a deadline and do formula if it doesn’t happen by then.

+1

Nipple shields are amazing.

I hope you are working with a lactation consultant.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t torture myself for the next 10 weeks to try and nurse. You said he was happy and healthy and you weren’t going to pump after you went back to work.

I would switch to formula, enjoy my baby (and not pumping) for the next ten weeks, and would not look back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know you don’t want to be at this but he probably won’t latch if he hasn’t already. It’s okay to keep pumping and trying if that works for you, but it’s okay to switch to formula.

+1

+2, and I'd totally switch to formula at this point.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's up to you and how difficult you find pumping to be. A lot of the benefits of breastmilk can be had from just one bottle a day.

He might latch, he might not, the only thing I can think to do is to spend time in bed with him, when he's hungry, both of you topless and the room dim and a little cool, not really pressuring him but just offering the opportunity. That's the standard advice I got from my LC and it worked.

OP here. My hope was to breastfeed off a year, but I don’t want to pump after 6 months because I will be back at work and baby will be more active. I don’t find pumping to be that bad. I pump when he sleeps and then feed him when he wakes up. He is on a good feeding and nap schedule. I started off pumping 10 times a day and then starting dropping pumping after 4 weeks. I’m down to 7 and will likely drop it down to 6 in the next week, and then 5 by 4/5 months. I like that he is getting breast milk and I have been able to build a freezer stash.

My husband is very supportive and does 2-3 feedings a day. He’s a good sleeper and is sleeping 11 hours at night. I’m able to get 7-8 hours with one pump that I will drop in the next week. I have a lot of family support and my husband does all the cooking.

He is hungry and won’t wait or try to suck from the breast. He gets mad and will scream until I give him a bottle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you tried a nipple shield yet? Mine wouldn’t latch without one until about 6 months but was able to nurse quite easily while using it. Probably worth a try if you haven’t already. Otherwise I’d probably be inclined to pick a deadline and do formula if it doesn’t happen by then.

OP here. I have tried using one and it didn’t make a difference. I have tried everything and nothing has worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first never latched, and I pumped for 6 months. In retrospect I should have switched to formula much earlier. EP is no joke.

+1 But I only made it for four months.