My baby won't latch to breast anymore

My little one has been bottle and breastfeed since birth but now only accepts the bottle. I'm gutted. He won't latch on anymore or open his mouth wide enough x

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He's 7 weeks by the way!

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Remove bottle from equation, just lots of breast time, could help

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Skin to skin might help from what I’ve been reading
Also try in the night when baby relaxed
I’ve had the same problem with baby preferring nipple shields

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Try message compressions when you breastfeed, my baby gets frustrated on the breast too he is 7 weeks as well & takes both bottle and breastfeeds since birth. When he gets frustrated I message my breast and I place a good squirt of milk on my nipples before I latch him this motivates him to keep going. He loved the breast mainly for comfort tho

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Try to persevere, BF when they are calm and not too hungry and no distractions. Also are you pace feeding and still using a 0 teat? Anything higher will make babies find bottles so much easier and get lazy on the boob

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Yes, using a size 0 teat. I find if I keep trying and trying he ends up screaming with frustration so I end up getting a bottle. Not sure if I should persevere or have I completely lost the latch? Xx

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Or maybe try a nipple shield ?

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For the latch have you went to a lactation consultant ? You can definitely try a nipple sheild or use your finger to open his chin a little by pulling it down when he opens it ( little tricks I learned from LC)

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Bottle preference. If breast was the original goal, bottles shouldn't have been introduced.
Bottles are far easier to feed from and babies will take the path of least resistance.

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Exactly what said. Babies have to work harder to get milk from nipple so if given the choice he will choose the easy option.

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@Hannah on the crying thing it might be a kind of developmental thing, my baby has done this for a few days here and there. in a dark room, skin to skin and gently encourage them now and then until they latch. x

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bottles were introduced because he'd lost so much weight and had quite bad jaundice so didn't have an option but now feeling like a failure if I'm honest.

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I'll give the nipple shield a go!

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@Hannah was this advice you'd received from an IBCLC?
Jaundice is very common, my first bub needed light therapy and my second was almost admitted.
Loss after birth is very normal too, with many factors contributing to how much.

Just know that you're not a failure, you just weren't informed.
I was poorly informed with my first, so worked hard to educate myself with my second.

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Nipple shields helped us a lot.
Offer breast first, if refused put the shield on.
Offer the breast again in the middle.
It worked for us.

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yes, a pediatrician told us to do it as he was quite poorly and lethargic etc. Unfortunately our first child passed away so we have taken any professional advice given to us but now I can't breast feed but I guess it means our baby is healthy and ok. Hopefully I can get back into it.

I'm going to try some of these. My little one just won't open his mouth wide enough!

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you shouldn’t feel like a failure atall!! You are doing you’re best and your baby is fed so that’s the important thing 🥰

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I had to do the same because my girl lost weight and have started to see her prefer a bottle too but all we can do is try to avoid this by offering the breast as much as possible. Good luck don’t beat yourself up too much as long as he’s fed! X

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@Hannah paediatricians aren't often up to date with BF knowledge.

I'd 100% seek help from an IBCLC in your area, they are the Gold standard in BF education and advice.

Pace feeding the bottles would be a start, if you're not already.

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Does anyone else’s baby spit up breastmilk but not formula?

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I think Motherhood has made me more bitter than I realized…

This is such a ramble but I don’t know where else to put it all.

I’m four months in and I don’t really have hobbies right now. I don’t do anything for myself except maybe doomscrolling or listening to a podcast while I breastfeed my baby. I used to craft and have game nights with friends. Activities that usually are at least 2 hour stretches. Now if I have an hour free my mind immediately goes to baby, or doing something in the house for baby.

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We took a family trip last weekend to see his best friend and their kids and let them meet the baby. He brought the laptop. He’s always brought a laptop on trips and it’s never been a problem to me before. But one night we both woke up while the baby was still asleep, and he wandered out of the room. I tried to fall back asleep but couldn’t. So I went to the kitchen to try having something warm to drink to settle me. And he was there at the table running the bot from his laptop. I flipped out at him. But there really wasn’t reason to. It’s not like I needed help with the baby and he was ignoring me. He wasn’t avoiding our friends. He was just awake and unable to sleep and found something to do with his time. Yet my snap reaction was “why the hell would you do this on a family trip?”

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the less complete sleep from baby’s middle of the night feed? My brain being just consumed by baby? Maybe I’m not as over that shopping incident as I thought? But I’m just so annoyed at his hobby right now. The green eyed monster thinks “you could be using that time differently” but realistically to do what exactly??? Stare at our baby in the dark???

I spent probably an hour apologizing to him after I snapped. And he’s of course hurt and frustrated because I said some very mean things in the moment.

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