Tips for transitioning from bottle boob?

[sunflwra]

Hey ladies- so I've been pretty successful in boosting my supply back up- it's not 100% of what G needs but pretty close and we should no longer have the issue of trying to nurse with nothing there to offer. I've been exclusively pumping for 2.5 weeks. I've tried practice runs with getting her on the boob directly or with a shield a few times and can get her latched for a few seconds here and there but no major nursing successes yet. The LC thinks I should continue pumping since my supply is not totally established yet but I should also try to incorporate more nursing attempts.

She's never really nursed since we had to incorporate the bottle so early with supplementation. She will comfort suckle some but I haven't been able to get her to actively nurse yet. I think one of the biggest challenges is the immediate gratification she gets with the bottle and not wth the boob. I may try to have the LC come back out to help now that there is milk to offer but any suggestions from you ladies are appreciated!

[Squishy622]

Oct 20, 2015 12:14:53 GMT -5 alicia0818 said:

Can you hand express or pump to get the milk flowing and then try and put her on?

And once she's on, compress compress compress.

[link7913]

I love my medela harmony manual pump. I agree with Alicia to pump before putting LO on. I pump a couple of oz off before putting my LO on, because I have a really fast let down that chokes her. In your case, I would put LO on the breast right after you let down. Good luck to you!!

Also, I keep the manual pump in the fridge between pumps and wash at the end of the day. It makes this doable for me - would not be as easy with my double electric (too much stuff to get out and hooked up).

[sunflwra]

Thanks ladies. I do have a hand pump, so I'll give that a try before putting her on to get things going and see if that helps. I think I'm going to have to try to work without the nipple shield so that doesn't slow things down too. somesay - I thought about starting with the bottle to take the edge off the hunger and then switch, I just wasn't sure if it would frustrate her too much but you never know until you try!

[rondosa]

The other thing is that you can do what Kellymom suggests for bottle feeding. Keep the bottle a bit more upright so she has to suck for a bit before you tilt it to give milk. Maybe that'll help condition her to not expect milk immediately and to work for it. Might help her learn to work for boob milk

[leopardgurl831]

What about trying to add a SNS while nursing of pumped milk. Then she gets more at a time.

[sunflwra]

Oct 21, 2015 23:17:50 GMT -5 leopardgurl831 said:

What about trying to add a SNS while nursing of pumped milk. Then she gets more at a time.

leopardgurl831 - I was wondering about something like this but not sure how it works.

Anyone know anything about it? Not sure where to get one, should I work with my LC, etc?

[leopardgurl831]

Oct 22, 2015 17:35:23 GMT -5 sunflwra said:

Oct 21, 2015 23:17:50 GMT -5 leopardgurl831 said:

What about trying to add a SNS while nursing of pumped milk. Then she gets more at a time.

leopardgurl831 - I was wondering about something like this but not sure how it works.

Anyone know anything about it? Not sure where to get one, should I work with my LC, etc?

I got mine at the hospital with DS1. It took awhile for my milk to come in, so I was pumping and using that so he got enough. I bet the LC can get you one maybe even Amazon?