Expert: Sageda El-Abbasy - 2/16/2009

Question
Hello,

My son was taken at time of birth and so the nurses put him on a bottle. I expressed breast milk and breastfed as much as I could until he had blood in his stool. The doctor that the foster family took him to see told them that it was the breast milk. That happened when he was 2 months old.

Now he is home we are giving him formula and expressed breast milk from a bottle but when we put him to the breast he just screams or falls asleep. I talked to his new doctor and she said that his weight is of concern because of how tiny he is and that I should give him 2 oz of milk then put him to the breast. My husband and I got him to do a proper breastfeeding session last night where he was sucking and happy but when we woke up this morning he was screaming every time we put him at the breast.

Any tips that you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
I'm not quite sure to what the problem is exactly, but here some things that you can try.

1. When holding your son to breast feed, make sure that you are not holding him from his head and that he can move his head freely.  Babies feel safer that way.
2. Avoid washing your nipple before breast feeding. Wipe it after feeding rather than before since that removes the natural smell of the nipple that helps the baby recognize the smell of your milk.
3. Try feeding your baby more from your breast than expressed milk since some babies get used to the teat texture and refuse the breast after that.  Also there are teats that are made to look like the  breast.  Those could be a bit better, but still try to increase breast feeds.

I hope my tips solve your problem.  Good luck.