Breastfeeding and Working Problem

My four month old son also does this at times. He usually does this in the evening/night when he is really tired so I warm a bootle of expressed milk and let him sleep. At his next feeding he is fine. It could be that it is at night and you have worked all day and are stressed and tired. As long as she is getting your breastmilk that is all that matters. My first son (now 4) never latched on. He was born 4 weeks premature and did not know how to suck. We had so many problems that I just pumped EVERY bottle for him for 10 months (my milk dried up by then). He had the benefits of breastmilk and I had the freedom to leave him with dad or grandma to go shopping or run errands.

M C,
Karen's advice is right on - always offer the breast first. Also, in order to stimulate a quicker let down, try massaging your breasts before she eats and applying warm compresses - maybe even try to hand express a little out so that the milk is already flowing when you offer her the breast.

We used a bottle called "Breastflow" that simulates the natural let-down by not letting milk flood the nipple right away - the baby has to "work" for the milk. This really helped my son and he has no problems going between the breast and bottle. Its hard, but the very best thing to do is remain patient and relaxed. She will sense your anxiety and react to it. Best of luck to you! And congratulations on your little one!
T.

Make sure you have a very slow-flow (newborn) nipple on the bottle she's using. Also, check the flow on the nipples you have - sometimes daycare providers will stick a pin in them to make them flow faster because they get impatient feeding the baby.

Chances are she's just gotten used to how easy it is to get milk from a bottle, and she needs some time to remember why nursing is nice. If you can avoid giving her a bottle youreslf (have your husband or someone do it) this will help. Also, ALWAYS offer her your breast before you ever consider offering her expressed milk. If you can spend a couple days with lots of skin-to-skin time, let her nurse on demand etc, this should really revitalize things for you.

You can also consider manually stimulating your nipples for a minute or so before latching her on to get it to let down easier. Don't give up!

she is probably upset that she has to work much harder for the milk or get you to letdown when breastfeeding than when getting it from a bottle. if you are not already, make sure you're using a low/slow-flow nipple on the bottle so the difference between the two might be less noticeable. you might want to join a great yahoo group for pumping moms (parttime or fuilltime) called pumpmoms -- i was there for awhile during my time working and pumping for my son and it was a great place for advice, support and info about all things related to pumping (http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/PumpMoms/?v=1&t=.... hope this helps!

She may be going through a growth spurt, if this just started. Fussing at the breast in the evenings is a common symptom. I would keep offering the breast--switching sides between feedings to stimulate both sides. If she is not better in about a week, it may be a bottle preference.

Thank you for your post, cause you are describing my son last night. He was screaming at the breast and would suck for a few mins, stop and scream again. I thought he may have an ear infection, but once I warmed an expressed bottle, he guzzled it down so fast and was fine. I know I didn't get a letdown and I was getting frustrated cause if he just sucked a little harder a little longer, he would have had plenty off of me. I even tried a hot compress to help with letdown, but nothing. Probably because I was sound asleep for only 1/2 hour when he woke screaming to eat. I worked all day yesterday, so he got 2 bottles from daycare. It all makes sense now - thanks!