BF questions

My wife has been pumping
since 3/5/04 when our son was born. Her milk levels are still low
though. In the mornings she can pump about 3-4 ounces.

The evenings it
is only 1-2 ounces.

Is that per pumping session or total? And how often is she pumping? If that
is per session, that's really good. She shouldn't be expecting to get huge
amounts of milk. She should be trying to pump about as often as baby should be
eating, which should be around every 2-3 hours during the day, and at least
once or twice at night. If she isn't pumping at least 8-10 times per day, she
should be increasing the frequency. That will increase her production. You say
she isn't doing it 'as regularly as she should'. With a baby who isn't nursing
at the breast, it is REALLY important to be pumping regularly if she hopes to
keep milk production up until baby can be nursing.



The other is our son is not latching on properly and gets quite
frustrated when put on the breast.

Yup, nipple confusion will cause this very problem. Babies nurse differently
at the breast than at a bottle nipple, and he's likely to get frustrated and
upset (and make your wife's nipples sore), when he tries to suck 'bottle style'
on the breast and nothing comes out. The SNS you mention should help with this
problem, since he will get some milk even if he isn't latched on right. Your
wife can also try expressing a little milk onto the nipple before putting baby
on, so he tastes something which will encourage him to continue.

We do have an appointment with the LC tomorrow.

She should have good ideas, and you do need plenty of hands on help for this.

That is another thing, he is quite the sleepy kid. Which is good at
times. But when does it become excessive or become cause for concern?

It is normal, in one sense, for newborns to be sleepy. They tend to do little
but eat and sleep. And jaundice makes babies even sleepier, so if he's still
jaundiced, that will make the problem worse. Still, by almost 2 weeks of age,
he should be waking for feeds at least 10 times a day and staying relatively
alert for at least 10-15 minutes during the feed.
Is he wetting plenty of diapers? (A bare minimum of 6 really wet diapers, 8-12
would be better.) Is the jaundice clearing up? Is his skin pliable? His mouth
moist inside? If the answer to any of these questions is no, I'd be back on
the horn to the doctor right now. With his bfing difficulties, he could be
getting dehydrated, which could cause the lethargy.

Good luck.


Naomi
CAPPA Certified Lactation Educator

(either remove spamblock or change address to to e-mail
reply.)