Hello all, I am very new here and I am a very new mother who desperately wants to breastfeed. I just recently adopted a beautiful baby girl named Jayda Lynnae she was born August 13th 08' She has been in the NICU since birth because she swallowed her first bowel movement in the womb and she became very ill and on top of that she was jaundiced.
While in the NICU she was having feeding problems and they had to nasal tube feed her for the majority of the time. When she came off the tube feedings she immediately was given a bottle of formula which she spit up everywhere! So finally I convinced them to give her my breastmilk instead. They argued that she may not like it.. who are they to decide for her! I couldn't believe it and I had a word with the head nurse.. so they gave her my milk, and she liked it..
We came home today and I tried to nurse her which did not go as well as I hoped. She DID latch on, but because my nipples are small she did not seem to be satisfied. She did keep going back for more and sucking for about a minute but then she kept stopping and would get fussy, then go back to sucking. When my nipples are not aroused they go flat and pretty much don't exist at all but when I stimulate them they tend to protrude a little more and she'll latch on with ease. The problem is keeping her at the breast long enough to feed.
Right now I'm using an Adiri breast bottle to help with nipple confusion hopefully that will get her used to the breast like feel. She will not latch on with a nipple shield either.. so needless to say I need help! How do you draw the nipple out to be a little bigger so she can latch on? Will she eventually disregard the small nipple issue and eat anyway? Any suggestions will help. I'm not giving up!