A lazy sucker is a problem that nursing mothers often face. What to do if the baby actively sucks the breast for no more than 5 minutes, and then not for longfalls asleep, and half an hour later wakes up again with a hungry cry? What is the reason for this behavior of the baby and does this always mean that a nursing mother has problems?
The “often, but little” regimen may be a variant of the normal and natural regimen for the child, provided that the baby is healthy and gaining weight well. In the first months after the birth of the baby, during the formation and establishment of breastfeeding, the baby may need up to 15-20 feedings per day. In addition, it should be noted that infants need the breast not only to satisfy the feeling of hunger, but also to satisfy other needs (colic, discomfort for any reason, the desire to communicate with the mother, etc.). As for the amount of milk, in most cases, falling asleep quickly at the breast does not at all prevent the baby from continuing to receive milk. Having quickly sucked the “front” milk, the baby gets to the “back”, fatty milk, which flows out of the breast much more slowly, drop by drop and contains substances that have a hypnotic effect on the baby. If at the same time the child does not release the breast, he may become saturated while half asleep.
At the same time, falling asleep quickly at the breast can be due to other reasons:
- the child is weakened due to prematurity, complicated pregnancy and childbirth;
- the baby does not latch onto the breast correctly during feeding; if sucking is ineffective, the baby needs to spend much more effort to get milk, as a result he quickly gets tired and falls asleep. Improper latch can also lead to the baby swallowing a lot of air during sucking, which fills the stomach, and a feeling of satiety quickly sets in. A large amount of swallowed air can cause tummy pain, which causes the child to wake up and cry.
What can you do?
- Make sure the child is healthy and does not need any therapeutic measures (massotherapy, drug therapy). To do this, you need to consult with a pediatrician and pediatric neurologist and tell them about your reasons for concern.
- Make sure the baby is getting enough milk. Objective indicators of milk sufficiency are the “test for wet diapers“(a sufficient amount of nutrition is indicated by 12 or more urinations per day, the urine is light, transparent and odorless) and a weekly weight gain of at least 125 g (at least 500 g per month in the first six months of life).
- Make sure that the baby is attached to the breast correctly (the baby’s mouth is open wide, most of the areola is captured, the nose is pressed into the mother’s breast, no extraneous sounds are heard except for swallowing, the mother does not experience pain).
- During feeding, you should not take your baby off the breast before the baby lets go.
- In order to increase the supply of milk to a falling asleep baby, you can use the breast compression method. This method helps restore and maintain the flow of milk from the breast if your baby is still suckling but is no longer swallowing milk (no swallowing sounds are heard) and helps the breasts empty more completely. Supporting the chest in such a way that thumb located on one side of the mammary gland, and the rest - on the other side, away from the nipple, you need to compress the breast so that next to the baby’s mouth the shape of the breast does not change (in this case there should not be pain). At correct technique compressions can be heard as the baby begins to swallow milk again. After the baby has stopped swallowing again, the compression can be loosened and then repeated again, and so on several times during one feeding.
- Carrying the baby in a sling allows the baby to spend as much time at the breast as he or she needs, while the mother can do household chores.
- Organize co-sleeping with the baby; the closeness of mother and baby provides both emotional comfort and more good rest, and night feedings have a beneficial effect on milk production.
As the child grows and his digestive and nervous system The need for breastfeeding will gradually decrease, and the baby’s routine will become more orderly.
When your baby doesn't breastfeed well Pediatricians call them “lazy suckers.” When a young, inexperienced mother hears such a “disappointing diagnosis,” the first thing she does is run to the store for formula and a bottle, sighing heavily that she didn’t succeed with breastfeeding.
Newborns and infants who do not suckle well can stay under it for a long time, either smack their lips or fall asleep, as a result they suck out little milk and gain weight poorly. Doctors usually have one answer to this - introduce supplementary feeding with formula. When a bottle appears on the horizon, from which it is much easier to suck than from a breast, even if it has the smallest hole and has the most anatomical shape, the baby begins to become even more lazy and gradually abandons the breast. If you have a similar situation, but you don't want to lose breast-feeding, then read our advice.
As a rule, lazy suckers are babies who were born either by caesarean section, or received birth trauma, with heart defects, those that were born as a result long labor, stimulation, squeezing, that is, the main reason is postpartum stress. The baby is born weakened, so it is difficult for him to suckle.
Often, in the first days, such newborns are offered to be soldered with electrolyte, and when the baby tries the bottle, the correct latch on the nipple is spoiled - and this is the second reason for lazy sucking. When a child gains little weight, he either sleeps poorly, or, on the contrary, sleeps all the time, this slows down the baby’s development. A healthy baby usually gains an average of 600-800 grams, and sometimes 1 kg, in the first month, while a lazy baby gains up to 400 grams. The third reason for weight loss is feeding by the hour (every 3-4 hours), and not on demand, plus some mothers add sucking only for 20 minutes, as old pediatric textbooks usually recommend.
Based on the reasons, the problem needs to be solved.
1. We remove all bottles and pacifiers and we are working on the correct grip, touch the baby’s cheek - a reflex will work, and he will open his mouth slightly, lowering his lower lip, at that moment the mother puts in not only the nipple, but also the areola. While sucking, you should hear the baby swallowing milk, not smacking. If you have cracked nipples, then this also indicates improper attachment, heal them with Bepanten cream or regular sea buckthorn oil, but do not use silicone pads for feeding. Any supplementary food or medicine prescribed by the doctor is given from a spoon or using a syringe without a needle.
2. A weakened baby does not suck well; he simply does not have the strength to suck out further fatty and nutritious milk, so if you feel that the baby has not emptied one breast, do not offer the other for now so that there is saturation. If the baby falls asleep under the breast, the duration of feeding increases. Touch him, lightly tap him on the cheek, stir him up so that he wakes up and starts sucking again. Check weighing after feeding is not very informative, it is better to take the scales home - weigh after each feeding, even at night, and then calculate the total volume of milk drunk. If there is a shortage and your breasts are empty, then, consequently, your mother has reduced lactation. Increase your drinking regime, eat right, don’t be nervous, ask your loved ones to help you around the house, drink teas to increase lactation, Appilac tablets with royal jelly. Lactation consultants give the following advice: eliminate all household chores and spend several days only with the baby; you can put him in a sling so as not to carry him in your arms. Offer your breast frequently to your baby; constant skin-to-skin contact will increase the production of the hormone oxytocin, which will improve lactation, and with such constant latching the baby will be able to suck out more milk. The more the baby sucks, the more milk will be produced, be sure to feed at night, at this time prolactin is produced - the 2nd hormone responsible for successful lactation.
3. To relieve labor stress, communicate more with your baby, most best contact- skin to skin, it relieves colic and increases interest in the breast. Be sure to establish co-sleeping with your baby; he feels insecure and lonely alone in the crib, but protected next to his mother. In order to have time to complete all household chores, the main thing is not to be nervous, to review their scope, not to refuse help, and to ask your husband to take on some household responsibilities. Our men are structured this way that they often don’t understand how difficult it is for a woman, and when reproached they respond: “Why didn’t you tell me right away that it was so hard for you and didn’t ask for help?” - she asked, and didn’t demand or shout. Buy or make yourself a sling from a large piece of fabric and carry your baby in it, this way you will relieve your back and arms, but provide your baby with constant communication with his mother and boobs.
4. Listen to advice only from women who have breastfed their babies successfully for a long time.. Remember that breastfeeding cannot be done according to a schedule, and even at intervals of 3-4 hours, so if the doctor advises you to do this, he is simply following the old literature. Find a good natural feeding consultant in your city, he will definitely help you establish both lactation and proper attachment.
Source: novorozhdennyj.ru
The child sucks poorly at the breast or where do “lazy suckers” come from?
Mother's milk is complete and essential food for a child due to its unusual ability to transform and the richness of its composition, therefore GV is important condition full growth and development of the baby. When a young mother notices that the baby is lazy to suckle, such behavior on the part of the baby cannot leave her indifferent. At the same time, it is important for a woman to understand when such changes in the nature of feeding should not cause concern, and in which cases it is important to take urgent stimulating measures and understand the reasons for such feeding.
The term “lazy sucker,” which is often used by lactation consultants and pediatricians, does not refer to a baby’s laziness or reluctance to receive food. We are talking rather about the inconvenience or pain the baby experiences during breastfeeding. The definition is valid only when the baby is familiar with bottle feeding and, choosing this type of feeding as the easiest, refuses the breast. There are a number of signs that clearly make it clear that the baby is behaving incorrectly during feeding:
- Having actively taken the breast, the baby falls asleep after a short period of time from the start of feeding and wakes up after 10-15 minutes to resume receiving food;
- malnourished children do not gain weight well, may cry at the breast, are more often capricious and restless;
- the baby “hangs” on the chest, sucks rarely and sluggishly, pulls the nipple, smacks and plays with the breast;
- the baby will often wake up at night because it does not receive nutritious hind milk and does not eat enough before bed;
- turns out, does not want to grab the nipple, which may also indicate the first signs of breast refusal.
When a baby sucks poorly at the breast in the first month of life, possible reason can be premature birth and the newborn is too weak to receive nutrition effectively. Just like at the age of three - four months the baby strives to understand the world around him and is often distracted from the process of satiation.
There are unfavorable prerequisites for the occurrence of lethargic behavior at the breast. The baby is lazy to suck out hind milk, which is more nutritious, and falls asleep during feeding for one of the following reasons:
- the birth took place using anesthesia or by caesarean section;
- during childbirth, the baby experienced asphyxia or a birth injury was discovered;
- the baby was born premature, so he experiences postpartum stress and feels weak, he simply does not have enough strength to suckle at the breast for a long time;
- the baby has a weak sucking reflex;
- delayed formation of hunger and satiety centers concentrated in the hypothalamus;
- the mother’s nipple is too tight, so the little one gets tired quickly during feeding;
- mother introduced supplementary feeding with adapted milk formulas using a bottle;
- improper latching of the nipple and violation of the principles of breastfeeding, swallowing air, as a result of which a feeling of fullness quickly appears and the baby falls asleep;
- the baby has a short sublingual frenulum, which is why he works hard to get milk and gets tired quickly.
Dr. Komarovsky notes that it is important to distinguish the weakness and pain of the baby from the reluctance to eat. If the baby is gaining weight well and developing normally, but demands food every 15–20 minutes, this is evidence of a lack of proper routine.
One of the most common mistakes young parents make in this situation is the unreasonable introduction of supplementary feeding with artificial substitutes. mother's milk, which often leads to a decrease in lactation and a decrease in the proportion of breastfeeding in the baby’s diet. This increases the likelihood that the baby will refuse the breast in favor of a more simple way obtaining food: bottles with nipples. Weaning off a breast substitute can be difficult. Therefore, the need for additional feeding, quantity artificial nutrition Discuss with the pediatrician based on the baby's weight gain.
To understand how to deal with a problem that has arisen, it is important to find the cause of its occurrence: eliminate possible diseases, control the position of the baby at the breast, correct grip of the nipple.
TO effective action who will help in the fight for normal nutrition toddlers include the following:
- Elimination of sucking objects. It is recommended to exclude pacifiers and pacifiers. By putting the baby only to the breast, the mother stimulates lactation and the baby receives the maximum of nutrients, while simultaneously improving sucking skills and constantly training the facial muscles.
- Proper organization of supplementary feeding. If the baby does not have enough milk, and there is no more strength to suck, the baby has to be fed. However, this must be done using a cup, spoon or syringe. The use of bottles is not recommended.
- Stimulation sucking reflex. During feeding, the baby may stop, get tired and fall asleep. If the baby’s reflex function is not sufficiently developed, it is necessary to help the little one. A popular method of stimulation is gentle stroking on the cheek.
- Monitoring the baby’s position at the breast and proper latching of the nipple. It is important to feed the baby correctly, following the feeding technique.
- Attach your baby to your breast as soon as required. With age, the intervals between feedings increase. However, you should not limit the sucking time. If your baby needs not 10, but 20 minutes to get enough, give him that time.
- Creating skin-to-skin contact, using the K. Smiley method, in which the child himself looks for the nipple while being close to the breast. The “nesting” method has been recognized as useful, in which the child spends both daytime and nighttime sleep next to his mother.
- Measures aimed at stimulating lactation: the use of tea and decoctions, the use medical supplies, lactogonic mixtures as prescribed by a doctor. Follow the drinking regime, review the daily schedule and normalize sleep, organize proper pumping.
- If problems arise, seek advice from a breastfeeding specialist.
To obtain nutritious hind milk, the baby will have to work hard. After all, it is required more power to obtain high-calorie liquid. Late milk entering required quantity – necessary condition growth and formation of vital processes in the baby’s body. Therefore, it is so important for a young mother to make efforts to preserve full feedings and supporting the baby in this situation. However, breastfeeding is not only food for the baby, but also important emotional contact with the mother, which is important for creating a trusting and warm relationship.
Source: laktacia.ru
All the reasons why a newborn baby is inactive or poorly suckling at the mother's breast. What can be done, how can a mother help her baby?
When a baby sucks poorly at the breast, it becomes real problem for a nursing mother. What to do if the baby suckles for only a short time and quickly falls asleep? Or, on the contrary, only after latching on to the breast does he begin to pull away and become capricious? Are the reasons always due to the amount of milk the mother has, or are there some problems with the child himself? It’s time to sort out these issues.
A newly born baby may not breastfeed for a number of reasons. Most often there is a whole complex of them. Women's breasts can have the most different sizes and the shape of the nipples. If the nipples are very flat or sunken, it is more difficult for the baby to drink milk, but most often children do not experience any particular discomfort while feeding. IN in rare cases The shape of the nipples can become a really serious obstacle to feeding.
If the mother gave birth with painkillers, the drugs penetrate into the baby’s blood, which is why the babies are lethargic and sleepy at first. The narcotic substances included in the anesthesia are completely eliminated from the baby’s body only after a few days. Even relatively weak (compared to other modern painkillers) morphine will cause lethargy in a child for several days.
If your baby's airways are suctioned too much at birth, this may have a negative effect on his or her desire to breastfeed for a while. If the baby was born completely healthy and full-term, there is no need to suck out the mucus.
Sometimes children are born with a congenital anomaly of the oral cavity, popularly called a “cleft lip.” Often it looks like a cleft palate with a lip, which is immediately visible. But in some cases, only the palate in the depths of the mouth is cleft, which cannot always be detected during the initial examination.
Why does a child suckle poorly? One of the reasons is his inability to latch correctly. This does not depend on the shape of the breast and nipples. If a newborn takes the breast incorrectly, the milk is released worse, the baby quickly gets tired and begins to be capricious. Breastfeeding mothers need to ensure proper latching and, if necessary, consult a lactation consultant.
The first reason is purely physiological - a short frenulum of the baby’s tongue. In this case, the tongue is not mobile enough, and the baby finds it uncomfortable to suck. The problem is eliminated immediately after birth; it is enough to show the baby to a dentist or surgeon to make an incision on the frenulum.
The problem can arise if pacifiers and bottles with nipples are used. The fact is that when sucking milk from a bottle and mother's breast involved different groups muscles. The difference is that milk flows freely from the bottle; you don’t need to make any effort to get it. Breast milk you have to extract it. In this case, you will have to re-teach the baby to latch on to the breast.
Babies may begin to fuss during feeding due to poor health. For example, feeding becomes more difficult if the child has runny nose, a sore throat, candidiasis or inflamed ears. If you suspect you are unwell, you need to call a doctor at home. You can supplement your baby with expressed milk. But under no circumstances use bottles for these purposes; it is better to take mugs or a syringe.
Babies under the age of 2-4 months may be bothered by colic - the child will begin to be capricious, kick his legs, and have a rumbling sound in his tummy. The baby will become very restless and noisy. Most often, such attacks of anxiety occur at one time, for example, every evening. To avoid intestinal spasms, you need to make sure that the baby does not swallow air when feeding. If the child begins to worry, you need to warm his tummy or bathe him in a warm bath. These actions will help relieve spasms.
At the age of 2 months and up to 4 months. Babies may begin to turn away from the breast during feeding; they are ready to be distracted by any trifle, but not to eat. There is nothing wrong with this behavior; when the baby is already about 4 months old, his diet changes - most often he begins to suck milk before and after sleep. The baby can eat while half asleep, the main thing is to make sure that he does not toss and turn.
So, what to do if the child begins to be capricious when feeding?
Feed your baby as often as possible - newborns, especially those under 2-4 months of age, should feed at least every two hours. If the child falls asleep, wake him up; he should not sleep for more than 2 hours. You will be with the baby at night - at least once.
It is a mistake to think that a child will certainly demand this if necessary. Babies with calmer temperaments may not want to eat as often as they should unless their mother reminds them to do so. If your baby is one of those calm children, offer the breast yourself more often, including at night.
Increase the feeding time; there is no need to count the minutes when the baby picks up the breast. Let the baby suckle completely on one breast first and only then latch onto the other. The fact is that the most nutritious milk is the latter, it is higher in fat and calories. If you switch breasts too early, your baby won't get enough calories from only milk.
Do not wrap the baby when you feed him; on the contrary, contact with the mother’s skin will help him wake up. This method is especially good for sleepy eaters. Take off some of your clothes, and to keep your baby warm, cover his back with a blanket.
To produce more milk and for your baby to latch onto the breast with a greater appetite, you can try feeding at night. Taking your baby into your bed while you sleep will help both you and baby relax. In this state, the level of hormones that affect milk production increases. Prolactin is produced more actively at night, so such late feedings are considered the most productive. Also by latest research The amount of milk in the breast is influenced by human growth hormone, which is also produced during sleep.
It is difficult for adults to control themselves when they eat when they are sitting at a plentiful table - their hand is constantly reaching for plates with goodies. The same rule works with babies: constantly being near their mother’s breast, children are more likely to want to eat. Get into the habit of wearing your baby in a sling, so he will always be with you. Some babies develop an appetite on the go when the mother is on the move. In addition, constant walking will prevent the baby from falling asleep while sucking.
Get more rest yourself. The constant rush will definitely not produce more milk. Give yourself more time, walk, sleep during the day, use every free minute to relax yourself. Of course, it's good when you have help with household chores.
Adequate sleep and rest blocks the production of stress hormones, which in turn accelerates milk secretion processes. Don't overwork yourself and don't try to do everything in a day. Has the baby fallen asleep? Sleep with him, let your man help you with household chores.
Until 7 months, when active complementary feeding has not yet begun, the baby eats only milk. If you want him to grow and develop faster, give up pacifiers and bottles - the baby should be attached only to the breast. Artificial mixtures It is better not to introduce it into the baby’s diet unless there are medical indications.
Consult with a specialist; a feeding consultant will be able to observe how the baby takes the breast and give the necessary advice and recommendations.
In the first 2-4 months. In the life of a baby, some mothers may encounter the fact that during feeding the baby begins to cough and turn away from the nipple. It may seem to some that the child even began to choke. Often this behavior can be confused with colic, but the only thing that unites these two situations is the cry of the baby. Although the baby is growing well, this behavior is cause for concern. This happens when there is too much milk.
This is an unpleasant moment, but the situation can be corrected:
- Feed your baby in small portions, but as often as possible, so the milk will not stagnate in the breast. The baby should not feel hungry, otherwise he will drink too actively, which will again provoke the release of too much large quantity milk.
- Shortly before feeding, avoid hot baths and showers, and also do not drink hot liquids - an increase in body temperature will also provoke excessive milk production.
- Milk flow can be reduced by lying on your side or back during feeding.
- If it happens that a baby who is sucking milk chokes, be calm, just hold him with one hand so that he stretches out, and with the other gently pat him on the back.
- The flow of milk is not constant, so it is important for the baby to learn to suck not only when there is a rush. A breastfed baby must suck out the milk completely, including the “hind milk”, which has increased thickness and fat content.
Foremilk contains much less nutrients, it consists almost entirely of water. This milk is quite easy to drink because it is quite active. It is better not to change the breast until all the milk has been drunk. To ensure that the baby can suck out as much milk fluid as possible, a special “breast compression” technique should be used.
After drinking thinner milk, the child may fall asleep; falling asleep at this time is quite normal. In his sleep, he will quietly suck out the fattier “rear”. At this time, inexperienced mothers make a big mistake by changing left breast to the right and vice versa. Because of this, the baby learns to drink only liquid milk and gets used to it.
In such a situation, you will have to retrain the baby. Get started next feeding from the same breast with which we finished the previous one. Try to feed your baby in an extremely calm environment, preferably even in a slightly darkened room. If the baby begins to be capricious, change the position - this will calm him down a little. When your baby becomes angry after drinking liquid milk, squeeze the base of the breast to help your baby continue to drink.
Source: ogrudnichke.ru
The most best stroller, the most best clothes, diapers, toys. Any mother strives to give her baby the best. What could be better than breastfeeding? It is impossible to overestimate its benefits. Until recently it was very popular artificial feeding, which was justified by a number of biased reasons, the main motive of which was the convenience of the young mother.
However, in Lately Breastfeeding is back at the forefront. But, unfortunately, very often, when faced with the first problem, for example, the fact that a newborn baby does not latch on to the breast, the mother gives up and transfers the baby to breast milk substitutes. But in fact, the fact that the baby does not take the breast is not at all a reason to deprive him of his mother’s milk. To avoid difficulties and to know what needs to be done if suddenly the baby stops taking the breast, you need to have as many more information about breastfeeding.
Sometimes it turns out very useful help lactation consultant. The specialist will find out exactly why the baby does not take the breast and suggest the most effective solution Problems. Well, if you don’t have such a specialist in your city, you can seek help from women who have breastfed their own children for a long time and successfully.
Breastfeeding is preferred for a number of reasons:
- Attaching a newborn baby to the breast in the first minutes of life helps speed up the birth of the placenta and effective contraction of the uterus.
In the first two to three days, a woman’s mammary glands produce colostrum, which is much thicker in consistency than human milk.
Colostrum is very useful for the baby, because it contains a huge amount of different maternal antibodies. Colostrum is a kind of “vaccination” against many diseases that can await the baby. In addition, pediatricians have noticed the fact that children who receive colostrum, as a rule, are much less likely to suffer from dysbacteriosis.
For a baby, the benefits of breast milk are obvious. Not a single most expensive and good artificial formula is capable of completely reproducing the composition of breast milk. And this is not surprising, because the composition of a mother’s milk changes in direct proportion to how her child’s needs change. This adaptation to the child’s needs occurs regularly, the composition of the milk changes hourly. However, it is still possible to give general characteristics chemical parameters of human breast milk.
- Milk contains more than 450 different micro and macroelements necessary for the full development of a child. And the highest concentration will be those substances that your baby needs at that particular moment.
- Human milk contains approximately 97% water. And it is in it that all the necessary substances are dissolved.
- All babies willingly eat mother's milk, and this merit, to some extent, belongs to milk sugar (lactose), which makes milk very sweet. Therefore, the taste of milk cannot be the reason why a child does not want to breastfeed. It is lactose, similar to female lactose, that has not been learned to reproduce chemically until now. But lactose not only ensures the presence of normal microflora in the intestines, but also participates in the development of the baby’s brain.
- Protein, despite the fact that its content accounts for only 1%, is responsible for the development of the central nervous system. The female protein is also impossible to reproduce in the laboratory.
- 3% comes from fats, which are the main source of energy necessary for the development of the child’s body.
- Necessary hormones, vitamins, and microelements are produced in the required quantities, and their content may vary.
At the beginning long journey To successfully breastfeed, many mothers encounter various pitfalls, for example, even in the maternity hospital, the mother discovers that the baby does not latch on to the breast. And if at this moment there is no sensitive and caring person nearby who will help the mother cope with the problem in time and knows exactly how to wean the baby to the breast, then the baby has a high chance of becoming what is popularly called an “artificial baby.”
When it comes to breastfeeding, the very old folk wisdom: “It’s not easy to pull a fish out of a pond.” It is possible to successfully cope with almost any breastfeeding problem if desired. If a woman is determined to breastfeed, the question of how to get the baby to suckle will be resolved very quickly.
One of the most common problems is when the baby does not breastfeed enough.
In order to effectively solve it, you need to determine what exactly is happening:
The situation when a baby sucks poorly at the breast may be caused by one of the following reasons.
- The baby does not latch on well. If the baby does not take the breast correctly, an effective sucking process becomes impossible; the baby may either block the milk ducts, which will lead to useless attempts to get that desired milk. Or, on the contrary, the child will not be able to control the speed of milk flow, as a result of which he will constantly choke. How to teach a baby to latch on will be discussed a little later.
- Many mothers are concerned about the question: why does the child abandon the breast? Sometimes it happens that a child suckles for 5 minutes and refuses. If you are wondering why an infant is not eating well, there may be several reasons. You put your baby to the breast too often and he simply does not have time to get hungry. As a rule, this situation occurs when feeding by the hour.
Try feeding your baby on demand, and if after that the baby turns away from the breast, you need to seek help from either your pediatrician or a lactation consultant, who will find out in detail the reasons for what is happening and explain how to get the baby to take the breast. Very small babies very often simply fall asleep during feeding. Try waking your baby. These tips also apply to the situation when the baby sucks weakly at the breast.
The reasons why a baby cries when breastfeeding can be various diseases, such as stomatitis, popularly called thrush. This disease causes the appearance of ulcers and wounds in the mouth, which cause pain when sucking, so the baby cries when suckling.
A short hyoid frenulum also causes the baby to be capricious at the breast. Congenital diseases, such as cleft palate or cleft lip, also lead to the baby refusing to breastfeed. However, as a rule, these developmental defects are always noticed in the maternity hospital. But even in this case, you should not despair and deprive the baby of precious mother’s milk. Express your milk and bottle feed your baby.
In order not to rack your brain later on why the child refuses the breast, it is necessary to know from the very first days how to teach the child to suck the breast correctly. This, in the future, will help to avoid a large number of problems associated with the questions “how to force the child to take the breast” and “why the child does not take the breast well.” Below are the main recommendations from breastfeeding experts:
- Always make sure your baby's mouth is wide open before you breastfeed. If you put a nipple into a baby's half-open mouth, there is a high chance that the baby will take it incorrectly: either by clenching it with his teeth or not far enough. A wide open mouth is a significant case when the baby does not latch onto the breast correctly.
- Very often a sad situation arises when a mother simply does not understand her baby. When the mother tries to attach the baby to the breast, he begins to very actively display a search reflex, which consists in the fact that the baby turns his head from side to side. And the mother perceives this absolutely natural behavior as nothing other than the child’s refusal to breastfeed. But in fact, the baby is hungry, and this does not mean that the baby refuses to take the breast.
- Even if the baby initially took the nipple correctly, during the sucking process he can go down to the very tip and bite it. This inevitably causes pain in the woman. If this happens, have your baby stop sucking and spit out the nipple. To do this, very gently press the baby's mouth on the corner. And then give him the breast again.
Despite all the difficulties that await a mother on the path leading to breastfeeding, the result exceeds her wildest expectations. Strong immunity harmonious development and the wonderful mood of the child - isn’t this the dream of any mother? And it is in your power to make this dream come true.
This is a real sloth!
Many mothers are faced with such an alarming situation: the baby is at the breast for 5 minutes, then releases the nipple, but does not calm down, after a while he takes the breast again - again for five minutes, and so on in a circle. The child, apparently, does not eat enough, is capricious, and has poor weight gain. Pediatricians call such children “lazy suckers” and suggest supplementary feeding as a solution to the problem. Who are lazy suckers, why are they “lazy” and how to cope with such a situation?
Lazy sucker?
In my opinion, this is a very offensive name for a child. What kind of laziness can we talk about in relation to a newborn baby? Let me remind you: laziness is a human vice, meaning a lack of hard work, desired idleness. Can a child be lazy? Mothers sigh: “he’s so lazy, he doesn’t want to breastfeed well,” thereby justifying their inability to establish breastfeeding. At the same time, the mother seems to be programming the child’s entire future life; you can imagine her words a couple of years later: “mine is a bad student, well, yes, he’s been so lazy since childhood, before he didn’t want to breastfeed properly, now he doesn’t want to do his homework... That’s how he is.” I was born."
Having realized the absurdity of such definitions, I propose once and for all to accept as an axiom the fact that a baby, in principle, cannot be lazy. And that's why he sluggishly sucks the breast and how to help the baby - let's try to figure it out.
By the way, the second meaning of the word “laziness” is the need to save energy. In this sense, the child’s lethargy is a sign that the body, for some reason, has switched to “saving mode.” Lethargic sucklings from weakness and malnutrition are little awake, mostly sleep, and are reluctant to take the breast due to lack of strength. The changes are especially noticeable if the child suddenly turns into “lazy”, and was previously active.
Sucks sluggishly from birth
So, if a child is weakened from birth, due to difficult birth or other medical problems, the mother should not label the baby “lazy”, but should try to establish adequate nutrition so that the child gets stronger and gains strength. If it is difficult for him to suck milk from a tight breast, express the milk and feed the baby from a spoon or syringe, helping with your finger, directing drops of milk in the right direction in the baby’s mouth. You can also use the technique of “squeezing” the breast while the nipple is in the baby’s mouth. This technique is as follows: you place your thumb on one side of the breast, and the rest of your fingers on the other side, at a short distance from the nipple. By rhythmically (but not forcefully) squeezing the mammary gland, you facilitate the passage of milk through the ducts, and as a result, you hear swallowing sounds. Yes, this is not very convenient, but it is much more harmful to transfer a child to IV, thinking that he is just being lazy. The period of such feeding will not last long, soon the baby will get stronger, and you will be able to breastfeed him in the usual way.
How to help your baby
If the baby suddenly changes the nature of his sucking, begins to suck sluggishly, pulls away from the breast, is capricious, the number of urinations decreases, and his weight gain worsens, you should carefully look for the cause of such changes and eliminate it or correct the situation. First you need to eliminate the need medical care. If symptoms of diseases such as elevated temperature, rash, diarrhea, etc. missing, please note the following.
- Check whether the baby is attached to the breast correctly. Incorrect attachment must be eliminated first of all, since it is often the main reason that baby sucks poorly at the breast. Simply, he may feel uncomfortable. Either because incorrect application the child swallows air, which causes colic, and as a result the child cannot sleep peacefully, often wakes up, and is capricious.
- Check the child. If the nose is stuffy or breathing through the nose is difficult, the baby cannot suckle normally, arches, and screams.
- It may be painful for your child to touch his gums due to teething. In this case, you can relieve the discomfort with the help of special medications.
Before you panic about frequent latching, try to understand: frequent feedings small doses is a type of norm when natural feeding. All children are different, some eat rarely and in large quantities, others often and little by little. It doesn’t happen from day to day: today the child eats often, tomorrow – less often, the day after tomorrow – again often. Do not remove your baby's breast until he releases it himself. Carry your baby in your arms or in a sling so that your breast is always available. Organize. And - most importantly - try to stop counting the number of attachments and time the time the baby spends at the breast. If your baby is weakened, he needs your milk to get stronger. Nothing else will help. And switching the “lazy sucker” to a formula will relieve you of the symptoms (small weight gains will become large ones), but not the causes of the situation. In the end, weight as such is just weight, a very important, no doubt, indicator of health, but not an end in itself.
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When a baby sucks poorly at the breast, it becomes a real problem for a nursing mother. What to do if the baby suckles for only a short time and quickly falls asleep? Or, on the contrary, only after latching on to the breast does he begin to pull away and become capricious? Are the reasons always due to the amount of milk the mother has, or are there some problems with the child himself? It’s time to sort out these issues.
Reasons for breast refusal in newborns
Nipple shape
A newly born baby may not breastfeed for a number of reasons. Most often there is a whole complex of them. Women's breasts can have a wide variety of sizes and nipple shapes. If the nipples are very flat or sunken, it is more difficult for the baby to drink milk, but most often children do not experience any particular discomfort while feeding. In rare cases, the shape of the nipples can become a truly serious obstacle to feeding.
Anesthesia during childbirth
If the mother gave birth with painkillers, the drugs penetrate into the baby’s blood, which is why the babies are lethargic and sleepy at first. The narcotic substances included in the anesthesia are completely eliminated from the baby’s body only after a few days. Even relatively weak (compared to other modern painkillers) morphine will cause lethargy in a child for several days.
Mucus in the respiratory tract
If your baby's airways are suctioned too much at birth, this may have a negative effect on his or her desire to breastfeed for a while. If the baby was born completely healthy and full-term, there is no need to suck out the mucus.
Structure of the oral cavity
Sometimes children are born with a congenital anomaly of the oral cavity, popularly called a “cleft lip.” Often it looks like a cleft palate with a lip, which is immediately visible. But in some cases, only the palate in the depths of the mouth is cleft, which cannot always be detected during the initial examination.
Incorrect chest grip
Why does a child suckle poorly? One of the reasons is his inability to latch correctly. This does not depend on the shape of the breast and nipples. If a newborn takes the breast incorrectly, the milk is released worse, the baby quickly gets tired and begins to be capricious. Breastfeeding mothers need to ensure proper latching and, if necessary, consult a lactation consultant.
Short frenulum of the tongue
The first reason is purely physiological - a short frenulum of the baby’s tongue. In this case, the tongue is not mobile enough, and the baby finds it uncomfortable to suck. The problem is eliminated immediately after birth; it is enough to show the baby to a dentist or surgeon to make an incision on the frenulum.
Bottle, pacifier
The problem can arise if pacifiers and bottles with nipples are used. The fact is that when sucking milk from a bottle and the mother's breast, different muscle groups are involved. The difference is that milk flows freely from the bottle; you don’t need to make any effort to get it. Breast milk has to be obtained. In this case, you will have to re-teach the baby to latch on to the breast.
Diseases
Babies may begin to fuss during feeding due to poor health. For example, feeding becomes more difficult if the child has runny nose, a sore throat, candidiasis or inflamed ears. If you suspect you are unwell, you need to call a doctor at home. You can supplement your baby with expressed milk. But under no circumstances use bottles for these purposes; it is better to take mugs or a syringe.
Colic in the stomach
Babies under the age of 2-4 months may be bothered by colic - the child will begin to be capricious, kick his legs, and have a rumbling sound in his tummy. The baby will become very restless and noisy. Most often, such attacks of anxiety occur at one time, for example, every evening. To avoid intestinal spasms, you need to make sure that the baby does not swallow air when feeding. If the child begins to worry, you need to warm his tummy or bathe him in a warm bath. These actions will help relieve spasms.
False refusal
At the age of 2 months and up to 4 months. Babies may begin to turn away from the breast during feeding; they are ready to be distracted by any trifle, but not to eat. There is nothing wrong with this behavior; when the baby is already about 4 months old, his diet changes - most often he begins to suck milk before and after sleep. The baby can eat while half asleep, the main thing is to make sure that he does not toss and turn.
How can I improve the situation?
So, what to do if the child begins to be capricious when feeding?
Feeding frequency
Feed your baby as often as possible - newborns, especially those under 2-4 months of age, should feed at least every two hours. If the child falls asleep, wake him up; he should not sleep for more than 2 hours. You will be with the baby at night - at least once.
It is a mistake to think that a child will certainly demand this if necessary. Babies with calmer temperaments may not want to eat as often as they should unless their mother reminds them to do so. If your baby is one of those calm children, offer the breast yourself more often, including at night.
Feeding time
Increase the feeding time; there is no need to count the minutes when the baby picks up the breast. Let the baby suckle completely on one breast first and only then latch onto the other. The fact is that the most nutritious milk is the latter, it is higher in fat and calories. If you switch breasts too early, your baby won't get enough calories from only milk.
Cloth
Do not wrap the baby when you feed him; on the contrary, contact with the mother’s skin will help him wake up. This method is especially good for sleepy eaters. Take off some of your clothes, and to keep your baby warm, cover his back with a blanket.
Night feedings
To produce more milk and for your baby to latch onto the breast with a greater appetite, you can try feeding at night. Taking your baby into your bed while you sleep will help both you and baby relax. In this state, the level of hormones that affect milk production increases. Prolactin is produced more actively at night, so such late feedings are considered the most productive. Also, according to recent studies, the amount of milk in the breast is influenced by human growth hormone, which is also produced during sleep.
Mother's closeness
It is difficult for adults to control themselves when they eat when they are sitting at a plentiful table - their hand is constantly reaching for plates with goodies. The same rule works with babies: constantly being near their mother’s breast, children are more likely to want to eat. Get into the habit of wearing your baby in a sling, so he will always be with you. Some babies develop an appetite on the go when the mother is on the move. In addition, constant walking will prevent the baby from falling asleep while sucking.
Rest
Get more rest yourself. The constant rush will definitely not produce more milk. Give yourself more time, walk, sleep during the day, use every free minute to relax yourself. Of course, it's good when you have help with household chores.
Adequate sleep and rest blocks the production of stress hormones, which in turn accelerates milk secretion processes. Don't overwork yourself and don't try to do everything in a day. Has the baby fallen asleep? Sleep with him, let your man help you with household chores.
Avoiding pacifiers and bottles
Until 7 months, when active complementary feeding has not yet begun, the baby eats only milk. If you want him to grow and develop faster, give up pacifiers and bottles - the baby should be attached only to the breast. It is better not to introduce artificial formulas into your baby’s diet unless there are medical indications.
Consult with a specialist; a feeding consultant will be able to observe how the baby takes the breast and give the necessary advice and recommendations.
How to regulate milk flow?
In the first 2-4 months. In the life of a baby, some mothers may encounter the fact that during feeding the baby begins to cough and turn away from the nipple. It may seem to some that the child even began to choke. Often this behavior can be confused with colic, but the only thing that unites these two situations is the cry of the baby. Although the baby is growing well, this behavior is cause for concern. This happens when there is too much milk.
This is an unpleasant moment, but the situation can be corrected:
- Feed your baby in small portions, but as often as possible, so the milk will not stagnate in the breast. The baby should not feel hungry, otherwise he will drink too much, which will again provoke the release of too much milk.
- Shortly before feeding, avoid hot baths and showers, and also do not drink hot liquids - an increase in body temperature will also provoke excessive milk production.
- Milk flow can be reduced by lying on your side or back during feeding.
- If it happens that a baby who is sucking milk chokes, be calm, just hold him with one hand so that he stretches out, and with the other gently pat him on the back.
- The flow of milk is not constant, so it is important for the baby to learn to suck not only when there is a rush. A breastfed baby must suck out the milk completely, including the “hind milk”, which has increased thickness and fat content.
Foremilk contains much less nutrients and consists almost entirely of water. This milk is quite easy to drink because it is quite active. It is better not to change the breast until all the milk has been drunk. To ensure that the baby can suck out as much milk fluid as possible, a special “breast compression” technique should be used.
After drinking thinner milk, the child may fall asleep; falling asleep at this time is quite normal. In his sleep, he will quietly suck out the fattier “rear”. At this time, inexperienced mothers make a big mistake by changing the left breast to the right and vice versa. Because of this, the baby learns to drink only liquid milk and gets used to it.
In such a situation, you will have to retrain the baby. Start your next feeding on the same breast you finished the previous one on. Try to feed your baby in an extremely calm environment, preferably even in a slightly darkened room. If the baby begins to be capricious, change the position - this will calm him down a little. When your baby becomes angry after drinking liquid milk, squeeze the base of the breast to help your baby continue to drink.
The child is 2 months old and recently started breastfeeding because... I was in the hospital and the nipple was small and was applied incorrectly. He only eats foremilk and then cries, doesn’t want to suck, how can I make him suck longer?
The baby takes his mother's breast, only to release it after a couple of minutes and cry. Sometimes the child even actively resists attempts to feed him mother’s milk: he arches, pushes away the breast with his arms... What happens and how should the mother react to restless behavior under the breast?
First week of life
The phenomenon when a newborn does not take the breast occurs in maternity hospitals not that uncommon, and usually very upsetting for moms. Although just sitting and being upset is the last thing you should do. The baby really needs his mother to be calm and confident, because the child feels the mother’s mood and worries along with her!
The main reasons why a baby in the first days of life refuses to take his mother’s breast are as follows:
Consequences of anesthesia used during childbirth. A child may be lethargic and sleepy not only after general anesthesia, but also after epidural anesthesia, because the drugs still enter the bloodstream of the mother and the unborn child.
Difficult labor, when the baby needs time to recover and is more interested in sleeping than sucking. Sometimes it happens that a baby is able to sleep for almost a day after birth, without reacting to attempts to put him to the breast. Experts advise: if 12 hours after birth the baby still does not want to feed, you need to express the colostrum, even if it is only a few drops, and try to pour it into the baby’s mouth - from a spoon, pipette or syringe without a needle. Before this time, there is no reason for serious concern - although, of course, you need to inform the neonatologist on duty about this and continue trying to attach the baby to the breast, expressing drops of colostrum directly into the mouth. It is advisable that the baby be with his mother all this time.
Not a very comfortable nipple shape. Indeed, if the mother's nipples are too large, or flat, or inverted, then it may take time for the baby to learn how to effectively produce milk. In this case, the main thing that a mother needs to arm herself with is patience: the breast will need to be offered again and again, from different positions, best of all with the help of experienced people. While the baby is unable to latch on correctly, milk or colostrum should be expressed and offered to the baby from a spoon, cup or syringe without a needle.
Anomalies in the structure of the baby's oral cavity. Thus, cleft palate or lips and a short frenulum of the tongue make it difficult to apply. Doctors usually make a slight cut in the short frenulum, and the baby can suck normally in just a few minutes, but with an unclosed palate or lip, things are more complicated. Best position from which you can apply the baby - from the armpit when the baby is on the side; The mother usually has to squeeze the breast during feeding to help the baby stimulate the flow of milk.
Probably the most common reason The reason why a child in the first days of life does not want or cannot take the breast correctly is the use of a pacifier, including bottle feeding. Experts identify this situation as a separate problem.
"Nipple Confusion"
No matter how hard manufacturers strive to bring pacifiers and bottles closer to shape female breast, but it will still not be possible to make them indistinguishable from their mother. There are many differences: exactly how the baby sucks (and different muscles are used to suck on any, even the most “improved” nipple and mother’s breast), the volume and flow of milk, its consistency, taste, temperature - even if the baby is fed freshly expressed milk ... The feeling of living warmth instead of latex or silicone replacing mother is also important. The most fundamental difference is that milk needs to be actively extracted from the mother’s breast, but from any bottle, even with a “slow flow”, the liquid flows in a completely different way. Therefore, babies who have had experience with bottle feeding are often disappointed when they try to latch on. They try to get milk the same way as from a bottle, but the result turns out to be completely different - then the baby drops the breast and cries, demanding from the mother what he is already accustomed to. That is why the World Health Organization advises avoiding the use of bottles and pacifiers for at least the first 6 weeks of a child’s life, before he develops a strong habit of proper sucking! The experience of pre-breastfeeding from a bottle also has a strong impact on the child because after birth the natural imprinting mechanism is activated: the baby remembers the first impression as correct. Sometimes it turns out that just feeding a newborn baby from a bottle is enough for him to start acting up when his mother tries to breastfeed... That is why it is very important to try to organize the baby’s first breastfeeding approximately 20-30 minutes after birth. Placing the baby, who is still stunned by entering a new world, on his mother’s stomach for five minutes is absolutely not enough! Some children immediately take the breast and begin to suckle correctly, but sometimes the child needs an hour or even two to “establish contact” with the mother’s breast, and if the health of the mother and child allows it, it is very advisable not to interfere with this important process. After 6 weeks, the risk of abandoning the breast in favor of a bottle or even a pacifier still remains, but it is no longer as great. On the contrary, a child may not take a bottle or a pacifier at all, preferring a “natural” mother.
Features of milk flow
In the first months of their babies' lives, some mothers encounter a problem known as the "overactive milk ejection reflex." This happens in cases where there is a lot of milk, and the mother often feels strong hot flashes. Soon after the baby is put to the breast, he begins to cough, arch and turn away; The mother may even get the impression that the baby is choking. This behavior is sometimes confused with colic, although it has nothing in common with colic other than angry screaming. As a rule, the child of such a mother gains weight very well, but arching under the breast cannot but worry.
The following helps in this situation:
Try to feed your baby in small portions, but more often, so that there is constant movement of milk in the breast. In addition, a hungry baby always pounces on the breast and begins to suck very actively, thereby provoking a strong release of milk.
Before feeding, try to avoid anything that can cause a strong let-down: for example, a let-down will inevitably cause hot bath or shower; the same applies to any hot liquid drunk 10-15 minutes before feeding.
The flow of milk will decrease if you feed lying on your side, or even better - feed the baby lying on your back, placing him on your stomach.
If the baby does choke, remain calm: lift him up in a “column” and gently pat him on the back, helping him to breathe.
Don’t worry yourself: the child is screaming not because something is threatening his life, but simply out of indignation! Before you offer him the breast again, you can express some milk to ease the situation.
The second reason for arching at the breast is exactly the opposite: the baby gets angry when the mother’s milk flow slows down. Typically, this habit develops if the mother changes the breast too often, without waiting for the baby to empty it completely. As you know, at the beginning of feeding, the baby receives the so-called “foremilk”, which consists of 85-90% water. This milk is more liquid, flows actively, and is easy to suck out. Following the “fore” milk comes the “hind” milk, rich in fats, which saturates much better, but the child needs to try to suck it out. A diligent baby from such labors can fall asleep under the breast, continuing to suck out the thick “hind milk” with short pauses. Inexperienced mothers often transfer the baby to the other breast as soon as there are pauses in sucking - and then the baby (especially if he has had experience sucking from a bottle, where the flow of milk is continuous!) begins to consider sucking only at high tide as normal... If the mother understands that she has encountered With this in mind, she will have to gradually “retrain” the child. Try to always start feeding from the same breast from which the previous one ended, and offer full breasts then when the baby sucked everything possible out of the “empty” one. Feeding in as quiet an environment as possible, perhaps in a darkened room, often helps. After your baby starts to get fussy without a let-down, first try squeezing the breast a few times at the base to help the milk “arrive.” And if the baby has already pulled away from the breast and began to arch, change the position: the same feeding from the armpit usually calms the child for some time.
False breast refusal
Almost every baby goes through a stage of very fussy behavior under the breast between the ages of 3 and 7 months. The baby spins around very much, gets distracted, and can throw up the breast at the slightest rustle; sucks on for literally a few seconds and immediately begins to turn his head around... A mother who is concerned about this behavior should take into account that this is a normal stage in a child’s life development! It's just at this time the world It seems so interesting to him that it is difficult for the baby to concentrate for a long time on such a “monotonous” activity as sucking the breast. As a rule, the baby sucks well before falling asleep, after waking up, and may begin to latch on more often at night. Therefore, there is no need to worry about “malnutrition”: your mischievous child will not allow himself to be left hungry either! Feeding in a darkened room will help calm the restless one; sometimes “nursing” beads made of bright colors work large beads, which the mother hangs around her neck so that the child can start fingering them. And, of course, it is important to monitor the attachment: at this time, you may need to hold the baby’s head under the neck, not allowing him to turn to the sides with the breast in his mouth. It happens that a mother mistakes the child’s behavior during illness as a refusal, when, due to a clogged nose, the baby cannot breathe properly and is forced to constantly release the breast in order to take a breath of air through the mouth. All that remains is to do everything possible for recovery, supplementing with expressed milk if necessary.
Broken trust in mother
Finally, the most difficult reason for giving up breastfeeding is a violation of psychological contact with the mother. Every child initially has certain needs. He wants to be looked after, carried, caressed and fed when he needs it, including at night. This is necessary primarily for the baby’s psychological balance. Mom for him is the whole world, which can be responsive or unresponsive to the needs of the baby, reliable or unreliable for him. Well, the mother, in turn, is personified by the breast, with which the baby builds his first communication in life. And if the child understands that his mother is in no hurry to satisfy his own needs, if she is unpredictable and unreliable for him, he shows his protest in the only way currently available to him: he stops communicating with his mother’s breast. Sometimes you have to hear how mom is 6-9 one month old baby She almost proudly says that her child has become so independent that he has stopped breastfeeding. Alas, this is not “independence”, but a preference for a bottle and a pacifier; the decision that inanimate objects are much more reliable than a living mother; effectively a denial of trust.
Therefore, making the baby want to return to his mother’s breast always means restoring the closest possible communication with the child for several days or even weeks.
The mother needs to outshine all possible “competitors”: carry the child in her arms as much as possible, without letting other family members; be close to the baby both day and night; remove both the pacifier and the bottle. Carrying the baby in a sling (sling) helps a lot.
Of course, all procedures that are unpleasant for the child should go away: for example, if he does not like bathing, then it is better to reduce it to a minimum, and bathe at this time in a large bathtub, in his mother’s arms.
Do not give up trying to offer the baby the breast, especially when falling asleep, when the baby is most inclined to suck for comfort.
Don't wait until your baby is hungry, a hungry baby will be angry! Before application, you can give a little milk from a spoon, then try to apply it (while expressing drops of milk into the mouth), if the child bursts into tears, rock it, calm it down, and after a while offer it again. It is best to supplement with expressed milk!
If the mother is unable to solve the problem on her own, natural feeding consultants will come to the rescue.
The main thing is to love your child