Home Forums Breastfeeding Breastfeeding How hard to get a 3month old back to nursing.

I will suddenly be fostering a 3 month old. His mother has just died of cancer. He has been bottle fed but I want to breast feed him. He is two months now. It will take a month of paperwork. I am currently producing about 20 oz of milk a day. How hard is it going to be to convince him to nurse? What are the chances of sucess? 50/50?

thanks
Janeen

Janeen,
That is so sad. I would think it is very possible to get him nursing. There is an adoptive bf yahoo group and many of the women adopted their kids as older infants from Ethiopia or other countries, and many of them are successful. You might want to check there too for more suggestions.

It may take some patience. The fact that you are already producing that much milk will help. I would suggest doing lots of skin time with him. Try nursing at first when he is sleepy. Try using a nipple shield so it will feel more like a bottle for him. Use your finger to try to teach him how to open his mouth correctly. Keep trying every day. It could take a month or more to get it to work.

Good luck to you.
Jennifer

Janeen,

There is a gal who has a lact aid for sale on this forum! Go for it!

I would like to know what has happened with the baby in the month since you posted. It is wonderful that you want to nurture him at your breast, especially after the recent loss of his mother. Usually, a baby that young will take the breast, with a minimum of coaxing, at least if he can see that there is milk there. You can try expressing a few drops from your breast, so that he can smell it on your nipple. If he doesn't take to it right away, don't worry. If he starts to get upset, just give him his bottle and try again later.

There is a list of suggestions for training and older baby to the breast, on the Lact-Aid website, here http://www.lact-aid.com/OnlineLibrary/Re...r.aspx#teaching

Some babies are more resistant and need more drastic measures, but that is usually babies who are older than your little guy and/or have been through a great deal of trauma that makes them fearful of anything that is new to them. I don't think you will need it but, just in case he is more resistant, here is an article I wrote, which should be helpful http://www.llli.org/nb/nbsepoct93p135.html My daughter, Julia, is 20 years old, now. She has told me several times that she is very thankful that I went the extra mile so that she could be a nursing baby, like her sibling.

I don't know whether you will need the Lact-Aid or not. Since you are all ready producing so much, I wonder if your milk supply would increase to meet his needs, once you get him suckling well and nursing on demand. You might be able to get by with supplementing with bottles, or even a cup, if he only needs a little bit of formula a day and you can see that your supply is increasing. You can feed a baby with a small cup. They sell cups made for that purpose, but they aren't cheap. The little disposable paper cups made for bathroom dispensers work as well. The nipple covers that come with many kinds of bottles are the right size and shape, too.

Best Wishes,
Darillyn

Janeen has posted on another thread that the father has changed his mind and is going to parent this baby.

Thank you for letting me know. I hope the father does well. It would be terrible position to be in. I know of a case where a mom died the day after giving birth, leaving a young father alone with a baby. One of the ladies in our LLL group was her roommate in the hospital. She was one of those super milk producers. Just by holding a pump on the opposite side, while her baby was nursing, she was able to donate enough milk to feed the other baby, which the father greatly appreciated!