Reinstating breastfeeding can be really difficult and sometimes impossible. However, there is a new tool available to moms that can help train the baby to create a breastfeeding latch, suction, and self-paced feeding to make this task feasible. Megan Amand tells her story on how she was able to reinstate breastfeeding in just two days.“I was beyond thrilled, and relieved. I had always wanted to breastfeed and loved the connection we had when he was nursing. We had a really hard time affording the formula he was on, and when he finally latched again, I was so relieved I cried. Not only was I not losing that connection with him, but it was a huge relief not having to afford formula for all 12 of his daily feedings. Bare Air-free with Perfe-Latch nipple made him figure out how to transfer milk and got him to suck to feed instead of chew. When he nurses it is still our time, we slow down and reconnect, it is still my favorite part of the day. He has been nursing very well for 6 months and is still nursing at 18 months.
I was exclusively breastfeeding my son when I chose Bare Air-free feeding system because it offered a nipple that was very similar to the breast. At 6 weeks old, my son was diagnosed with severe silent reflux. You could hear him gag, then swallow again. He would scream for hours at a time, was almost a pound below his birth weight, and we were all miserable. He was put on Zantac 2x a day, and continued that for 8 months.
Bare definitely helped with his acid reflux, but with reflux out of the way, he needed help with weight gain. He wouldn’t take any bottle or nipple other than the Bare with Perfe-latch. At 8 weeks he was diagnosed with failure to thrive. This meant he had to have at least 6 bottles a day of high-calorie formula and had to eat every 2 hours. I had to go back to work when he was 9 weeks old.
[fue_subscribe label="" placeholder="Your email address" list="Bare® Air-free Feeding System Newsletter" submit_text="subscribe" success_message="Thank you!"]I teach, so I spent the first month of summer break going to La Leche Meetings, and lactation gatherings. I spent the next month traveling to different doctors and lactation consultants to figure out why he couldn’t latch well or transfer milk. We found out he has a high palate and was chewing on the breast instead of sucking. Bare with Perfe-latch was instrumental to reinstating breastfeeding for us. Most of his problem was his latch because Bare didn’t give him milk when he chewed, he learned to suck, and it improved his latch to the point that we could breastfeed again. I was able to take a long weekend with him, and with his doctor’s permission, I didn’t formula-fed him for 2 days!. We spent the entire weekend skin to skin on the couch. We went back to using a nipple shield which allowed him to latch, and I fed him as often as I could for 3 days in a row. After the 3 days, he would nurse as long as I used the shield and we were doing both Bare and breastfeeding. After a month of lots of skin to skin, we were able to wean him off the shield, by starting the feeding with it, then taking it away after he had latched on the first time. He took Bare while I was at work, and I breastfed whenever he was with me. Because he was still the failure to thrive, we couldn’t just offer the breast and stop formula.
We were eventually able to have him take 5 feedings at daycare, and the 6th when we got home. This allowed me to nurse him at night. At 5 months old he was finally 13 pounds, and we were able to stop the formula but continued with Bare and breast-milk. At 6 months old he had finally hit 14 pounds, and we could stop Bare-feeding unless he was away from me.”
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