Newborn won't nurse/suck bottle

Question

My first grandchild, a boy, was born yesterday morning and so far he won't nurse on his mother or suck a bottle at all. He seems to have no sucking instincts. The nurses have tried several things, nothing has worked. I think he looks like he has an overbite, you can't even see his bottom lip at all! They got him to do a few feeble sucks on the bottle tonight, but it just ran out of his mouth, he didn't appear to be swallowing it. Has anyone heard of anything like this happening?

thanks!

Answer 1

For the first few days of life I was told they didn't need to eat that much because of the stored fats they had and adjusting to their new environment was a big dramatic change for them. But if he doesn't want to nurse or bottle feed after that period of time you can try buying several different types of bottles and nipples to see if he prefers them. If not he may have some type of problem with throat muscles from what you describe or Stomach problems and would need to be seen by a doctor.