[~sunnyrach~]

Hi,

My son is 7 weeks old and has just started being mighty fussy at the breast....I am not sure if this is due to a supply problem or something else.

The middle of night & morning feeds seem to be fine (last night after he went to bed at 7pm, I fed at 2am, 5am & 7.30am) he feeds for approx 10mins each side (he is a super sucker!)
and seems happy/content after these feeds. From the next feed onwards feeding becomes a nightmare & it progressively gets worse as the day goes on. (I am demand feeding, so anything from 1.5hours to 3 hours apart during the day) He will feed fine for the first couple of minutes but then pulls off screaming. He re-attaches, sucks briefly and pulls off screaming yet again....this process continues until we are both exhausted! For the last feed of the day I feed him at the breast (although this is the worst feeding session) then give him approx 70ml of EBM. He then goes to bed and sleeps 6-7 hours. Once he is in bed I express the amount I fed him by bottle, although this seems to take forever!

He is putting on weight, although on the lower end of the acceptable level per week. He appears to have enough wet & Pooey Nappies...but I still can't shake the feeling he wants more than my supply is giving him.

This whole routine is leaving him & me distressed and is not making Breastfeeding an enjoyable experience. I do not want to formula feed....so any advise would be greatly appreciated!

TIA

[~sunnyrach~]

I burp him inbetween sides...although not always getting a burp. He has only ever vomited once. However, he does seem to get distressed with lower wind pain (once he farts he is happy again ) Could this be the problem and would Infacol help this?

[liz-a]

hi..i remember this all too well..Ash was a fussy feeder also. I also found the night feeds much better than the day feeds. Maybe its because there are less distractions and you are both more relaxed. Growth spurts usally happen around the 8 week mark aswell. Definately try the infacol and infants friend is also a good one. Do you think it may have something to do with your letdown being to fast or too slow? I really hope you work it out. I know it can get really frustrating but hang in there. We did and my little man still loves the boobie.(Maybe a little too much )

[colleeg]

well could be slow let down or Like my DS acid that comes up ( he is a refluxy boy). I have been using infant zantac and since then no screaming between feeds and much happier, although sometimes a good burp if a scream is had helps heaps and he is much happier to continue drinking.

[beckyblue77]

Have you considered that he could be teething? I know he is very little, but my sisters DS started teething at 7 weeks, and it wasn't the normal bottom tooth, it was a molar!!!

They do tend to be a lot like you describe when teething. My sister was at her wits end with this for a few weeks, and phoned Ngala who suggested the possibility of teething. Perhaps try a little bonjela on the gums before feeding to see if it works? If it is the teeth, panadol works well for it too.

Just a suggestion anyhow!!

[~sunnyrach~]

Thank you for all your comments & suggestions.

God I hope he is not teething just yet

Mumagain> I tried feeding DS lying down this morning with a lot of success....so much so that I woke an hour later with DS hanging off my boob sound asleep also I don't really feel a letdown however, when I feed him I do hear him gulping almost instantly but I have never really had 'spraying' everywhere, sometimes I notice Milk around the corner of his mouth as he feeds....but usually just in the morning. When I pump, the milk seems to spray in little bursts....I never seem to get a steady flow.... with lots of persistance I can usually get 50ml in about 20mins (This seems so little an amount for the effort )

[Phascogale]

With the fast letdown, there are another couple of things you can do. Lying down to feed is a great suggestion and it's good to hear that it worked for you. But some of the other things include expressing to letdown so that you catch the initial fast flow, or alternatively putting your baby to the breast and when letdown happens unattach him (if he hasn't pulled off) and again catch the initial fast flow.

Also feeding so that the baby is more on top of you so that he's working against gravity.

The reason your baby is likely reacting only now to the fast flow is that he's gotten big and strong enough to realise that he can make his displeasure known (by pulling on and off). And the reason night feeds work better than day feeds is that he's more relaxed.

This is something that should get better as your baby gets bigger and is able to cope with the flow better.