Baby Frustrated at Breast

SoonerMagicMama

My LO is 4.5 months old and I just started back to work Thurs before last (so one full week and 2 work days under my belt).  He's been EBF, except for a little formula to supplement in the first few weeks.  We've given about 5 bottles a week from the beginning with no problems.  But, now that I'm back at work and LO's taking 4 bottles a day, we are starting to have some problems.  When at the breast now, LO is starting to act weird.  He's grunting, pulling, biting, breaks the latch frequently.  He hasn't acted like this before and it's getting worse and worse.  And my nipples are soooooo sore all of a sudden.  I'm afraid he's liking the bottle better (though we are still using slow flow nipples) and is getting frustrated that the boob is slower, or something.  He is also teething, so I'm hoping that this behavior may be linked to teething, and not just my going back to work.

I really want to make it to 6 months (and beyond) and am so close that I don't want to have to give up breastfeeding.  LO starts daycare in 2 weeks and it's very important to me that we are still bf'ing through his transition to daycare so that his immunity can be as strong as possible.  I'd like to last through flu season as well, but that may be too optimistic.

Anyone have any suggestions for me?  My dad is taking care of LO during the day while I'm at work at the moment and he says that LO does not act this way with the bottle ... no grunting or pulling on the bottle.

ncbelle

Kiddo did that sort of thing quite a bit the week before his first teeth popped through.  Hopefully it's that and he'll stop once the teeth come in.

Or it might be that he likes the flow of the bottle better.  In which case, I'd just keep trying with the nursing - maybe try a new position or make sure you nurse in a quiet, dim place to help him calm down and focus.  Kiddo also started getting very antsy at the breast around that age because he wanted to check everything out instead of nurse.  I found it easiest to nurse him when he was sleepy (either going to sleep or just waking up) when he was less likely to be impatient.  Also side lying nursing worked well for us.