Lazy 3 month old . . . what to do???

laurel_l

Hi, my baby is just over three months old, and took to breastfeeding like a pro from the start . . . until now.  The last week she will nurse thru the first letdown reflex, but then gets frustrated when that is done, and won't continue to nurse thru the second letdown on each side.  She is still hungry, but it is a huge "fight" with her to get her to finish on each side.  She cries her head off wanting food, but I really have to work to keep her nursing.  Help!  Anyone run into this before?  I know she can still nurse normally because at her one middle of the night feed she is still feeding fully on each side, no fussing.  Why the problems during the day?

Knitty

Try switching sides as soon as she starts to fuss, the other side will be fuller, then the first side will fill a bit more while he's on the second side, etc.You can also do breast compressions to help make it flow faster.

How many bottles is she getting? Could that be a reason why she's expecting faster/quicker flow

From Kellymom

Baby wants a faster milk flow

Even very young babies can be quick to notice that pulling off, kneading the breast, etc. can cause an additional let-down, and can facilitate a faster, easier milk flow. Some babies become impatient with the slower milk flow following the initial fast flow at let-down. This may or may not be related to a slow let-down.

When a feeding begins at the breast there are drops of milk. Then when the initial let-down occurs (several seconds to a minute into the feeding), the milk flow speeds up quite a bit. At that time it may drip very quickly, squirt, or even spray. Some minutes later it slows again and the baby must continue to suck vigorously in order to elicit further let-downs. This pattern can continue through successive, multiple let-downs as long as the baby is continuing to nurse vigorously. Eventually, baby will learn that the flow will pick back up again if she'll only continue to vigorously suck/swallow.

With bottle feeding, the flow is instant and continuous. The baby is required to work very little. Once a baby has had a bottle, especially a lot of bottles, she may begin to prefer the ease of bottle-feeding over the work of breastfeeding. She may become frustrated at the breast after the first let-down occurs and the flow of milk begins to slow.

If baby is getting bottles you might consider putting them away, at least for a while. When you must use a bottle, only use a newborn nipple for as long as baby will tolerate it so that she never gets a really fast flow of milk from the bottle, but has to work a little more to get the milk.

Sometimes babies of moms with oversupply or fast let-down will also get very used to the fast flow and object when it normally slows somewhere between 3 weeks to 3 months.

It can be helpful to do some breast compression when this fussiness starts or right before you expect it to. This will help speed up the milk flow again. Once compression stops helping, try switching baby to the other side when she begins to fuss and back and forth again (after using compression) as you need to.

 

egsquared

I'm having a similar problem.  I went back to work last week, and the first time I nurse LO when I get home from work, she'll get frustrated and start crying.  It's really hard to have her keep nursing.  I think it's like pp said, she gets bottles all day and then expects the milk to come easily from the boob too.  After that first nursing session when I get home though, LO will nurse fine (before bed, around 4am, and before I leave in the morning).