Help...hungry every 10-20 minutes..it's killing me!

Megan55

My son is 5 weeks old and we've started to have trouble nursing. Last night he woke up and I fed him for 20 minutes until he pulled off. I put him back to bed and ten minutes later he was crying because he was still hungry. Put him back on the breast and he ate for 6 minutes and fell asleep. Back to bed and 20 minutes later he wanted to eat again. After this feeding he was finally full and went to sleep for a few hours. This is happening every time I feed him and I am getting so discouraged, I can't get anything done and it's hard to pump because everytime I start to pump because I think he's done eating he starts screaming because he wants more. This has only been going on for the past week, before that he was doing awesome. I've had to give him bottles of both pumped milk and formula(which I hate to give him) because I feel like he isn't satisfied with what he is getting at the breast.

Any advice would be awesome, I'm so frustrated and I don't know what to do!!

Also in the past week I've had terrible pain for the first minute after he latches, all pain went away after the first few days of BFing and now it's back...what gives?!

Soon2BMrsN

Are you offering both breasts at each feeding sessions?  Are you burping him often?  If I were you, I'd visit a lactation consultant who will weigh your LO before and after he eats to see how much he's taking in.  Then you can see if you're having low supply issues.  How severe is the nipple pain?  It could be thrush if you've been pain-free and it's flared up again recently.

ETA: There is also a growth spurt at around 6 weeks, so that may be why he is hungrier.

Megan55

Yes and yes, and I've been pumping after he is finished eating and getting at least 2 or 3 oz so I'm pretty sure it's not a supply issue. I will definitely look into visiting a lactation consultant. I've heard of thrush but never really knew what it was...Kellymom.com is my next stop for info on that. He will be 6 weeks on Friday so that could also be the case, I never thought of that.

Thank you so much!

amm826

If you see white stuff in his mouth, he probably has thrush.  Either way, I'd call the doctor if it keeps up.  Another possibility, from some of the things I've read if he falls asleep right away after he nursed recently it might not be that he is hungry.  Does he have a lot of gas?  We had that problem and I'd always feed him thinking he was hungry but a minute into eating he'd let out a lot of gas and relax and fall asleep. 

Soon2BMrsN

Megan55:

Yes and yes, and I've been pumping after he is finished eating and getting at least 2 or 3 oz so I'm pretty sure it's not a supply issue. I will definitely look into visiting a lactation consultant. I've heard of thrush but never really knew what it was...Kellymom.com is my next stop for info on that. He will be 6 weeks on Friday so that could also be the case, I never thought of that.

Thank you so much!

Good!  Just checking.  The more I think about it, it's probably just the 6 week growth spurt.  Kellymom is a great resource.