Help me figure out the reason for DD's behavior...

mags507

DD is 4 weeks old and eats about every 3 hours with me waking 3x per night to feed her.  She usually eats at midnight, between 3-4am and 7-8am throughout the night.  On several nights for the past week she has been continuously exhibiting rooting behavior, but when she latches on she writhes around and seems to be unhappy and fussy.  I know that milk is flowing because she ends up spitting it back out.  This goes on for several hours and is frustrating for both of us.

My thoughts are that she just wants to suck and she wants to use me as a pacifier.  I've tried several different pacifiers but she just refuses them all.  The first night that this happened I ended up giving her about 1 oz of expressed BM from a bottle (b/c I thought she was hungry and my nipples were sore after 2 hours of multiple latch ons.  It was her first intro to a bottle and she took it but still pushed most of the milk out of her mouth.  Does this sound right?  I'm open to any other ideas for what might be going on...or any ideas for getting her to take a pacifier.

FWIW, she was back up to birth weight (9lb 2oz) by 12 days old and she was weighed again this week (just shy of 4 weeks old) and was 10lb 11oz.  She has good amt of wet/dirty diapers daily. 

rosiemomma

Sounds like normal newborn fussiness, it usually starts at about 2-4 weeks and peaks at 6-8 weeks.

or this can help you more:

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/fussy-while-nursing.html 

shotzie

Is she waking on her own to eat at night or are you waking her? If you're waking her, I would stop. Usually once they're back up to their birth weight, you don't need to wake them at night anymore. It may be that she's fussy because she just wants to sleep and isn't hungry yet.

mags507

I feed her when she wakes up. I don't wake her at night to eat.

Holly_1007

is the fussiness ONLY at night? Do you nurse her in a different position or place than during the day?

 if its all the time I would look at it being reflux or possible foremilk..hindmilk inbalance

if its only at night I would make sure she is comfortbale, and keep trying different pacifiers, you could be right she might just want to comfort nurse.