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Austin Babies
Breastfeeding help
My daughter will be 8 weeks tomorrow and for the last 3 weeks, we have been having some breastfeeding issues so I wanted to check in and see if anyone else has experienced this. She is gaining weight appropriately and has breastfed fine from birth until recently. The problem feeding does not occur every day and ranges from one feeding to three or four problem feedings. The rest of the time she is great. The problem feeding occurs when....she will make indications that she is hungry and she will start to feed for a few minutes, but then pull off and start crying. Sometimes she will restart if I try to offer it again, but most times she will stop crying when put on my shoulder. However, once on my shoulder, she starts trying to suck on my clothes or makes smacking noises which makes me think she is hungry again. Most times, she does not have a complete feed, does not end up having a nap afterwards, and then will have subsequent "fussy" feeds. Other times, she's fine with the next feeding. I did start my period 2-3 weeks ago (even though EBF) and did notice a decrease in milk supply so I thought that was the issue, but now I'm confident that my milk supply is back up. I called a lactation consultant and she blamed it on giving her bottles so I haven't done that for over a week now. She had only had one bottle at a night time feeding a few nights a week so I don't think that is it. It had occurred once the day before the 1 month old check up and I asked the pedi about it, but she was not concerned and said she could have just had a fussy period. I plan to ask again at the 2 month next week. It's driving me crazy and makes me feel bad. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions? TIA
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Re: Breastfeeding help
My first bottle-fed baby did the same. She had colic/gas issues. She would start to eat thinking it would stop her tummy from hurting, and then stop and cry again because they weren't actually hunger pains. Does it tend to happen similar times of the day? Have you tried gas drops?
Good luck--I know it can be frustrating to feel like you're missing something or can't soothe them. But it's totally normal! ( I mean that in a "you're doing a great job, mama," not in a blow you off kind of a way).
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is she pulling her knees up to her stomach when she's crying out? have you tried giving her mylicon or colic calm? mine typically did that like the pp said when their tummy hurt, thinking nursing would comfort them and usually they would spit up a lot of the milk they did injest. is she spitting up after this as well?
i'm sorry- i know how frustrating bf issues can be! hang in there!
I would try to burp her a little more often while feeding. Sounds like her belly is sore.
Also, I would try a different lactation consultant, you might want to go in and see that latch and everything is good. It could be just a little adjustment would help.
BFing is frustrating sometimes, hang in there!
Hmmm. First off, that LC is wacked. If you want your baby to keep taking a bottle, a bottle every couple days isn't going to hurt anything. Does she do it when she gets a bottle?
Somethings that come to mind are: a forceful let down- is she choking when she pulls off? Or the opposite: Maybe the flow isn't fast enough for her liking? Another thing: acid reflux? I don't have personal experience with this, but the fact that she quiets down when you prop her up seems like it could be bothering her. Maybe try nursing in a different position where she's more upright? Gas could definitely be a contender: I would try giving her some Mylicon about 30-45 minutes before a feed and see what happens. Or right after. Does she spit up a lot? I know right around that time DS got very efficient at nursing and went from 20 minutes+ to 5 minutes or under. I thought for sure he wasn't eating enough, but he was.
Do you have a good pump? Maybe you could pump to stimulate your let down and once the milk gets flowing you could put her on. Maybe it's just taking to long for her?
GL! Nursing can be suuuper frustrating the first few months, but it sounds like you're doing an awesome job! Feel free to come back here if you have more questions! The weekends are kinda dead here, but it's pretty busy during the week and there are lots of mamas on here who have nursed/are nursing.
My DD is 15 weeks now and she started doing the same thing at that age. After a while I came to the conclusion that it had to do with her sleep patterns changing. She would act like she was starving, eat, then as you say pull away crying. I would try to keep feeding her or comfort her and she would have none of it. I would put her down in her swing or bouncy chair and she would pop off to sleep. We came to the conclusion when she was in those moods it was her being a little over tired.
But still everyone is different, have you tried feeding her in a different position?