Baby frustrated on breast

[Lucyboo]

My LG is 5 weeks and combi fed ( formula at night) and sometimes when she feeds she acts like she is frustrated pulling on my nipple, throwing herself around, kicking, coming on and off, I'm worrying it's a supply issue. I'm on the border of completely giving her formula as I can't even find time to express now. She does seem do be happier after a bottle of formula at night etc I just can't work out why she seems so frustrated. Just wondered if anyone else experienced this.

 

[Karenb]

Yes! And despite two health visitors missing it, turns out Sophie had tongue tie which was sorted today. Although the specialist said the throwing herself around is her trying to get a second let down so to just relax when she does it to encourage it, sing baby a little song or something... Have you checked for tongue tie?

 

[Lucyboo]

I'm pretty sure she doesn't have tongue tie. She has been crying all afternoon like she is still hungry. Fast asleep now at last. I'll maybe play her some baby music I have next time.

 

[Karenb]

Sophie had tongue tie which wasn't clearly visible, she could stick her tongue out but it was stopping her using her tongue properly. X

 

[Lucyboo]

I'm seeing health visitor Monday so ill defo ask her to check x

 

[Sprout]

It could be that she's having a growth spurt and the behaviours you've described are an attempt to boost your supply, however the giving formula at night will probably have affected your supply and also got baby used to having the faster flow of the bottle.

If you want to increase your supply, the best way to do it would be to breastfeed as much as possible, make sure you're drinking plenty of water and eat lots of oats.

It may also be worth getting to a lactation specialist to check for any problems (such as tongue tie).

Good luck!

 

[Karenb]

I'm seeing health visitor Monday so ill defo ask her to check x

Don't mean to harp on but two hv missed Sophie's as they're not properly trained in it, I went to the specialist at hospital to check x

 

[Mummybexee]

Pead missed my sons - feeding specialist confirmed after I raised concerns over slanted nipple and slipping off Breast!

 

[Lucyboo]

Pead missed my sons - feeding specialist confirmed after I raised concerns over slanted nipple and slipping off Breast!

I've actually noticed a few times my nipple is slanted after feeding.

I'll see what Monday brings otherwise I'll defo speak to a doctor/hospital to look into the tongue tie.

 

[Mummybexee]

Slanted nipple is a massive indicator

Get your local breat feeding support worker on board and don't delay it any more. appointments to snip can take a few weeks so sooner you raise the better

Be firm - GPS are crap - that's why its best via HV/BF support worker / midwife etc

That will be why she's so fussy

 

[Rose83]

It's worth considering thrush too. My little girl is now 7 months and I'm still breat feeding but only by expression. She started getting fussy at about 4 weeks - pulling off, crying, wriggling etc and it just got worse and worse so I expressed some milk and gave it to her that way when she was really freaking out. Despite numerous visits from HV and midwife etc no one considered thrush until about week 7 when I finally got itchy on my nipples. Looking back I clearly got thrush about week three after I was given a course of antibiotics for a womb infection (antibiotics nearly always give me thrush somewhere) and basically she didn't like the taste. It took me until 3 months to clear the thrush as nothing worked and by that point she had become so used to drinking from a bottle that she didn't want to go back on and I didn't want to force her. So she has remained breast milk bottle fed ever since. But that is seriously hard work!

If it is thrush then you want Daktarin cream for your nipples (stronger than canesten cream) if baby is feeding from you. If baby is not feeding from you and you are just expressing then Daktacort cream is same as Daktarin but has a steroid added which helps shift it. A course of Fluconazole should work too but I'm resistant to it so it never worked for me. I also had ActiformCool wound dressings which are very expensive to prescribe so you really have to convince your GP but it's very worth it - it was the only thing that eventually healed the irritation I had. Also a friend recommended pure coconut oil to kill the thrush. They would also give you Nystatin drops for baby's mouth to make sure they didn't have thrush in there.

Importantly I never had any symptoms of thrush for the first few weeks I had it and neither did my little girl so you could have it and not know x

 

[Mrs_T]

Have you got the Wonder Weeks app? 5 weeks old is a growth spurt, my DS fed like that for a week and then settled down once my supply suited him. Definitely check out the suggestions from previous posts of course xx

 

[Belfa]

Did you say before that she's a bit colicky? Once or twice a day Alex has a feed where he's basically screaming during it as he wants the milk but is in discomfort. HV checked him for thrush as suggested above but he doesn't have it so it's most likely his wind x