Breastfeeding Help - Close to the end of a Very Short Tether

[Charlie:-)]

Help please im really stressed out and upset breastfeeding seems to have gone t*ts up.

She latches fine takes a couple of suckles then starts to cry, so I take her off try winding her let her calm down and try again, this goes on until she's really crying nearly to the point where she's hysterical.

I gave in this afternoon and hubby gave her a bottle of EBM, I have some in the freezer but not enough and I have expressed some today but only 1 feed which I will have to use if she doesnt go down with breast this evening.

I have tried all sorts, different positions, laying down on the bed, rugby ball, upstairs in her room in the nursing chair but all with the same response. She was like this yesterday evening when I was trying to settle her to bed, although through the night she suckled fine and again this morning it was just this afternoon she started like this again.

She's asleep now but she hasnt been fed since 2pm so she will be getting fairly hungry soon. To top it all when I went for her weighing on weds she had only put on 3 1/2 oz in 2 weeks and she has gone from being on the line above average to the line below average in her red book weight chart. HV told me to not let her go longer than 4 hours max and ideally to feed every 3 during the day.

Hubby thinks it could be her teeth as she has been drooling and dribbling for England for about a month now, all her clothes are sogging wet on her chest and she cant keep her hands out of her mouth. I have some teething rings but she finds it difficult to keep hold of them and doesnt really attempt to put them in her mouth anyway. Hubby put some bonjela on her gums earlier to try and help soothe her because we just dont know whats wrong.

Anyone got any suggestions, im really worried she wont want my milk, I hope she gets back on track, I really want to try and continue to breastfeed.

 

[LisaJ1986]

This is very common i think. Several people have put posts like this and i'm one of them! It is incredibly frustrating and got me in tears, but it is just a passing phase. I just stopped trying and she'd feed when she got hungry. Angel refuses bottles so she has to breastfeed.
If she plays up, just calmly pass her over to OH and relax for a few minutes. If she's still crying try again. She will eat if she's hungry.

 

[fothers]

WE had a simialr thing at about that age- she had become ultr-distractable and would not feed during the day for love nor money- there was just too much else going on. I got really stressed but there was nothing I could do to make her feed. In the end she would only feed when sleepy before and after a nap when lying ion our bed in a dark room and basically started doing all her feeding during the night (we started co-sleeping then as I was up every hour through the night for weeks).


If it is the same as this it is called 'reverse cycling' and normally happens if you go back to work etc but can happen just due to being 4m old and very distractable.

These links might help-
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling.html
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2007/10 ... ts/page/2/


Persevere- it will get better

 

[valentine]

Hey Charlie,

to you, it sounds like you need them.

I would like to echo Lisa and say I'd put all my money on it being a phase. I would definitely recommend just feeding her when she's hungry, she's just being a fusspot.

Please don't worry about the dropping lines in the red book too, particularly if you are using a formula fed chart (it'll specificially say if its a breastfeeding chart, butyou can get them from here, if you don't have one). It's really really common for a breastfed (particularly exclusively breastfed) baby to pile on weight at the beginning and drop centiles quite rapidly as they grow - it's nothing to worry about, its just that the weight gain tails off and breastmilk is more easily digested than formula. My daughter dropped from 75th centile at 12 weeks to 9th centile by 7/8 months and she's really happy and healthy, just small built!

Please stick with it honey, I would like to bet that formula feeding won't be easier, she'll still fuss plus you'll have the expense of and hassle of making up formula.

It does sound like it could be teeth pain too - have you tried New Era teething tablets (available in Holland and Barrett or an amber teething necklace? I swear by both, we've had a really easy ride so far with teeth.

Good luck - please keep going, I promise that this phase will pass and you'll be so glad you're still feeding.

Love to you

Valentine Xxx

 

[fothers]

Just like to say that like Valentine my DD was 91st percentile and is almost on the ninth now and almost all red books are for formula fed babies.

I did resort to trying formula after weeks of that and she did the exact same with that too. Maybe consider co-sleeping if she is feeding lots through the night so you feel less like a zombie.

 

[Lola's Mummy]

Awww Charlie

I agree with Lisa this is likely to just be a phase. Lola went through a similar phase she would just fuss at every evening feed. It does pass though

 

[clarey]

Hang on in there hun, I will echo what everyone else has said, hopefully its a phase, we have had some tricky times like that too. Eva has been a nightmare during the day recently for this fussiness and its so wearing, I get really upset and take it far more personally than if she was refusing a bottle, but I try to just leave it for an hour or so and wait till she is ready. Sometimes I have spent an hour or more just laying down with a boob out waiting for Eva to decide she does want it. Sometimes we have both dozed off and when she wakes she is calm and hungry and latches on fine after all the fuss.
Look on it as a good excuse for a lay down

 

[charlie84]

Have PMd you

 

[beanie]

It souds like the stage everyoe is talking about. However I wouldaslo check her mouth to make sure there isn't anyhting there that is causing her pain - like teething, thrush etc. Hang in there hun

 

[sarah2807]

we've had this phase too and think it's starting up again my lo was really fussy today pulling off all the time and screaming. i know how stressful it is but i keep thinking if it's the same as last time it passess in a few days.
good luck.

 

[Charlie:-)]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post, I really appreciate it and your support yesterday was invaluable and really helped me to stop worrying.

Its nice to know that others have experienced the same and hopefully it is just a phase.

When she fed before going to bed last night she did fuss again for about 5 minutes but I held her really close so it was more difficult for her to pull away and eventually she just settled into feeding and had a good old suckle.

Hubby fed her from a bottle before we went to bed and then I fed her no problem this morning at 60am and throughout the day.

I wont even contemplate giving her formula so we will just have to ride it out if she decides to be a little madam again.

Thanks for the links Fothers, its interesting to read about what I may have instore at 4 months old and thanks for the breastfed weight chart Valentine, im going to plot her weight again and look at the difference.

Thanks again to everyone, you were ther when I needed it, thank you

 

[Tick-Tock]

I found out a very interesting fact the other day... when babies are born they can breathe and swallow at the same time as their gullet and windpipe can be open at the same time, however between 3-6 months changes take place at the back of the throat that means that it's either the gullet or windpipe open and therefore have to stop swallowing to take a breath..like we do as adults. Apparently this can cause them to get very frustrated when feeding until they learn this new way of feeding (and may not be as much of a problem with bottles). (also as 90% of babies have undergone these changes by 6 months this is why it is then safe to start them on solids as the risk of choking is massively decreased)

This may be why your LO is fussing and should pass when she susses what she now needs to do...

 

[Lisamj]

Make sure your little one doesn't have oral thrush. Sam had a white tongue but the Dr. said it was just milk tongue. This went on for a couple of weeks, and then he would start screaming in pain while feeding and coming off the boob - I thought it was tummy pain from the suckling, but he would still happily suck on a dummy.

Anyway, it DID turn out to be thrush....his tongue was so painful he couldn't suck hard enough to get the milk out (which is why he was fine with the dummy as there is no effort needed with it!).

Lisa xxx