4 week old distressed at breast

[OhWhatAPalaver]

Dd2 is bf with one bottle of ebm at night. She is gaining weight brilliantly but doesn't seem to have quite got the of bfing yet! One of my nipples is smaller than the other so she has latch difficulties, I can hear her losing the latch all the time and consequently I think she is taking in air which is giving her horrendous wind. She fusses at the breast often but yesterday evening she was only feeding for a few mins before going red in the face and straining and crying. I assume it was bad wind problems but not 100% sure that's the only problem. Sometimes she seems to want to suck but not feed much but she struggles to control the flow of milk and other times she seems to feed frantically like she's starving but won't settle properly to do so!
I tried her with a dummy to see if that helped with the wanting to suck but she wasn't interested.
I'm not hugely concerned as she way over her birth weight so she's obviously getting the milk but I hate to see her in pain or discomfort, its also very tiring as she hardly slept in the day yesterday as she was so windy. She also makes my nipples pretty sore as she tanks and pulls off all the time! Any advice?

[OhWhatAPalaver]

Yanks not tanks!

[Voddy4]

I have this problem, i could have written your thread word for word!, it seems to be quite bad wind for us
Hv recommended infacol which we have been using a few times a day, it's says before every feed but breastfed babies constantly Feed so using it maybe 3-5 times a day. However good burping in between and after feeds has helped. Don't get me wrong we still get screaming during particularly fussy times but so much better than she was a couple of days ago!

[TheOddity]

Hmm to me that sounds like she hasn't learned to keep up with the milk flow yet as you may be like me and have quite fast flow. What I found was if after the first sucks I hand expressed a bit into a muslin cloth wjen it was really squirting out, and fed her so she was higher than my breast lying down, it controlled the flow and made for a more peaceful feed. I still has to stop now and then though and sit her up, walk her colicky little safe round to calm her and stroke her back. It cleared itself up after about three weeks as everything kind of self regulated so this should be a very short phase really. Hang in there and I promise it will pass!!

[TheOddity]

Just seen it is second child too. Your milk seems faster the second time round I think, sure that doesn't help early on!

[OhWhatAPalaver]

Yeah I don't remember dd1 having such bad wind but I do remember the fussing and generally odd behaviour.
I've got the hv coming round in a few days so I'll ask about infacol, it could just be that we need to sort out her latch issues but hopefully she'll learn to control things better by herself as well.
That's interesting about lying down to feed, I was a bit useless at that position with dd1 but will try again if it helps!

[Voddy4]

I have this with the second one as well!! Must be a second child thing!

[Felascloak]

Sounds like fast let down its a pain. I had it and my DD really struggled. Some useful info here. I agree with pp about taking off the breast when letdown starts and catching the milk in a muslin. Helps a lot.

kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/fast-letdown/

[ppandj]

Hi op
Hang in there, my DS was like that until 10 weeks and then it just clicked. I found the problem was that I had a fast let down so it was basically hitting him in the mouth. I used to latch him on then recline so that gravity helped slow it down, then sit up once the first bit had gone. Hope it helps!

[OhWhatAPalaver]

It could well be fast let down, funny thing is she's more bothered by it in the evening and it usually seems like it's a few minutes in to the feed that's it's a problem. Maybe it's the second let down that she struggles with? Will have a look at that link now, thanks :)

[Ditsy4]

I had to express a bit first if baby had slept on and then breast engorged. It helped the latching on.

[OhWhatAPalaver]

She just pulled off at first let down so I caught milk in a muslin as suggested, she was happy after that! She was really sleepy and not really hungry so I think she's not quite got the hang of comfort nursing yet and my fast let down is too much for her.
She does all of the things listed in the article as well! Thanks for the link Felas

[InFrance2014]

FYI Infacol is not based in any convincing medical proof. I'd have a read of this and decide if you want to keep giving it:

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2013/04/before-you-try-infacol-try-this-blog.html

I've got much faster let-down with second baby too, it was never a problem with first (but I didn't manage my early supply well with her, so probably genuinely had less milk first time round).

[OhWhatAPalaver]

That's really interesting about infacol, doubt we will use if after reading that! I don't think her wind warrants medicine at the moment anyway as it's not every day that it's a problem.

[StrawberryQuik]

'tiger in a tree' baby yoga position is brilliant for trapped wind, you can find it on you tube or get your HV visitor to show you.

My DS was also very windy at the beginning as I had lots of milk/fast let down and he only had a tiny mouth. It got much better by around 6 weeks, I'm guessing mainly because his mouth was bigger and stronger by then so he didn't swallow so much air.

Also are you using the slowest flow teats when you give a bottle?

[OhWhatAPalaver]

Yeah we are using slow flow teats with the bottles, dp happened to try a different one last night and it came out way too fast - cue lots of wind and sick!
Dd also has a tiny mouth, she can't seem to open very wide so I sort of have to squash my nipple together and shove it in!
Will have a look at the tiger in a tree position, not heard of that one before, thanks :)