lo just doesn't seem very happy

[alfiemama]

My lo just doesn't seem very happy at the moment.

She is 9 days old, and has gone from 3 hours in between feeds to every 20 mins.
She will feed for about 20-30 mins go sleepy but then refuse anymore, I have tried nappy changing etc and offering again but shes not interested, so I put her in moses basket where she looks to be going to sleep but then 5 mins later she is knoring at her hands, rooting, arms flailing and if I leave her, she starts crying. So I put her back on the side (to try and give her the fatty stuff) and it all begins again.

I think also she is very windy, hence the flailing arms and feel she may be getting relieve from the wind with the sucking.

The breast feeding checked latched in hosp and said its good but wonder if we have become lazy

Do you think, growth spurt or maybe wind, I was thinking of trying infacol.
But always thought bf babes shouldn't be windy. Her nappies are greeny mustard but explosive and lots of poos throughout day.

Any help appreciated

[HappyAsASandboy]

I don't have much advice, but wanted to sympathise if it is wind. I have two very windy breastfed babies (1 month old), so breastfed babies can certainly get wind!

One of my twins also has green poo (which comes and goes, sometimes is yellow), which started a few days ago when my boobs went mad and became far more engorged than when my milk came in. Someone helpful on here pointed me towards kellymom.com and searching 'oversupply'. It seems that if you're really engorged, the baby gets lots of watery foremilk and not much hindmilk, which can cause green explosive poo and gassy babies. Perhaps this is your problem too?

Since you're only 9 days in, it seems likely to me that you're milk is still settling down and you may be producing too much like I was. My boobs have started to settle down again now, so hoping for yellow poo over the next few days and (please god) less windy babies ....

As I said, I am no expert and am only a month into this myself, so please don't rely too heavily on my advice. Kellymom might be worth a read though

[tiktok]

:( :(

Sounds v. difficult, alfiemama.

What does your dd weigh?

BTW, it's usually best to offer both breasts at each feed in the early days.

Please don't worry about making sure she gets the fatty stuff - this is very confusing, I know, as you will prob have been told to put her back on the same side and not switch.

She is so little, her most comfortable and best place is close to you, and she does not want to be anywhere else - she does not want to settle in her basket, but to be with you :)

[tiktok]

9 days too soon to suspect over-supply, sorry!

[barkfox]

alfiemama, this sounds very like my DS when he was going through his 10 day growth spurt (such harsh timing for mums, I think...it's knackering) - and then again at about 2 weeks old....

Not that he ever went 3 hours between feeds, though. He's only doing that sometimes now at 4 months!

He is also a very windy EBF baby, which did make feeding a bit of a saga to start with, especially at night. They do happen.

I also wasted a lot of time trying to put DS in a moses basket. Just because I thought that was sort of what you did. I think while it might have looked comfy to me, and the cat, for him it was a very lonely and bewildering place after 9 months in the womb, and he just wanted to sleep on me or DH. There was nothing wrong with him at all, he just wanted to be held. (He is quite happy to sleep in a bedside cot at night as well, btw, so knickers to all the people who told me that he would 'never learn' to sleep on his own...)

[Mareta]

I know Tiktok is an expert in the sbject but I thought you may want to know about the advice a friend of mine had. She had a lot of problems breastfeeding her baby and a breastfeeding coucellor adviced her to undress the baby so LO didn't feel to hot and stop him falling sleep. It has worked very well. LO has gone from latching on and falling sleep to latching on and feed with not end. I think at the moment with the central heating and your body temperature your LO may be to cosy to do any work after one breast.

As I said I am not an expert but it may be worth a try.

Good luck

[alfiemama]

Thanks happyasasand boy, crikey twin windy bubs, eeek.
I actually feel like there not filling enough as nt had engorgement since first few days, they dnt seem to get a rest to fill lol.

Tiktok lo weighed 8.5lb at birth and then lost 300g so under the 10% range and is being weighed tommorow, I think since reading about explosive green poos and keeping them on one breast I have become obsessed
I am holding her as we speak tiktok, she settles lovely in my arms lol but I think smells my milk

[alfiemama]

thanks barkfox, I realy don't mind holding her if anything I love it, but worry this is why she now wnt sleep at night.
I tried that Mareta but still same and mw said 20-30 mins is classed as a full feed.

[Porcelain]

DS is very windy, both ends and is EBF, he swallows air when he is guzzling milk, and also when he is sucking his hands (although I doubt your LO is doing that just yet) then he is like a little squealing balloon.

[MoonUnitAlpha]

Newborn babies just don't like to be put down I'm afraid! And she's too little to be forming sleep habits yet so don't worry about that.

I got lots of use out of a sling at that stage, so ds could be close and comforted and I still had my hands free.

[alfiemama]

thanks everyone
I know there is not a sleep pattern yet, it was more the constant feeding and wind. She is also snuffly, you where they make a snuggle noise like a piglet (sorry dont know how else to describe it).

I would use a sling but had a very bad 3rd section,

[Hannah7]

DD was the same (still very windy at 21weeks!) the wind will get eaiser to come out as she gets bigger.

Not wanting to be put down is classic behaviour both mine did that, just remember it all gets better in time :-)

[tiktok]

9 days old is new.

Forget about wind (not that I am saying it does not exist!), forget about lazy feeding, forget about sleeping 'habits', forget about what she 'ought' to be doing, forget about growth spurts, forget about trying to 'fix' things.....:)

9 days old is new.

Her distress is almost certainly to do with needing to be close to you. The breast supplies food, drink, comfort, reassurance, familiarity, love, and everything a new baby needs to build up trust and confidence in the world and the people closest to her. Flailing arms are distress not wind.

Meet that need, and you are doing the right thing.

Oh, and don't worry about waiting for the breasts to 'fill up' again. That's not how bf works. There is always milk there.

Hope this helps :)

[alfiemama]

thanks Hannah.
Millie also clamps down and sometimes loses latch especially when boob soft, but trying to keep her on for good stuff.

[alfiemama]

thanks tiktok. I understand about meeting her needs, I really do, Im not someone to let lo cry it out I comfort them, but when I see lo in pain and fustrated, I panic.

[Hannah7]

Unless my DD goes a loooong time say all night without a feed (at last hurrah!) then my boobs dont ever really go hard as such, but like tiktok says they are never truely empty.

Sometimes DD will want some milk as little as an hour after shes been fed in day (prob for a cuddle and comfort!) and thats at 21weeks so dont worry about anything your doing great :-)

[toomuchtooyoung]

Google 'Harvey Karp happiest baby'

Wish I'd read his ideas from the start, would have saved dd and me a whole lot of trauma and the use of infacol and gaviscon, which made everything 10 times worse

[alfiemama]

thanks Hannah
I will do toomuchtooyoung, isn't he the chap on Richard and Judy?

Mw been today and weighed her but he has lost weight now 7.10 from 8.5 so bit gutted to be honest , she said could be diff in scales but told me I could maybe start expressing so I can try and increase her intake of hind milk, she said she will weigh her on again on Tuesday but we may have to start topping up with ff

[MoonUnitAlpha]

Does she take both sides at each feed? Could you try swapping back to the first breast again after she's had the second to get more milk into her?

[alfiemama]

thanks Moounitalpha, I have been doing that and she will take a little and then refuses.
mw said empty first breast (didnt think they did empty, so how will I know?) and then offer second.

[alfiemama]

ooh she also said, as Id had a section, milk takes longer to come in and lo is getting full easily hence every 20 mins

[MoonUnitAlpha]

You're right, you can't really empty a breast - confused me at first as I'd heard you had to empty the breast, but I could always squeeze some milk out

Now I just swap if ds comes off, or if the sucks become light and fluttery and he isn't swallowing anymore.

[PeasPlease]

When you put her down have you tried swaddling her tight with a blanket?

[tiktok]

alfiemama - can I just check? Your baby has lost 11 ounces?

Is this from birth, or from a later day?

It's good the midwife has seen your baby and is presumably ok that he is healthy.

The key to addressing this is to feed at every feeding cue - and yes to offer at least two breasts each time. You are right you cannot empty the breast, so you switch when you judge the baby has had what he wants from side one - and then back to side one after he does the same with side 2.

I think it's sensible he is being weighed again on Tuesday.

Scales should be digital, baby weighed naked, scales on flat non-carpet surface, weights done in metric and if translated to imperial, translation should be accurate.

[alfiemama]

Yeah Millie's sucks become light and fluttery.

So now I have a mammoth feeding frenzy this weekend but have got loads of relatives coming. Arggggh its starting to stress me out this, recovering from terrible section, lots of scar tissue and my bowel went into shock, so it still hurts when feeding [cry].
But then the benefits out weigh the cons

[MoonUnitAlpha]

Can you put the relatives off this weekend? Tell them you're stilling recovering! You should take the baby to bed and just rest and feed and have your partner wait on you.