Fussiness at the breast

[Petifilou]

My 11 week old DS fusses at the breast when feeding. He has done this for a while but recently is doing it more and more often to the point that it's most feeds every day (not all, and not the ones during the night).

He goes stiff/straight and arches his back, then the arms and legs start waving and kicking around frantically and he keeps pulling himself off the nipple - then cries because he's hungry and the whole thing starts again!

Sometimes switching to the other side helps, but not always.

I get quite stressed and tense when he does this, which I'm sure makes things worse.

Anyone else experienced this, or have any ideas what could be causing this and what I can do to stop it? I don't want to stop breast feeding as I've gone through a lot of pain/hassle already with it, and I feel I've come too far to just give up now. For info, he's never done this with a bottle, but then he only gets a bottle maybe once or twice a week at present.

my dd di it at about the same age hun i found the best way to stop her was to lie down on the bed and feed her i no this isnt the best option aspecially when you need to go out but i found when i was out for some strange reason she never did it eventually when i sat to feed her she no longer did it hope this is of help

It sounds very much like a growth spurt, all that fussing and bobbling on and off the boob is so they can keep triggering the let down response and faster milk flow. By being this fussy they are also building up your supply so it is worth it in the end. My hunch is that it's that, and yes the lying down to feed really helps. However there's a very slight chance that this arching, if it seems more like discomfort than attitude, could be a sign of reflux. But you would probably be experiencing problems with weight gain, lots of crying at feeds it it were reflux. If I were you I'd repost on the breast/bottlefeeding area of chat and hope the wonderful Ticktock comes along as she really knows her stuff.

Hmmm the bottle thing makes me think it is a growth spurt, as the milk comes out of bottles at a much faster rate. Remember you are not running out of milk, any more than you can run out of blood, and all he's doing by being such a fuss is building up your supply. There's a huge growth spurt at 12 weeks. So this too shall pass!

I would second the idea of relux (maybe silent reflux if baby isn't sick much). My baby behaved just like this but I didn't really consider reflux until I read 'The Sensational Sleep Guide' by Alison Scott-Wright. By then DS was on solids and the worst of it seemed to be over. I was determined to perserve with breastfeeding (fed exclusively for 5 months) He did initally feed better from a bottle in the day, but then he became equally fussy with the bottle and breast in the day and was happy with either at night. He's now 11 months and still has nearly all his milk at night.
Hope you get this sorted!

It's worth getting him checked for an ear infection - if it hurts when he latches on that would explain the reaction.

Thanks guys. Hadn't twigged there was a seperate feeding section (doh!), so will repost on there as Poppet suggested.