Fussiness while BF

[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 (happens on both sides so it's not favouritism!)

I get quite stressed and tense up 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 BF 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 (ebm or formula), but then he only gets a bottle maybe once or twice a week at present.

Hiya, there are several possibles, and they are all fixable ( even if its not something i've listed its still fixable so don't ditch the drop cups yet :) )

No 1 at this age there is a growth spurt which can make them guzzle like mad causing them to take in a bit extra air with the feed. They then want milk but have nowhere to put it iyswim? Try winding after the 1st let down or as soon as feeding has speeded up and sucks slow down. Then put back and see if he will feed again. (Can take a long time to get wind out)

No 2 He may be suffering from Thrush leaflet with lots of info This too can cause fussing at the breast.

No 3 He could be teething, ( yes that early :))if you think that is a possible reason Anbesol rubbed on his gums prior to a feed could help him to settle.

No 4 It could just be a very fast let down that is causing his fussing. If you are laying down at night to feed this can slow the let down making feeding easier for him.

Other than that either ask Tiktok or take yourselves to a breast feeding councillor and have a chat.

HTH

Not much advice to offer, but there have been a few of us (when I've been going through) with fussy babies. I think my main problem was related to a slow let down, so if she was bit out of sorts we had it. Once she started feeding it was fine (if she ever got there). She was almost always fine on a bottle as well.

It is very emotionally draining and you'll feel all kinds of new guilt so try and get some support around you, if it's something that remains (fingers crossed it is not). We've come through the other side now. I think we were lucky it stopped around the 4-5 month stage, others have said around the 6 month stage. For us it seemed to come and go in waves, and very nearly made me switch to expressing full time. A few times, it effected night feeding as well. A lot of people have agreed that it's something they seem to grow out of.

We still have some teething related fussiness, but this is resolved by giving her painkillers, waiting until she calms down or is sleepy/asleep. If yours is OK in the night, then at least she'll hopefully catch up on missed feeds here.

You can check out here for some more info. There also loads of useful links at the bottom of that page. As there's quite a few possible causes, the information is generic, but it might help set your mind at ease and make you feel not alone. There's also a kind of tick list to go through to help identify the source of the problem and some suggestions, but be warned for some it's case of riding it out.

Most people suggest reflux, so you could look that up. I know for us, the symptoms didn't really fit.

I had this with DS during growth spurts (the 6 week spurt was the worst but he didn't really have a 12 week one). Agree the Kellymom advice is helpful - usually is.