Baby repeatedly coming off and on the breast

[sumum]

the baby is feeding very regullarly at the breast, gaining weight well and is now 4 weeks and 11lb. Has had no formula or bottles but does have a dummy.

But he cries goes on the breast briefly (couple of mins) then comes off crying, then sort of mouths the breast trying to latch on but crying at the same time, eventually latches on, feeds for few mins then repeats a few more times till given dummy, then sucks a bit and falls asleep.

Does not like to be put down in the day, and fusses quite a bit usually only sleeping in the sling.

Problem is feeding is very fussy, noisey and difficult to be discreet outside the home, he doesn't seem to latch on and have a good long contented feed.

Any ideas?

Sounds exactly like my 10-weeker.

Could he not be hungry? How long are you going between feeds? I was feeding mine every time he cried and now realise that sometimes he was actually tired, not hungry.

Is he sicky?

Are you waiting until he cries before feeding or keeping an eye out for other signs of hunger? If you wait too long, babies get frustrated and over-hungry which makes latching harder. Watch put for head bobbing, snuffly noises, hands in the mouth, mouth smacking etc - these are earlier signs of a need to feed. :) Of course, the better option is to frequently offer the breast and baby has to do no work whatsoever

Beware of offering a dummy this early - it can interrupt those important early hunger cues, as well as disrupting comfort sucking which does help milk supply. I think 'the experts' recommend waiting until 6 weeks before giving a dummy.

Of course some babies are fussy feeders and take short feeds.

Have you looked for any local breastfeeding support groups? It often helps to get some in person reassurance :)

Yes he is a bit sicky don't know exactly how often he is feeding (he is my grandson) but yesterday he went a good few hours with me holding and carrying him round so he should have been hungry. I bfed all my dcs and for long time so am experienced myself, but did not come across this particular prob, I think maybe the dummy is not helping but don't want to give her bad advice that will make it harder for her, he is putting on weight really well, and he is still really young. suppose I am also a bit worried about her latch too, I have advised her to go to a breastfeding support group today.

My baby usually needs a burp when he fusses or he can't latch due to my breasts being very full.

Just an idea.

needs winding, just a little break, or your let down is strong for him and maybe you could try expressing abit first? DS3 (10 weeks) is like this and I just wind him, put him back ,wind him, put him back until he feeds contently.

My 3 week old is like this, it is a bit frustrating. This is my first time bf, so no experience, but I'm starting to realise that sometimes it's wind, or a big poo that's about to make an appearance, and sometimes she's tired rather than hungry. I think sometimes she'd like a wee suck without all that milk spurting into her mouth! I try not to worry as although it's all new to me, she's gaining weight and doing plenty of pees and poos. I think I'm going to be obsessed with the scales this time round for a while!

When my ds gets really fussy/on-and-off like that he normally needs to sit up and burp before carrying on.

Sounds like my 16 week old - she seems to come off and fuss for a few reasons;

• needs to burp
• milk flow has slowed too much (I give her the other side for a while then go back to the first - not sure if I should do this but it works for us)
• she's had enough
• she's tired

Just wish I knew which of those it is when she gets fussy!

My 6 month old does this still when he needs to burp. As he's got older he does it now when he's being nosy

Thanks for all your advice I have passed it on to my dd. she has said he fed much better this afternoon, we are thinking it is probably a combination of very forceful letdown and wind.