Please help me continue...6.5 month old breast feeding is suddendly impossible

[missytequila]

I don't know what to do anymore, before the 6 month mark my breast feeding my baby has gone great. No problems, was down to 5/6 feeds a day and was sleeping through the night since 8 weeks.

Now at 6 months its all problems and I am at my wits end, sore, tired and have pressure to stop from my hubby.

1. her latch is suddenly horrible, will only put tip of nipple in mouth and pushes away with arm at same time as tugging on nipple with mouth. come on and off, pulling while eating

1. is waking to feed. screams horribly and wants nothing but breast. feeding 5 times a day, plus last night for example fed 6pm,8pm,10pm,12pm,4am, 7am feed and wake up.

I cant keep up with this feeding and there is no settling her without feeding day or night. I thought maybe growth spurt but its been 2 weeks of this! Have weaned, but she doesnt manage more than a teaspoon of food. People say teething but I dont see anything yet.

Please does anyone have any advice. I want to try to keep going but am finding it so hard...

I had a bad patch like this with my son at about 6 months. Teething did turn out to have a lot to do with it, even though I couldn't see much change at the time - his first 2 teeth came in very quickly afterwards.

The bad latch improved once the 2nd tooth was there. I resorted to holding his arm so that he couldn't push me. He also tried pinching a lot, so I tried taking him off when he did it - not sure he understood why, but he did improve a lot.

You could try getting someone else to settle her at night - my DH could eventually do it sometimes. The smell of milk seems to set them off, so someone who isn't BF can be useful.

For weaning, baby-led weaning worked for us. It's messy, but the LO has some choice which can make her try eating.

My son is now 15 mths and is still BF happily. It's now something I'd be reluctant to give up. In the early days, and at 6 months, I was ready to give up, but am glad we got through it.

Hope you get on better.

Sounds tough missyt, but don't give up hope. I think the best thing to do would be to give one of the breast feeding helpines a call.

It's hard to say what's going on really, maybe the teeth are about to come in and are causing pain, then agin, it does sound like growth spurt behaviour.

Sometimes it's not easy to say for sure what's causing the problems but talking to a bf expert would be a good first step.

good luck in sorting it out.

It does sound like teething - they want to feed for the comfort but then it hurts them to do so = irritable tired baby (and mum!).

Try teething granules - they have camomile in, which calms the baby (miracle workers with my DS), but won't affect the latch. In the interim periods between feeds and at bedtime, you could also try baby bonjela - which numbs the gums.

You could also try changing the position DD feeds in, which might confuse her enough to stop the pushing etc. Also, if you're weaning and she has good muscle control - e.g. can sit up in a highchair, get hands to mouth etc, then try giving her finger foods. Cucumber batons from the fridge (quarter cucumber lengthways in approx 4 inch strips, so chunky and long and easy for baby to hold) will give her something good to crunch on and will sooth her gums.

Don't worry, it will pass! :)

The pulling off def sounds like teething - it's what my DS did before his came through.

There is also a growth spurt and developmental leap around 6 months too.

What have you been feeding her? And when? (Does she have three meals a day?) I only ask because I wonder if the food is affecting her, and she wants feeding for comfort (hence the screaming) in the night e.g. she might have wind.

missy - call one of the helplines for RL support. This could be so many things.