Question for knowledgeable breastfeeding people ... tiktok? Is my doctor talking rot?

[BollocksToThis]

DD is 6.5 weeks and gaining spectacularly. Couple of weeks ago she started pulling off and arching during feeds, grunting, straining and really struggling to sleep for up to an hour after feeds. Before this started she'd easily fall asleep on the breast or wherever she was. She's always hated sleeping on her back. She also makes lots of gulping noises, retches and chokes/stops breathing/whistles sometimes.

Doc says this is since she had a cold aged 3 weeks her nasal passages are narrow and blocked and she's pulling off to breathe. But I don't understand why that would make her so unsettled and painful after a feed. I suspect he's off the mark. Would you agree?

BollocksToThis - you could be exactly describing my DS2. Almost gave up so many times in the first miserable 16 weeks. Every feed was more screaming and arching than eating, and his percentile was plummeting from 98th to below 50th. But somehow I stuck with it (mainly due to laziness regarding sterilizing bottles) and still going strong bfing at 7 months.

I think a piece of key advice came at 9 or 10 weeks which was to cut out all windy and 'problem' foods from my diet. Not dairy, but all legumes, anything acidic from tomatoes to lemons (esp tomatoes randomly), all caffiene, fizzy drinks, juice, chocolate, all broccoli and the like - anything known to make adults gassy. It really really worked and so much easier to maintain than the dairy route.

Also realized at 10 weeks that the early days of drifting off while cuddling were gone and he could only go to sleep if I replicated night time conditions ie total darkness. I also have an Amby hammock which may have helped if it was reflux. And I tried to stick to Infacol but I've never been v good at remembering that. And I have an oversupply, or rather a quick letdown, too. Who knows what the real cause was? I just kept trying stuff until something worked. Anyway, 2-3 months of misery for all WAS worth it for the lovely long feeds he has now, and he's got really chunky again. So don't feel guilty for her apparent sadness now, as it will pass and she won't remember it.

(Also ps I'm back on all those foods now - with a vengeance!)

BTT - re: the blockfeeding. I had oversupply and fast letdown. Until they were 6-7 months and my supply had stabilised I would always let them nurse at least twice from the same side. I never swapped each nursing iyswim. I found that on top of block nursing sessions every now and again it kept my supply down to a manageable level. HTH

do you know, my ds did this. i had lots of milk for a while - my supply seemed to vary wildly with how much/little he fed so obviously could fluctuate happily. anyway, he used to grunt and grunt - it was as if he didn't know how to poo. he kept straightening his legs and would poo better when i held him in cradle hold and patted his bum so he knew where to push iyswim. he often would poo like that. it was only a phase though and it was all good in the end.

i have read somewhere that women who eat lots of protein have calmer babies.

Thanks. I'm 9 days into dairy-free now and finding it ok so I'm going to stick with it for now and try a challenge after the weekend. I've always been sceptical about the windy food thing - how on earth does that work?

Anyway, got a whole new problem all of a sudden - DP's got the idea from MIL that because it's my milk that's given us such miserable babies we should change to formula (the other babies in DP's family are all FF). That fairly flicked my bloody minded switch! I've never come under pressure from him about this before now.

i'm pretty sure someone more knowledgeable than me has said the windy food thing isn't true but i also know a polish lady whose ebf son had horrible eczema and she had to eat really bland things like rice and corn or something. she said it was common in poland and lots of women had to do it.

who knows!

at your MIL - another old skool granny lol

In fairness I doubt it was worded like that, and if we can't get things under control soon it's something I'm going to have to consider, but the prospect of being proved defective isn't attractive and I'd far rather try to fix this myself.

If it could be dairy related, or reflux related, or gas related, formula could make the problems worse anyway. It seems bloody unlikely that a baby would be allergic to human milk but be okay with regular formula!

you are defo not defective!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh dear, she got herself properly hysterical last night, really beside herself. Assumed just overtired because hadn't been able to settle properly after 7 but when it came to be time to change sides it seems she was hungry / unsatisfied with the slow flow. My breasts don't feel that full at all this morning. Think we'll be making a call to a helpline once DS is in nursery.

good plan Bollocks - i remember my DS going batshit crazy once and i phoned my sister in a total panic. she said to give him a dummy (i am a bit against them tbh) but in that instance it saved the day. used in three more times i think in times of complete crisis!

anyway, i hope you get some good advice today!

it was because he was tired too. all sorts can happen when they are tired!

Well I think the NCT lady was a bit stumped, although she was lovely and is going to get back to me if she thinks of anything else. Slightly better day but she's getting grumpy now. Just in time for DP coming back of course!

Thanks for the moral support :)

Someone mentioned cranial osteopathy on the first page, it may not be the answer, but it would be worth googling. Enabled me to continue bfing both my babies.

Have also been dairy free for ages, once you get to know what is various foods the variety returns. Soya latte is may fav

Do reconsider the possibility that it's reflux.

DS2 had it.

He fed really well (was never off the breast) and I was delighted with him for a while (after struggling to establish bf with DS1).

He did all the screaming after feeding, going rigid and also had so much gas.

He also had a constant cough and snuffly nose.

Originally the gp just gave me gaviscon, but then when we saw the pead (sp?) at 3 months, she laid him down, he coughed, she sat him up, and he was fine, and she immediately diagnosed reflux with damage to the oesophagus .

She put him on better medicine but I can't say it totally "cured" him.

I watched my SIL struggle with her ff reflux baby, and honestly I can't imagine coping with hearing your baby scream and scream with no way to calm them (ie bf).

It's hard but after about 5 mths things gradually improved although it took him a couple of years to sleep through the night!

In the early days I held him upright or in the baby carrier for a couple of hours after a feed or put him to sleep in his baby chair by my bed (we invested in a good straight backed one).

Later we built a kind of sling with the baby carrier to put him to sleep at 45°.

Thanks. She's asleep now [yay]

She's really not been bad today. Back to yellow nappies and less straining. Can't help but wonder whether it's the reduced supply kicking in, although she was starving last night and I had to swap sides after only 3.5 hours this afternoon because she was really hungry, then she fell asleep after that feed.

Maybe it's just going to be a question of constant readjustment as she grows and cranks up my supply ... :)

I think bf is a bit like that.

And it is miraculous how it does adjust naturally to your baby but I think the key is to expect the unexpected (as I'm sure you know with another child already).

Remember that every day you feed is another bonus for your baby (not trying to insult anyone here - I mixed fed with DS1), and try to take it a day at a time.

It is SO tempting to want to keep second guessing the baby and want to know what's coming next - I was totally like this

btw - the green poo thing is a sign of a lot of foremilk isn't it? sounds good that you are back to yellow.

Perhaps your supply is settling down a bit now (six weeks is a notorious growth spurt).

Just wanted to pop back to thank you all for your advice (especially tiktok because I didn't have a clue that my problem might be oversupply despite already block feeding!). It's definitely oversupply :)

I had a bad time last week with DS, DP and now DD all having a horrible bug (I think the only reason I escaped it was because I didn't have a chance to get ill ) but DD has been much better on the whole. I've had to go up to and beyond 8 hours before swapping sides sometimes and my poor boobs are really sore but the milk just keeps on coming! We're also treating for thrush as my nipples were sore and shiny, so maybe that's helped too. It's taken a long time (I'd say the last 2 or 3 days have been the most settled) but we're back to mostly yellow poo, much less wind, and less painful wind, easier and longer naps and she slept for a 6 hour stint last night!

I'm so, so happy about this - the cheerful, smiley baby has been revealed at last and people have commented on how she's not constantly grunting and puffing when they hold her now. Life is so much nicer and easier for us all. The only thing that is bothering me is that it seems highly likely that this was the trouble with my poor DS and it could have been so easily fixed (but all the HV could suggest at the time was CC or gradual retreat to get him to sleep :().

You live and learn. But thanks SO much for everyone's advice, I'm so much happier, as is DP and I know what I need to do to sort this out if it happens again :)

I should also add that when she was weighed last week she'd gone from just above the 25th centile to just above the 75th, kind of confirming the generous supply theory!

Glad things are getting better, bollockstothis - you sound like an extreme over-supplier :)

Please tell your HV and your GP how this is resolving.

I told the HV last week, who nearly had kittens because she thought I was making DD go 8 hours between feeds but then started saying "Oh yes, that's right, it's to do with lactose isn't it ...?". She's not the one who I had when DS was a baby though - that one's not doing HVing anymore . And the GP was in the room too because that was our "6 week" check (which they do at 8 weeks here). So two birds with one stone :)

Thank you again :)