breastfeeding gone wrong!

[fifi08]

Hi there,

I'm writing on behalf of my friend who has almost lost her mind! here's the story so far.

baby boy, 9lbs + born early October, breast fed pretty well till 6 weeks. she took him to cranial osteopath as he had tummy trouble and gradually over the last three weeks he's become very fretful by day to the point where he no longer sleeps OR feeds during the day and instead does both by night. He cries all day long, falls occasionally asleep for only a few minutes then it starts all over again. She has tried feeding him in every possible position but he will only feed at night with his ear on her heart, swaddled and shushed. Her milk is starting to drop back as although she's expressing by day (he won't take the milk from a bottle, not even from his Dad) she's getting so tired and stressed she can't keep her supply up..

the last 3 days have been the worst where it's been non stop crying all day long.. he doesn't look like he's lost weight as he seems to be getting enough at night but she's worried that that won't be the case for much longer. The poor thing is so stressed that she finds when he does suddenly surprise her in the mornings by wanting to feed she can't let her milk down and then the cycle of frustrated wound up baby starts all over again...

does anyone have ANY idea why this would suddenly happen at 6 weeks? was it linked to the osteopathy? Has anyone else experienced this and found a way to overcome a super stubborn 9 week old? Any tips on breaking this cycle? is he so overtired he's too crazy to feed and is feeding in his sleep cause he's not actually aware of anything? Please please all suggestions and help welcome..

thanks so much in advance!

F

I would advise going back to basics, baby mooning for a few days if possible. This means spend a few days naked in bed with baby, just get up for meals, feed lying down and rest. At about 6 weeks lots of babies have growth spurts so feed lots more. If feeding was restricted it takes longer for the supply to catch up. Get support from a breastfeeding counsellor or attend the local breastfeeding group for advice, most Childrens Centres have one. Check the latch, if your friend is getting tired the positioning can be off. If there is too much milk in the morning and the breasts are hard it can make latching hard, try hand expressing first until the milk flows. HTH

I agree with the suggestions made by captaincroc - your friend needs to speak to someone in real life, too, as she says.

Impossible to guess at second hand what might be behind this, sorry.

Thank you Captaincroc and tiktok! She does spend a lot of time lying down with him as it's her only hope of getting him to feed.. but it's very very stressful as he's crying all that time.. feeding was never restricted , almost the opposite actually as she had loads of milk at the start.. maybe he has to work a bit more now? could he have a tongue tie that's only coming to light now the milks not just gushing into his mouth? the latch sounds like a possibility.. although why would he be better at it by night and not by day? how can something so little be so stubborn!!!??? i'll try to find a lactation consultant in her area.. she's just txted to say the addition of a hairdryer to the shushing, swaddling and heartbeat machine has helped.. a bit.. oh dear...

Has she seen her GP? A baby crying all day is not right. Could there be a medical issue?

Hmmm.. having trawled the net this seems to be some kind of reverse cycling.. it's popping up a lot in posts where mums go back to work and the baby refuses food all day and prefers to wait to bf with mom in the evening.. or a baby who is very distractable or in a large family where there's lots of action they want to be part of all day or mom is super busy and can't nurse in peace and quiet.. my friend's little guy is her first though and she has basically spent the last three weeks trying to solve this so it can't be either of the latter.. could be anything to do with the type of milk you make by day being different to night? thanks for your suggestion tryharder! someone else did mention that their ds had breathing problems and found it easier to feed by night as he was more "relaxed".. any further thoughts or suggestions very very welcome!!!

just a quick update! a lactation consultant came to see her and turns out baby does have a tongue tie, type 4. hopefully a second opinion will support this diagnosis and the frenulectomy will sort it out! thanks for all your advice!