despirate - BF baby crys when fed, hardly feeding

[Loika]

My 17week DD just bursts into hysterical crying after 3minutes feeding and there is nothing I can do to get her feeding again. I sit her up and she stops, lay her back down to feed she cries again. She was doing this on and off for 6 weeks or so but would only cry for 1-2mins then settle back to feeding again for 20-30mins for an average of 2 feeds a day, no specific time. The last two days she has cried hysterically and yesterday fed less than an hour overall. For her feed after lunchtime nap today she did not calm down when I sat her back up and continued to cry madly for 20-30mins. I tried to put her on her play gym when she had calmed down but didn't work, she is now chatting to her cot mobile. What am I supposed to do?

She has no temperature, is active, vocal and has good colour, lots of wet and dirty nappies. I have previously suffered from strong let down and completed the block feeding, which solved that problem. Is this another symptom of oversupply, has she decided that BF is not fun anymore? She has infacol and even opens her mouth to take the dropper, which by association means feeding so surely she would be adverse to that? I have tried bottle feeding expressed milk but she is not really interested and just gums the teat with a cheeky smile on her face but no crying initially, then gets annoyed and turns away.

My HV is still on the 8 feeds a day mantra, but dd is not interested in that many. I think this is what has got me the most stressed because DD is due to be weighted thursday and I know she won't be on the line again especially after having a few days of minimal feeding. My GP is a great family doctor but doesn't take me seriously, as he gave us a prescription for some drops to dry her nasel passages up at twice the recommended dose according to the pharmacist, who I would trust with drugs anyday! It certainly is not her nose being stuffy, because she has had a slightly snotty nose(not blocked) for quite a while, predates the screaming episodes. To be fair if she cries, her nose just gets snottier, just like everyone else! I did try and say that but he wasn't listerning, although he did ask all the right questions generally.

My friend has suggested that maybe she is ready for solids and has just got bored of BF milk, some babies want to switch to formula or solids she tells me. I have tried the BF helpline but thats a dead end.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, what was it? How did you resolve it?

I know babies won't stave themselves etc etc but thats not really the issue, why is she so distressed when I try to feed her?

:( :(

Boredom with milk - not at all. Babies don't understand that solids or anything else exist, and they do not get 'bored' with breastmilk.

She has no other symptoms of illness or discomfort so no ear infection or stiff neck, from what you say.

However, she is clearly distressed when you try to bf for longer than a few mins. It could well be that she gets what she needs in that very short time (your history of oversupply might back that up) and she gets upset because in the past you have tried to get her to stay on and she really doesn't like that. Crying is a way of saying 'don't insist!!'

One response could be to simply stop trying to feed her when she gets upset and to do something else with her. This age is the prime age for being interested in lots of things and for some babies, this shows up in seriously-trunctated feeds - which nonetheless do not impact on their health in any way. They really do get what they need.

You could go with the flow for a few days, and see if this calms her down - what do you think?

(Why was the helpline a dead end? Which one did you try?)

Have you tried feeding her in a more upright position? maybe she's taking down wind which comes back up after a few minutes and hurts. You mentioned lying her down and her not liking it until upright.

Is she coming off crying or are you trying to put her back on thinking she needs more?

DS started doing this - he had silent reflux though so feeding did hurt him.

Thank you for your replies!

Tiktok she used to feed for 5-10mins without screaming when she was teeny tiny but feeds more 20-40mins since we did the block feeding to calm it down. Although the other day I leak through my breast pads and was still running when I tried to swap her over because she had left it so long over the weekend , so there is plenty there! I will try to leave her when she cries during feed but she often comes back to feed if I just hold her until she stops.

Iggly I have tried feeding more upright but she is a very tall baby and althought I am tall and have massive boobs so there just is not the room on my torso! I tried when we had the weekend of screaming but it just didn't work. How does silent reflux manifest itself? She is spiting up/vomiting more that she did and seem to need winding quite a bit more than she did.

Helpline wasn't working, tried to put me through to the volenteer but number didn't exsist and by that time she was screaming so gave up.

I can't help with the bf issues but I would ask the GP about reflux. Excessive wind can be a symptom of reflux as well as the fussiness.

What I will say is that no baby I've ever heard of has got bored with milk either ff or bf. It is their favourite thing in the world (usually!) so don't listen to your no doubt well meaning but very badly informed friend.

It does sound as though your supply may still be more than ample. One of the problems with oversupply and/or overactive let-down is that the baby very quickly fills their tummy with foremilk which is less fatty and can cause indigestion. The spitting up after feeding is a good indicator of that as well.

The thing is, every week your baby will get more efficient at feeding and will take in a larger amount over a shorter time. So although she may be feeding for a shorter time than previously she may still be filling up her tummy with foremilk in that time. Block feeding/ switching sides less often may help with this. good luck!

It could be reflux symptoms here
You could try antacid (mylanta) to see if it eases the pain article and dosage here if it eases baby's pain, you could talk to your gp about prescription medications for reflux

DS's silent reflux - he'd seem to have a lot of wind and would grunt and wriggle about as if in pain. Was difficult to get wind out though. He also had a lot of bum wind. He also use to spit up watery curdled milk, had occasional acidic breath and not like being on his back too soon after a feed (sometimes his breathe would catch).

I also used to feed more upright by leaning back so DS had a bit more room IYSWIM?

Thank you for your replies.

fuzzypicklehead definatly not the over supply problem, as this is a sudden change. Last time we had two days of screaming she started feeding for 30-40mins each feed afterwards and was until this sunday. I have expressed this lunch time and managed 6oz from both boobs in 20mins, I used to fill a 5oz bottle in 5mins. If anything it is the let down which is still strong as she is feeding so little I am leaking at night now.

She is still extremely fussy today and I can't get her to feed, I think reflux might be the issue but she has had two "silent" poops today no wind!

Just done it again, cried to be fed, 3mins screaming.

struggling.

The overactive letdown can cause problems too (goes hand in hand with oversupply) - so upright feeding really helps this. I even used to lie completely back and get DS on top of my boob iyswim so he could control it.

In the end, I slept fed DS to get through (ie rocked him to sleep then popped on) but it wasn't until his medication kicked in did we see a major difference.