6 weeks in and it's starting to get difficult....

[ilovespinach]

Just need to vent a bit :)

DH is away so I'm on my own with 6 week old DS. Breastfeeding has been easy until now (I know I am lucky). But for the last few days it's started to become difficult. DS is hard to settle especially early evening - he just latches on takes a swallow and then pulls off crying and thrashing his legs around or he constantly roots even if then nipple is inside his mouth. I just don't seem to know what to do with him. We were stuck in a circle of me trying to feed him and him pulling off and crying for ages last night :( Of course he sleeps peacefully during the day....

My breasts also feel different. In the first few weeks I could feel they were full and they were leaking etc Now they feel strangely empty - I'm worried that I might not have enough milk and that's why DS is so unsettled.......

I'm no expert, and am sure someone will be along with advice shortly.

Are you able to express any? If you can get some milk out, then baby certainly can, as they are more efficient than any pump! (I always hand-expressed, I could get way more out by hand than I could get with a pump.)

Are you feeling your let-down reflex? Maybe he is frustrated by a slow let down. If you try to express a bit to get the milk flowing, he might then be bale to feed straight away without waiting for let-down.

Hope someone comes son with more knowledge than I have!

it is completely normal for breasts to "feel empty" after about 6 weeks

im sure you still have milk

Good Luck, trust your body

I can definitely feel the let down and it comes quite quickly.....I`'ve not tried expressing...

My DS was like this starting around 6 weeks, mIserable in the evenings. I am trying to get him to bed at 7 with varying degrees of success. Your milk supply changes around this time too, with the "empty feeling" being the new normal.

Good luck!

yep, normal for breasts to feel less full, it means your body is now in tune with your babies needs, up till now they tend to over produce.
He may be having a growth spurt, they tend to get very fussy and feed a lot,
bear in mind the weather as well, makes us and them out of sorts!!

Fridayfreedom I was going to say growth spurt too.

Just keep feeding on demand.

If you're in the uk, this hot weather will mean he'll drink more too for thirst as well as hunger.

Don't be disheartened if you don't express much out, it isn't an indication of how much you DS is getting.

Things do get better at 6 weeks but I found by 10 weeks it was easier, that was kind of my magic week when it all felt easier; everyone is different.

Can a family member come and support you while DH is away? Even just to keep you company?

Agree with everyone else, empty feeling is completely normal, it's just your body switching from your milk supply being hormone driven to it being produced on a supply and demand basis. Good news is you're less likely to leak!
There is usually a big growth spurt around 6 weeks, so more than likely this is the issue. Plus as someone else mentioned, it's HOT atm, so in addition to being hungry, bubs will be thirsty too.

Well done for getting this far, keep up the good work :)

I've just been through something similar, DS is 7 weeks. For us it was defiantly growth spurt related. He fed constantly -24/7 & was fussing, pulling off, thrashing. I worried he wasn't getting enough (hence the name) & the rubbish feeding was stressing us both out. It felt like someone had given me a different baby.

My boobs have also adjusted this week, so I started expressing, partly for the milk & partly to make sure it was still there! It is & DS has now gone back to himself thankfully.

thanks a lot for all the replies....great to have some reassurance :)

I have exactly the same problem. My DS is just coming up to 6 weeks and feeding is just horrible atm. He's gone from feeding for 30 mins every 3 hours to 5 min bursts every hour then crying, thrashing and inconsolably screaming the house down.

I just want to cry and feel like such a failure :( I'm expressing and my DP is feeding him by bottle most of the time cos it just kills me every time he starts. I think it's the fact that my DS stares me square in the eyes from breast level when he's crying/thrashing!

Evening fussing/thrashing etc is very common and I had exactly the same with my daughter who is now 25 weeks. It was the start of cluster feeding for us and although it can be very difficult my advice is just to go with it. For me it involved retiring to bed at about 7pm with the TV remote, laptop, phone, bag of snacks and drink and basically sitting feeding on and off until she eventually decided to sleep. I felt awful initially until my friend told me it was completely normal, once I knew that then I just rode it out.

Empty feeling breasts are normal at 6 weeks and a blessed relief to teh overful bowling ball feeling. You will have enough milk, it's just your breasts adjusting to your baby growing.

There is some really helpful info on fussy evenings from Kellymom, here

One other thing to try with the evening fussiness is to just put them in a sling and wander round with them or go out of the house for walk. Will settle your LO down and make you feel fresher and more able to sit down and do a marathon/cluster feed later.

Breasts stop feeling full after the initial baby stage, you are doing brilliantly, and congratulations!