Grumpy/Frustrated feeding?

[SamraLee]

I've noticed that during breastfeeding my 3 week old daughter seems to be frustrated? She kicks her feet and legs and hits me with her arms and hands and is making a grunting noise. She pulls away from the breast, without losing the latch. She will also latch on and off. Sometimes she'll be feeding and just stop and give a good, loud cry. She seems really frustrated. I'm combination feeding at the moment and although she does do it rarely with a bottle, she almost always does it with the breast. Does anyone have any idea why she is doing this? Is it my fault, is there something I can do? Thanks for your advice/help/tips.

Samra, this must be frustrating for you :(

How much formula is your baby having?

The risk with combination feeding is that breastmilk production plummets - and this produces frustrated behavour at the breast.

Combination feeding is tricky, especially in very young babies. Could it be because you have a slow let down and she expects the same flow she gets from a bottle? Have you considered switching to exclusive bf? If not, try changing the teat for a more challenging one so she has to work for the formula as well as breastmilk. Also, offer her breast before she is too hungry and impatient. I think all babies behave like this at some point. Good luck, it will pass!

She normally has between 10-20 minutes on the breast/s then anywhere from 1-4 oz. formula with 2 oz. being the norm. The only time she cries is when she's hungry and as soon as she wakes up, she is hungry and lets you know it.

She is already on the slowest teats, before she was having problems with choking as the flow was too fast for her and she eats so quickly. Sometimes when she eats from the bottle the teat collapses in because she is sucking hard, so I'm not sure if we could make the sucking more challenging.

An up to 4 o top up at every feed is a lot of formula for a 3 week old, Samra.

How long has she had this amount?

I think the most obvious reason for her behaviour is that bf is not going well for her - this could be fixed by improving the bf and by ensuring she has more bf, reducing the formula (with a plan - you can't just cut it out all at once). If combination feeding is important to you, you can either return to it or retain a small amount. What do you feel about this?

Sorry - meant to ask, how many times does she feed at the breast in 24 hrs, say?

She's only had 4oz. a few times (like 3 and 2 of those times were with no breastmilk beforehand), mostly she has 2 oz. She is normally at the breast about 5-6 times a day. She also does the grumpy behavior at the bottle too sometimes.

Samra, 5-6 times is usually nowhere near frequently enough for a 3 week old baby to build and maintain a supply.

For most women, 5-6 times would mean their breastmilk production dwindles and does not keep their baby happy.

If you want to maintain your choice to breastfeed, then you will need to aim to double the times your baby comes to the breast, offering at least both breasts at each feed, and reducing the top ups. This is a 'rescue' package :) and you dont need to think of it a a permanent way of bf, though at 3 weeks, it's still within normal frequency and intensity.

What do you think?

A call to any of the bf helplines will give you a chance to discuss more, too.

tiktok knows her stuff :-) excellent advice!