Almost 4 month old EBF DS screaming bloody blue murder when I try and feed him.

[Mandinga79]

With the exception of his first morning feed and maybe one other feed (after a sleep yesterday and after a walk today which always chills him out) DS has been more and more unsettled when I've tried to put him on the boob. He'll seem hungry, and it'll be about the right time so I'll start to feed him. He'll latch on for a few seconds then scream...and scream...and scream until veins pop out on his head and he gags. The only thing that I've been able to do to settle him is rock him in his pram with white noise. When he passed out like this around 2pm, I sneaked 6oz of EBM into him via bottle because he hadn't had a good full feed since 5:00am. This (mercifully) kept him asleep for two hours. The screaming is often accompanied by fists or arm stuffed in his mouth and he's chewing on everything including the dog (yup, for real) so I'm guessing teething, although I can't see any redness on his gums, but what is going on with the feeds? He definitely doesn't have thrush, in case that's anyone's first thought.

I am by no means an expert but mine did something that sounds similar and i thought it was maybe that he was over tired. However he did refuse my right side more which seems to have much heavier/faster let down. Sorry that wasn't much help but good luck with it all

It is really fast especially on the right, but this is nothing new - why the problem now? I've just now finally got a feed into him (needed settling for about 45 mins after my first attempt to feed him after his bath) which he would only take lying on his back, if this is an indication of anything. 99% of the time I use cross-cradle hold and very occasionally lying on my/his side.

I do think overtired has something to do with it as I've been managing to use white noise to settle him down to have a feed the last few days but even that's not working today.

Reflux? This was the first sign of it with dd2 and it started at 12 weeks ish.

Reflux of the silent kind by the way.

I've posted this before, but has he just had his vaccinations, does he have bruises on his legs? If so you are resting him on them when trying to feed him! Otherwise if he is teething try calpol half an hour before a feed. Hope it improves soon.

I tried lying side on as we occasionally do which really made him furious. Lying flat on his back was when he finally fed, me pretty much straddling him (who said motherhood was graceful?)

Hasn't had vaccinations recently. Calpol half an hour before a feed sounds promising (is this screaming thing with feeding consistent with teething?) Silent reflux sounds grim...

Don't know if this will be any help at all, but my dd had a few nursing strikes at around four months. I could only feed her in a dark (ideally pitch black) room, and using positions which allowed her to root for the nipple herself, rather than being given it, iyswim. The wise old ladies in my village said it was the start of teething, but no teeth yet so who knows? Mercifully it passed. Good luck.

Thanks neontetra Just googled 'nursing strike' and it all sounds very familiar and is frequently associated with teething. Useful article here if anyone's interested.

Oh yes, and at the time if I tried the lying side by side position it made my dd livid, too! Couldn't fathom it. It's generally our preferred position. A lot of people recommended having a bath with her, and that that would encourage her to root for the nipple. I was too scared of dropping her in the water. Skin to skin definitely helped, though.

Great. We've got quite a few workmen

Gah! They really need to reposition that 'post' button for smartphone users! I've lost track of how many times I've done that. What I meant to say was, we've got lots of workmen in the house at the moment. Skin to skin could be interesting...