5 week old gettting upset during evening feeding

[MediumOrchid]

I'm not sure if this is really a breastfeeding question or a general baby one, but I think it's best to ask here.

During the evening dd (5 weeks) seems to want to feed a lot, as I would expect (cluster feeding) but she seems to get very upset while doing it. She will make lots of feeding cues, rooting around and opening mouth, but when I put her to the breast she cries straight away, and gets very upset. Generally the only way to calm her down is to walk her. When she's calm I try again, but get the same reaction. So I wonder, is she really hungry, or is it something else? I try to wind her and make sure she has a clean nappy. Sometimes she will latch on, but after 10 seconds or so gets very agitated, and comes off and screams. I think this might be due to a fast letdown? Anyway, we keep doing this for quite a while, then eventually she will latch on properly and have a good, long feed, then fall asleep. But it's quite wearing getting to this stage! Also, when she screams when I put her to breast and try to get her to latch on, I feel like I'm trying to force feed her. But if she wasn't hungry, she wouldn't eventually feed, would she?

She is gaining lots of weight so breastfeeding is going really well, I'd just like some advice on how to solve this issue. It's not just during the evening, she sometimes does it during the day too, and seems really quite miserable sometimes.

Thanks in advance.

My 13 week old still does this and I posted here when he was first born asking pretty much the same question!

I've learnt that it's just evening fussiness and mine did it tonight - I have to take him off and walk him - sometimes he gets so agitated that DH will have to take him and calm him down.

Eventually he'll go back on and feed the stroppy sod

he doesn't do it quite so much as before now if that's any help!

My 8 day old does this too. I feel like I'm force-feeding him at times, so glad you said that - he'll start screaming and slapping at my already tender nipples until DH has to restrain his tiny arms while we attempt to get him latched on.

One of my boobs seems to be flowing way too fast (is this what is meant by a fast letdown?) and I think it floods his mouth with milk & makes him windy. Any advice on dealing with this much appreciated.

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem!

She also does this thing where she seems to forget how to latch on. She purses her lips and moves her head side to side, waves her arms and puts them in front of her face, and seems desperate for milk but won't open her mouth. Occasionally she will but often has her hand in the way! Then she gets upset because no milk has been given to her!

It does make evenings rather stressful!

Mediumorchid - yes mine did this too - now he has discovered that his hands exist they spend most of their time in his mouth so hell scream to be fed and them it's s battle to get his blooming hands out and replace them with a nipple.

Whatsoever - when your baby fusses and you're sore it's awful - I found that incredibly stressful in the early days. Do you have some lansinoh cream? If not get some - its mega and helps so much with soreness.

We took baby away from breast when he was smacking away like this as it was upsetting him, hurting me and stressful for all. DH would just take him for a minute and as he didn't stink of milk it calmed him down quickly at which point we would try and put him back on.

I remember finding this really upsetting too early on and I wish I had known this can be normal behaviour. Sometimes it meant he had wind and was struggling to stay on so check baby isn't windy?

Yes letdown refers to your milk flow - I'm no expert at all but you could try hand expressing a little off before a feed if it's really gushing everywhere?

A great website is kellymom who have loads of advice and there is a section on what to expect in the early days, dealing with fast letdown - I found it incredibly helpful (still do!)

This board is fantastic too - there are some lovely knowledgable ladies on here who are always happy to help and have come to my rescue a few times!

we had to do this for DS2 as well. DH had to walk him till he was calmer, then quickly hand him to me to get him latched on!

I'd forgotten that he always wanted his hands beside his face too, i spent weeks trying to get wee arms out of the way!

he's 6mo now and prefers poking me in the eye/nose/mouth.

i think most of his evening fussiness had settled by 9/10 weeks. i sometimes put him in a sling in the evening if he was really getting upset.

for fast letdown, which i had with both boys, i used to squirt a bit into their bibs a muslin to try and take the pressure off.

hope your evening is calmer soon. :)

oh and congratulations!

Honestly, it does get better! My DS, who is nearly 10 months, had a "witching hour" that started at 4:15pm every day and stopped at around 7:00pm. The time started to reduce slowly and did eventually stop.

I was recommended Lansinoh, but I found it left grease stains on my favourite nursing top that I couldn't get out.

There's an amazing guy over here called Dr Jack Newman. He's a Breastfeeding expert and has loads of helpful stuff on the web, including videos about good latch and proper compression. He invented an "All Purpose Nipple Ointment" which is bloody amazing. A Doctor has to prescribe it and a compounding pharmacy make it up, so I'm not sure if chemists in the UK can do this? Might be worth investigating though?

APNO link

Hello, my LO (now 11 weeks) does this too. But I find if I take him off and bounce/shhh him next to my ear he will calm enough to go back on pretty quickly.

Yes, Lanisoh is greasy (is it a wool oil product!) but you can avoid stains- I put it on the nipple then apply a tiny bit, usually what is left on my finger, to the middle of a nursing pad before popping the bra back over. Not had any issues yet.