Lots of random BF questions! - please help we're struggaling a bit at the mo.

[Munz]

ok a few random questions for u wise bunch!

1. how long should I leave DS on the boob for he's just fed for an hour (from both sides) he's seeming to want a feed every 2 2.5 hours at the mo during the day - should I restrict it or let him be? normally I leave him till he comes off himself, which brings me to point 2.

2. he's started to be v naughty on the boob and either tugs his head back as far as he can stretching my boob away (hurts) or his other fave at the minute is to latch on and twist his head from side to side again v painful. so far i've tried taking him off and holdin his head tighter against my boob but nothing's really stopping it. (I think this is whta's causing my boob to hurt as they're getting rather sore now)

I'd like to sort out hese two little problems really he's 5 weeks today and so far we've done really well. I'm on antibotics as well for an infection and he's got colic, althou the thrashing about's been going on since just b4 I got the infection. I really didn't want to use formula on a permant basis and didn't want to keep giving him bottles of EBM for the minute. any ideas? my let down until recently has been v fast and we're leaking 1oz roughly form the other side from feeding. off to look up growth spurts.

Munz - he might be thrashing around a bit because he's windy or because of a fierce let-down. Have you tried expressing a tiny tiny bit before a feed, or stopping the feed when he's thrashing to have a go at winding. With dd she used to have bad colic, would cry and be consoled by being fed, but that just perpetuated the problem as I think she got a sore tummy from the feeds and from taking in air while struggling.
Re: the feeding times, I reckon 2 - 3 hourly seems normal to me. But (and I'm sure you're already doing this) make sure that it really is feeding that your ds wants (i.e. change nappy, change his position, let him look in a mirror while you hold him, just try to see whether it really is milk he's after). I do recall you saying in another thread (I think) that you can recognise the feeding cry. That's brill because I never could with either of mine - just used to launch straight in with the boob which I don't think did us any good really! [shame]

yeah i'm up to speed with the feeding cry, thanks, i'm trying the winding thing as well when taking him off- but he thrashing about and head buts everything until he's back on the boob again.

i'm struggaling with expressing tbh, althou he's fine at the start it's after about 10-15 mins of him being latched on he starts with the thrashing. I did worry that my milk was watery, althou he's put on 2.5lb in the 5 weeks he's been born so we're doing well. it's never easy is it this BF lark! lol. always a worry something's gonna go wrong. - must drink more water and do less - see if that helps settle him a bit more??

(i'm giving him colief as well for the colic as the infacol was really hit and miss as to if it worked or not)

Well done for feeding for 5 weeks :)

Sorry can't help with the second question, but in answer to your first you are doing absolutely the right thing by letting him feed when he wants to, for as long as he wants. This is good for him physically, good for your supply, and good for the relationship between the two of you. You can think about stretching the time between feeds a bit when he is older. At this age they need to just help themselves whenever they want to - breastmilk is such a perfect food it is very easily digested, leaving their stomach empty.

I hope you can fix your second problem as this sounds unpleasant for you. It might just be one of those things that passes very quickly. If he is hurting you could just release the suction by putting your finger in at the side and waiting a second before trying again. Hopefully he will settle down.

my dd used to do the head thrashing thing. i tended to hold here head still from behind and shush her as best i could which calmed her down a little, she did grow out of it if thats any consolation. as far as i can tell she was just over excited. she has always been a very overactive baby, even when she was a newborn her arms and legs never stopped moving! try feeding when he's sleepy as he might have less energy for all that shaking around!

as for the length of feeds, as long as you can recognise your baby's feeding cry and feed him til he signales the stop, you should be fine!

hi there sounds like you have established a great bf relationship well done.
feeding every 2/2.5hours is very normal at this stage
yes ime there can be a rise in demand around this time equating to a growth spurt. given what yousay about his weight gain it sounds like you are producing plenty of good quality milk. def don't restrict at this stage, esp during the day. (the more you feed during the day the longer ds will sleep at night .
the other problem might be to do with a strong let down. try expressing a little off first and hopefully it will settle down soon.
btw, have you tried expressing from one side while feeding from the other? then swap sidea

Munz, check my name and one sided feeding in the archives. I think your little boy may be overwhelmed occasionally by your wonderfully bounteous supply. Trying the method outlined in those posts is worth it.

If he is thrashing after 10-15 mins this sounds like ds. I'm really sorry but I never solved this. He was always thrashing about on the breast and I actually found it quite distreassing. He still does this now quite a lot at 16 months (still feeding 2-3 times a day). If anyone has the answer I'd love to know.

I know it wasn't hard let-down for me as I never leaked and I never (don't to this day) felt the letdown -I just could tell from his suck when the milk was coming usually.

Someone recently suggested it mught have been reflux or possibly oversupply. He was sick quite a lot as he loved to suck and I think he just took in more milk than he actually needed a lot of the time.

Anyway sorry I'm not more help but we did manage to bfeed for a long time - I suppose I just got used to it

Also he rarely did it at night feeds though he did do it a lot more when he was overtired at the end of the day.

or maybe he is just annoyed when the flow slows down a bit ?

Does talking to him soothingly help ? Maybe distract him from frustration a bit.

About the thrashing... ds did this for probably his first 12 weeks. After that he settled down, and I'm sure it coincided with my let-down becoming a bit more gentle, his colic lessening, his tongue tie disappearing and generally him becoming a feeding pro. He's now nearly 7 months and feeds really well (apart from the thrashing being replaced by nosy gawping if anything more interesting is going on ).

thanks for ur suggestion guys - I he just got a bit ratty with this feed - and by deduction i've worked out he doews it after approx 10/15 mins ish and bobs on and off, but he's just fed beauifully for the last 35 mins from the same side - possibly he was over tired upon going on the boob? (his eyes were closed and he's now finally asleep after being awake most of the morning. - when he'd normally have a nice nap)

ticktok - will have a look at the threads thanks hon.

harps - tbh it's jsut about all I can do to concentrate on feeding him! lol - althou yes I think he does feed better when i'm talking away to him (or just talking in general/stoking his head - possibly reassurance?) I did say to my M/W about expressing but she said as I seem to have so much jus the leakage would be fine - althou might well give it a try expressing on a morning from the other side to see how we go - it's nice to have a bottle ready for DH to feed him with in the freezer incase.

(also just held his head really firm not too much thou)and that also seemed to settle him a bit more.

At that age I took him off after he's been going 45 mins as after that I think he's just sucking - which isn't that helpful if you're already sore.