6 week old fussing all evening, wanting to feed but then not feeding! What is causing this?

[BeaandMe]

My dd is 6 weeks old. All is going really well and she is very laid back. Well all except in the evenings, from about 9pm to 11pm. During this time she keeps rooting for food, so I go to feed her. I am breastfeeding. But she won't take the feed, she acts frustrated at my nipple. She hits me, kicks her legs, arches her back (with my nipple still in her mouth which hurts!), cries, bites down hard on my nipple etc. If I unlatch her she cries and roots again as if she wants feeding. I try burping her for ages, because perhaps it is wind? I sometimes try to to put her in her cot, thinking perhaps she is just over tired. Any ideas about what could be causing this? I think either she is in pain with wind or some digestive thing, or I am not producing milk enough for her at that time and she is frustrated trying to feed.

My doctor thinks she has not put on enough milk so perhaps she is not getting enough in. She was 3.4kg when she was born and she was 4.1kg yesterday at her 6 week check. I have no idea whether this weight gain is ok or too little.

Also, after her feed at about 4am she spends alot of time in her cot straining as if trying to do a poo. She does a poo but seems to spend half an hour of straining to do it.

Any advice would be welcome! This is my second dc but there is a 6 year age gap so I've forgotten everything !

Babies of this age are often very fussy in the evenings - the best bet is to just ride it out and do what they need. DD was generally grumpy and DS was a mad cluster-feeder. DH used to spend most of the evening on his feet with DD in his arms just rocking her and humming gently over her head - she loved it.

Your DD may be trying to get your supply up too, so it's worth persisting with keeping her latched on in the evening.

They're often much more settled in the evenings by 12 weeks, so it does pass!

Sounds like colic to me, my DS is 8 weeks and he was doing exactly the same from about 2 weeks.
The only way to soothe him is to give him a dummy. At first I didn't want to do this as you can miss feeding cues if they have one but I found he only needed it in the night when he wanted to suck but didn't want milk (I do have to encourage him to use tho by hovering my finger above it so he doesn't spit it out). Now, when he does have the dummy, if it's milk he wants instead, I know that he'll spit it out constantly and is a bit more calm when he does.

Not too sure about the pooing thing, my DS does this too, he doesn't poo but farts instead. Although this morning I did work work that he may be cold and not in pain (as when I snuggled him up to me he went straight to sleep).

Maybe someone more knowledgeable will be along in a min!

The same thing happened to me last night. Will be watching with interest!

I wouldn't worry too much about the pooing/straining - they often grunt in a way that sounds painful to us but it's usually more like surprise at all these unaccustomed sensations going on in their insides! BF poo is very soft indeed and they don't struggle to pass it, but they don't have many 'pushing' muscles yet and it takes a while to build them up. It doesn't mean constipation.

Thanks for the replies!

MB34 - I thought colic involved alot of screaming, I'm not even sure what it is to be honest! But she's not screaming she mostly is just fussing and low level crying, with the occasional burst as if she is angry. I have a dummy, we give her one to go to sleep. When she fusses like this she really will not take it at all. She will scream if we try, whereas at normal nap/sleep times she takes it after a few spit outs. Is your ds still fussing in the evenings?

Zuleika - That's right about the poo, it's so soft it seems it couldn't be constipation! Glad to hear those grunts are normal baby noises! I will carry on seeing if she will feed, I do worry about my supply, I never seem to get particularly full. 12 weeks is not too bad. Wih dc1 I know these things felt like they went on forever but this time I know everything passes!

Birdies - Let's hope tonight will be better! At least I'm finding this fussing is happening slightly earlier at the mo, last week she fussed from 11 to 1, I'll take 9 to 11 fussing over that any day!

Yes - colic is characterised by inconsolable crying, rather than general fussiness/grumping.