8wk old screaming at breast

[Fragz]

Sorry if this is long but coming to the end of my tether. My dc2 is 8 weeks old and ebf. From the outset he has had a good latch but from about 3 wks old has screamed at the breast. He was diagnosed with tongue tie at birth but as he was feeding well we didn't do anything.

At 5 weeks the screaming and vomiting entire feeds became too much for me and we revisited the breastfeeding group. We were seen by the tongue tie consultant at Kings who was at the group training the counsellors on tongue tie and she was happy to refer him to her unit.

His tongue was snipped 2 days later (nhs were brilliant!). Since then the vomiting entire feeds has stopped but the screaming hasn't. Bf counsellor has checked his tongue and confirmed good mobility and good latch but is unable to advise as to the cause of the screaming. Sometimes he screams at the start of a feed - suggests slow let down, sometimes during let down - flow too fast, sometimes halfway through - flow too slow and sometimes at the end - no longer hungry? As he is gaining weight - was 11.7lb last week and was 8lb at birth no one is concerned but it is wearing me down. The only way we can feed him when he gets upset is to have the hair dryer on to calm him down. I have not given him a bottle or a dummy as didn't want to make things worse but now tempted to give up. I struggled with bfing my dc1 as she had reflux and was a nightmare to feed. I really wanted things to be different this time. I got to 12 weeks with her and then admitted defeat. I thought that by now things would settle down and he would struggle less but if anything I has got worse.

It wouldn't be so bad if we were getting sleep at night but when we lie him down he gags and chokes (anywhere from immediately to after an hour) following which his nose gets blocked and he screams and screams because he cant breathe. The only thing that then helps (tried karvol, saline drops) is to hold him upright which means no sleep for us. We have tried tilting his basket and holding him upright for half an hour before putting him down but this hasn't made any difference. I mentioned all this to the GP at his 8 wk check and she didn't have any advice just that he should get better as he gets older.

If anyone can suggest anything which might help I would be very grateful.

Could it be silent reflux?

You say dc1 had reflux so you probably know the signs, are you sure this isn't reflux too?

You absolutely need to try a sling asap. If he wants to sleep upright he def will in a sling and then what happens is that the more they sleep in the day the more they sleep at night.
Does he also hate/scream in the car seat?
Dd2 was a bit like this around that age. I had to calm her down before feeds or she turned into an angry ribena berry and wouldn't latch on at all. It sort of reached a peak the. Got better - she is 18 weeks and fine now.
My gp was v keen to give gaviscon. I said no but might be worth a try for you - the bit wanting to lie doe. And puking and choking etc does sound a bit like reflux.
The fact is he most like will grow out of it but sounds like a huge headache just now!

Have you tried expressing a bit before feeding? I had this and was at the end of my tether, I had lots of milk! Also lying down feeding helped too x

I thought reflux on reading this too. I hope if gets better for you x

He isn't arching his back and shrieking in pain like she did just seems like an angry cry when feeding. I had wondered whether it could be reflux but as he didn't shriek with pain I was ruling it out. I was also wary of jumping to that conclusion because my first had it but it is good to hear others thinking it could be that. My dd had silent reflux and it was a real fight to be taken seriously - they did when she completely refused to feed for 15 hours - the meds were a pain but made all the difference.

It's just so hard, took us so long to get any help or answers. Also had thrush in the milk ducts and in dds mouth. Could either of you have thrush? Really hope it improves for you.

Thank you for your messages and thoughs i really appreciate it. Regarding sling we do sling him in the day. He is better when my dh has him as settles for longer. Whether he has slept for 10 minutes or 2 hours he still screams when feeding. Tried feeding lying down but he kicks his legs continuously and throws himself off but maybe I need to try again. He hates his carseat and the pram too. I have tried to express before feeding him but that didn't seem to help - tried that for 2 days and then gave up although admittedly that was 2 weeks ago so may try again.

We both had thrush which was treated (cream for both of us and antib's for me as was getting shooting oains postbfeeding) and has gone according to the GP and bf counsellors though I still find my breasts are painful most of the time. No mastitis though - had that twice with my dd.

The other thing that springs to mind is a cow's milk protein allergy - this can cause a stuffy nose and reflux symptoms. If this was the case you could cut dairy from your diet and see if there was an improvement.

It's exhausting, trying all these different methods and them not working. I did find that trying things again a few weeks later had a totally different reaction from dd! See if you can get a stash of cream and mouth gel to keep to hand, I found that it just kept coming back as was so deep. Good luck with it all, I don't know what else to suggest.

I hadn't thought of cow's milk allergy, I will try that too thanks noble. Thanks dylan it's good to know I'm trying the right things even if they aren't working now! pie I am glad your dd is better now. I know it will get better over time, well hopefully, just find it tough going as we have no family nearby and our friends are spread all over the place. Better go for now as dd is calling! Thanks all.

Dd2 hates the car seat and I stopped bothering with a pram. I still reckon gaviscon is worth a go