16 Week old in alot of pain to Breastfeed

[2tiredmama]

Can anyone please advise the best pain relief options for a 16 week old boy who is normally super placid but fusses and arches back in pain at the breast lately and again when he first goes down to bed? I'm looking for a long term solution as these symptoms have been gonig on for 4 weeks now to some degree and I don't want to give him calpol 4 times a day. Many thanks in advance!

Not got any suggestions on pain relief as long term it seemed to make things worse for us.

Just wondering if he has been checked for tongue tie? Is there a Bfing Support group you can go to? They should be able to check for tongue tie and observe a complete feed.

Some find that skin to skin works in getting Lo to feed, a bath together may work. For the screaming, have you tried wearing him in a sling or baby massage and a bit of no nappy time before bed? Breast Compressions might help too

It sounds like your little one might have reflux. This is where stomach acid comes up and burns their oesophagus. It can be 'silent' where it's not accompanied by vomiting. This can just be down to immaturity of the stomach valve or can be driven by allergies. If your DC is happiest upright and is refusing the breast this can definitely be due to them having this as acid comes up when lying down and the back arching can be either pain or breast refusal due to heir associating feeding with pain. Your GP can give you ompeprazol or ranitidine to combat it. Also worth noting if it's worse if you've been eating dairy as cows milk it's a typical trigger or GERD. Hope this helps.

Thank you ladies. Gonna check out the reflux route but when he gets breast milk by bottle there is no issues at all and he arches his back and groans for other reasons e.g "get me out of the car seat"!! so hard to tell. You need to really play detective being a mother eh?? It's either reflux, teething or preference for bottle over breast I think and if he's in pain then I obviously want to help him and if it's bottle over breast then let the battle commence!! Any thoughts?

Ps. JiltedJohnsJulie don't think it's tongue tie as he was checked when he as 2 weeks old but will ask GP at next app just in case and I'll try the sling idea as just got one...thanks a mill :)

Sadly 2tired there is a whole thread on Mn where MNers were told their Lo didn't have tt, only to find out later they did.

Think a visit to a bfing support group or a call to one of the Bfing Helplines could help you out right now