Breastfeeding/colic?/wind? Problems - 7 week old.

[Shortie213]

Hi there,

I'm having terrible trouble with my 7 week old baby and feeding, every feed is becoming a battle that upsets and stresses us both out.

This has been progressively getting worse for the last 3/4 weeks.
I suffered terribly from day two with cracked and bleeding nipples which resulted in horrific pain whilst feeding, I had to bite down on a muzzy during feedings on one side. Thankfully that pain has subsided but now we have new problems...

My baby boy is showing colic signs and suffers with wind. When I am feeding him I can feel it in his back sometimes.
He also often chokes on the breast and Gulps like its going out of fashion.
He has always been a short feeder 10, 15 mins max but his feeds have been getting shorter and shorter and he's now feeding for around 5/6 minutes before he starts fussing!
He pulls off and screams as if in pain, wiggling about. I attempt to wind him and he grunts, claws at me, brings his legs up and screams. Sometimes we get burps up but it doesn't help him at all!
I offer him the boob again and he latches on like he's attacking it which makes me think he's hungry yet will pull off screaming again. We go round in this circle.
The only thing to comfort him is a dummy, or shhhing in his ear and rocking although doesn't always work.
This can go on until he falls asleep worn out or until the next feed.

He has put on weight in the last fortnight (1 lb) but dropped slightly on his chart which he health visitor gave me a hard time about and is making me worry more.
They also told me he should be feeding for 15/20 minutes.

Some feeds when he is practically asleep are ok albeit very short feeds.

Is it normal to show colicky signs mid feed?
We've tried colief and gaviscon on the doctors reccomendation, colief didnt work and gavi made him sick, now trying infacol which helps get burps up but nothing else.

Can anyone offer any advice?
Could it be colic and normal for it to kick in mid-feed? Is it just wind?
I've also looked at fast letdown which I think I have a bit of (gulping and choking) and overactive supply however block feeding made no difference and I don't think it's that now (not had green poos for ages)

I am at my wits end and just don't know what to do or try. I am worried he's not getting enough although I am confident I have enough milk. He just very rarely seems satisfied after a feed cause of the fussing and griping.
The last week he has been going 4/4.5 hours at night after his last feed, so surely if he was hungry he wouldn't sleep?

Sorry for the long rambling if anyone can offer any advice I'd be most grateful.

Sorry I don't know, just bumping for you.
Tiktok are you around?

Have a read of this about tongue tie. Does any of it sound familiar?

Definitely worth finding someone who knows what they are doing to check for ties.

Do get someone to check your latch for you. If you had horrific pain then he was latching on slightly wonkily, and so he will not be feeding as efficiently as he could. Well done to you for persevering through the anguish, too!

If it isn't related to tongue tie, he could still be colicky. His feeding pattern sounds exactly like my ds1 who had awful colic. We found that cranial osteopathy helped enormously. Just two sessions worked miracle. They are particularly recommended for babies who had an assisted birth - venteuse or forceps - as that can affect the jaw alignment and so create feeding problems, as well as leaving the baby in some discomfort. It sounds dramatic, but all it was was a very very gentle head massage - the osteopath just cradled his head in her hands - and he fell asleep during the treatment - he would normally only feed to sleep in my arms!

DS2 was colicky too and we discovered colief - absolute magic stuff and an entirely natural product. It's a bit of a faff to use, but it is given before each feed and contains a natural enzyme which starts to break down the milk in the baby's gut for him/her. Worked a treat for us, and we certainly knew if we missed out giving the colief, as the colic returned immediately.

HTH Very best of luck. Colic normally doesn't last past 14 weeks, but it can feel as if it is lasting forever, so worth trying out some of the treatments on offer to see what works for you and your lo.