Fussy feeds are taking hours, help...

[tertle]

Hi all,

My baby will be 4 weeks old on Monday and I'm exclusively breastfeeding her. Sometimes she feeds really well but other times she is extremely fussy and a feed can take up to three hours. She starts off OK, feeds fine for 20 minutes but then we have non stop crying in between five minute feeds which can go on for hours. This can happen in the morning, afternoon, evening or night. I try calming her in other ways but she always seems to want to go back to feeding. But as soon as she starts, she starts fussing, pulling off the breast and then crying.

My dad is over for the weekend and keeps telling me that she feeds too much. He and my husband keep trying to take her to calm her, which they manage to do but sooner rather than later she'll start crying again and making signs that she's hungry.

My midwife has watched feeds and says that she can latch on without problem and thinks my flow might be too fast. So I have tried to change positions and express a bit of milk before feeding her but this hasn't changed anything. I have even cut out all dairy products as my midwife also suggested I try that as my baby may be intolerant to dairy which comes through my milk.... This hasn't made a difference either.

I don't know what to do... I feel like I can't leave the house for more than an hour or so as if I do have to feed her out and about we will end up having a 3 hour session with inconsolable crying. What's even more confusing for me is that she can feed without a problem... Sometimes she latches on and feeds for half an hour and then goes straight back to sleep for 3 hours.

If anyone has any experience of the above and any advice to offer I would be more than grateful. Thanks in advance.

Hi Tertle.

I have no wisdom I'm afraid, but didn't want to read and run.

Firstly, I wouldn't worry about what your dad says- newborns can't feed 'too much'. If she wasn't hungry she wouldn't latch on, and it's important in the early days to feed on demand.

I would be surprised if your milk was flowing fast enough to upset her that much, but to test the theory could you maybe express some milk and try to give her a bottle? (If she'd take it, DD wouldn't.)

Does she have trouble with wind? My DD used to get suddenly upset during feeds when she needed a burp, although it certainly wasn't as prolonged as you're describing. Has the midwife considered that it could be reflux? That can make babies really upset and uncomfortable.

Good luck

Dd pulls off and cries when windy, she latches on again and off again until I get a burp out of her. Are you winding her?

Hi, I had this problem for both of my DC and I aas determined to "fix" it for DC2.
Our local BFing counsellor- who is fab- suggested block feeding.
This meant feeding only on one side for all feeds for 3/4 hours and then switching to the other. It is meant to lessen the stimulation from feeding because of the negative feedb k from v full breast.
She suggested that I fully drain with the pump both breasts at the beginning of the day to lessen discomfort. I will look to see if I can find the link she gave me.
Do you have any similar support network which could give you advice?
I think often things are (understandably) eared to people who find it difficult to make enough milk, but too much milk can be v difficult for baby and mum.
Good luck!

Here is the link which helped me.

Thanks for your replies.

It's true that although I do wind her, she doesn't always do a burp - maybe I need to try for longer.

Thanks so much for the link caramel, will have a good read through it and give my midwife a call on Monday to discuss.

My 5 week sometimes does this (makes hungry signals but then fights the breast) when he is tired - if I give him a dummy instead he goes straight to sleep. I have a bit of an oversupply too, and he had a tongeu-tie and I think struggles with the fast flow when he just wants to comfort suck. Never had this issue with my first who would feed to sleep no problem.