Breastfeeding 3 month old, troubleshooting advice required please!

[Lisa9999]

Hello,

My daughter is 3 months old and breastfed. She is fed about every 3 hours during the day and if she's more hungry I would feed her as required. We've been doing ok with the feeding up till recently. Lately she seems to thrash about on me (nipple ripping stuff), only settling for about a minute's worth of proper feeding. It seems that once the initial fast flow milk has been taken, she doesn't stay latched on properly to work for it. I know there is milk to be had (doing the 'squeeze test' etc). I end up putting her back on several times, only for her to quickly unlatch, and then she's getting frustrated. I am wondering if my milk is too slow for her? It's not been a major problem up till now but I suppose my supply might be dwindling? Has anyone got an? tips to increase milk supply? Or to improve latching on? I really don't want to give up b/f because of this.

Thanks
Lisa

I doubt your supply is dwindling if you've been feeding on demand for 3 months. How long does she feed before she starts pulling off? Could she just be done and asking for the other side?

Thanks for replying. She definitely prefers one boob over the other (she just latches on much better and stays put for longer), I think I have encouraged this pattern by moving her onto the favourite side too quickly and now on her less favoured side she only drinks for about a minute. However there is still milk in there. I don't understand why she won't stick around and work for it.

DD did similar about this age. I went back to basics for a few days - stripped us both down, dark room, white noise - to get her feeding nicely again. She also had a favourite side - I found rugby hold on her least favourite side was more effective than cradle hold

I agree that it's unlikely to be a supply problem. The behaviour you describe sounds pretty normal for a nurseling of that age. A quiet room can help, but generally they're so distracted it doesn't always help. As long as your baby is healthy and you continue feeding to her cues, she'll get enough.

I had this at around a similar age. I think it's just a phase. I stressed lots and posted on mumsnet carried on being baby led and she snapped out of it after a week or so. She was having lovely long nighttime feeds so I figured she wouldn't starve.
If your baby isn't underweight and wet/pooey nappies keep coming I wouldn't worry about it tbh.

Thanks for all the replies, it has helped me to worry less about it. I will keep calm and carry on! Will also try the rugby ball hold, see if that makes a difference. It might be reflux causing a problem, she was very sicky as a first born, perhaps she still gets problems now and again with silent reflux.

If you think let down is too slow try fennel tea, its very good, and I agree with everyone else thay its unlikely to be a supply issue.

Justa friendly hi to say, same boat and you're not alone.

I'm back on the fennel tea so perhaps that will help. I had my baby weighed yesterday, she has dropped a percentile since the last weigh in 6 weeks ago. The health visitor advised waking her for a dream feed so I tried it last night and worked ok. It would help if she accepted a bottle but she is still resisting. Looking forward to weaning!

Also from 3 months DS would only feed in a dark room. In a light room he would lose interest in feeding even if he had clearly been starving 5 mins earlier. Life was way too exciting otherwise. He had also mastered feeding lying down. So I would go up to the bedroom, lie in the dark and semi snooze while he fed.

My first born went all the way from 92nd centile at birth down to 9th just before weaning - because she simply didn't want to feed enough - she still isn't very interested in food now! So weighing helps because you can keep an eye on it, but in the end we weaned a bit early - 22 weeks - she gradually made her way back up the charts to 50% which seemed to be where she naturally belonged.