Breast feeding - please help urgently!

[insanelycheerful]

I have a 6 week old DD who I am breastfeeding exclusively. She has had one bottle of expressed milk so far, so only really knows the boob.

I currently have her screaming on me as she is due a feed (well, was due about 1030am) and just won't/can't feed. She has latched on each side briefly and then started screaming after a few seconds and just seems to be really struggling to get on and feed. It is so distressing! Same happened at this feed time yesterday and has happened a bit on a few other feeds recently.

I have no idea what the problem is. I am not engorged, diet has not changed. And other feeds she is totally fine.

Any idea what it could be? Don't see how I am going to get her fed! Doesn't help that I'm on my own here with her and my 2 DSs who are playing me up! Trying to calm her then try again.

This sounds crazy but it's as if she has temporarily forgotten how to feed

I would guess that she is tired. Mine did the same, frantic head bobbing but not latching on or on and off. Also bear in mind that being 'due a feed' is not really accurate at 6 weeks if your feeding on demand. I would try to get her off to sleep then try to feed again once she has. Don't worry to much, trust your baby, she will feed of she's hungry. Good luck!

just check your milk is flowing properly - then if it is and she is still having problem, try to express some so you have backup. Check her mouth for thrush- she may have sore mouth- it will look like little white areas on tongue and/or gums

Yup Thrush is a good bet if it carries on. Very treatable

Thanks twiggy. Good suggestion it could be tiredness. She slept before this feed, but not for long. I suspect it was the same yesterday... Have calmed her and moved to sit on the floor which seems to have made all the difference. It did feel like she just couldn't get in the right position before.

When I say due a feed, I do feed on demand but for a few weeks now she has been quite settled in a routine of feeding roughly 3 hourly in the day and as she hasn't fed since 7am I know she must be hungry. We also have to go out after this feed, so I do need her to feed!

Thanks also agoodbook. Will check her mouth but she has now latched on and feeding ok with me sat on floor rather than sofa, weirdly! How should I check milk flow? By expressing?

Thank you re thrush guys, I hadn't thought of that. You'd think after breastfeeding 3 babies I'd have more of a clue!

you can check by expressing, and its not a bad idea to have some backup milk anyway- keeps in the fridge or freeze it for emergencies . if baby unlatches, it should be easy to press gently and see if it still comes out ( mine tending to squirt out, but I had a lot of milk)

I think they know when your trying to get them fed before you go out, so frustrating!. My dd had thrush, it looked like little white circles on her tongue, weirdly though it didn't stop her feeding normally it was more painful for me! Glad she's back in track now.

It might be wind. Is she arching her back away from the breast? My DS started struggling at 6 weeks and wind was the issue.

I was also going to say wind.

DD does this when bloated from either end - and like you if I feed differently positioned it helps. But a big burp or fart (whether DH winding her or baby massage or infacol!) Stops it for far longer.

So true that they seem to know when you need to get on with it and be somewhere!

I have concluded that it was probably tiredness that caused the issues yesterday. She hadn't really slept much between first feed of the day and the one where she struggled. Same the day before when same thing happened.

No thrush and didn't appear to have a problem with wind (I can tell when it's wind as she goes rigid and it's a different cry).

Thank you all for taking the time to reply and make suggestions. I hadn't really appreciated that tiredness could be such a problem as don't remember this with DS1 or DS2. Today I made sure DD had had a good snooze before mid morning feed and she was absolutely fine. I think it's not really been a problem till this week as she usually sleeps well on the school run.

They can have funny days can't they?

This morning my dd thrashed and refused the boob ... cue worry from mummy! Dh took her for a nap and a couple of hours later she was her normal self.
its just hard when they can't tell us what's wrong!

Too right, squizita! And extra tricky when you're on your own with 3 DCs and can't hear yourself think I'm glad I could turn to MN for wise advice and suggestions.