Urgent Help needed for 7 week old baby feeding problem

[soupdragon43]

Hiya all, thanks to help from this forum our baby has now settled into breastfeeding really well and has been taking good feeds, putting on weight, that is until this weekend.
At the weekend, we noticed her nappies have gone very runny with no bits in them, just yellowy/orange water really, but she seemed fine in herself, however, since then she has started to take less at feedtimes. Before she would have 10-15 mins on one side and 5-10 on the other side in one feed, now she will only take 2-5 mins total approximately once an hour. I keep putting her back to the same breast to try and ensure she is getting some hindmilk and today she did a more normal nappy.
Her weightgain has also dropped, I had her weighed today but she is not underweight so not too concerned about that.
Tonight though she is really not happy and nothing will comfort her, its almost like colic, back locked up and legs rigid. The poor thing is getting herself exhausted, she's not taking good enough feeds to sleep well and its now taking its toll. I keep putting her on the breast and she will feed for a very short while but even gets distressed on the breast. Its all very upsetting.
She doesn't have a temperature her colour is normal and she is weeing fine too. These bouts of colicky type symptoms don't last very long and as I say she is exhausted but at other times she is fine and smiling and playing fine.

What do we do help please urgently!!!

Don't know if I have an answer, but it could be an age thing ? I posted last week asking if I should try formula as my dd (7weeks last saturday) was behaving in a very similar way.

Unfortunately I live too far away to see a breast feeding counsellor, but things have improved slightly, I have concentrated more on winding her and she is feeding well again at some feeds now. I had lots of knowledgeable people reply, so I'm sure they will be here soon.

She sounds overtired - coupled with a growth spurt. DS2 has just woken up, or I'd write more - she doesn't need formula, she doesn't need anything but you to be calm around her - do you have a sling?

i don't have any good answers but my gut instinct is that nothing is really wrong. she may be getting more efficient at removing milk so that can be why she is finishing quicker.

the runny nappies sound normal too as long as not whiffy. so is the slower weight gain. i would not keep putting her back on the same breast simply because you think she has 'not had enough hindmilk' as i said, she may be starting to remove milk more efficiently. the other reason is that too much has been made of the foremilk/hindmilk malarky in baby books by 'gurus' who don't know enough about bf.

the foremilk and hindmilk thing sorts itself out as the more often you put a baby to a breast, the less 'foremilk' is actually present. in some traditional cultures, babies can feed as often as every 15 mins for a minute or two so and still never 'get too much foremilk'.

someone else with more knowledge will come along. don't worry. trust your body and trust your baby. it made a big difference to me once i started to believe that.

It could be a growth spurt, and over tiredness too.

It can be quite wearing when they are like this. If you are concerned at all - see if GP can see her. But if she hasnt got a temperature then I wouldnt worry too much, unless she continues to lose weight.

Keep offering her feeds as often as you think she needs them.

agree with hunker about overtired and growth spurt too.

Nothing to add really, just wanted you to know I'd read this and am sympathising. If she seems ok in herself, I wouldn't worry too much. If you offer her the other breast, will she take it? My ds used to feed poorly from one side but when I offered the other, he'd suck ferociously then go back to the original side. He's always been a bit contrary though!

Agree with Hunker - a sling can be a real lifesaver.

Am sure someone more helpful will come along soon.

Hi...doesn't sound to me as if there is anything wrong, but mother's instinct is a powerful thing and maybe there is something up. Maybe she has been fighting a tummy bug, for example.

The time of feeds is not really important - it's normal for them to vary and the 'little and often' thing she'd doing now is normal, too...you really don't need to worry about the fore/hindmilk, though I think it's sensible to put her back to the same side with such short, frequent feeds.

My guess is she will be better today and back to normal tomorrow if not sooner

You need support and help while it lasts though, and a chance to sleep a bit in the day, maybe.

I had a similar problem when my daughter was about 10 wks old, but her poo was runny, watery and green and she was very windy. It turned out that because I was producing so much milk, she was filling up on fore milk and not getting enough hind milk and therefore not putting weiht on. I was recommended to feed from the same breast for two consecutive feeds (especially if the feeds are quite frequent). This worked straight away. Alternatively, you can express a small amount of milk before feeding so that she gets to the hind milk quicker, but it's not always practical. Good luck!

Hi, thanks all for your support.
Last night she fell asleep exhausted at 11.45pm, and then slept through till 5.30am, she woke and had a really good feed. She then went back till 8am and since then has had another two good feeds exactly how she used to.
What was upsetting last night was that she would feed for 2 minutes and then start crying and locking up etc, but as you say it was probably a vicious cycle of her getting hungry and then overtired etc!
Today she has only done one small poo, but it is back to being the runny orange stuff, although when she did do it it came out with a load of wind, so I'm guessing trapped wind might have been another problem?
Anyway she seems a lot better today and thank goodness we got some sleep last night so I am thankful for that!
DH wanted to take her to the doctors but I'm not quite sure what they would/can do anyway.
All I fear now is getting her weighed next week and for them to fuss if she is not gaining, she does feel like she's lost a bit to me, some of her clothes feel a bit big, but I'm happy that today she is back to feeding normally so will see how it goes.
Thanks all again for the words of support.

That's all sounding good, soup....I agree with your view of going to the doctor's. What on earth would you say?! She's clearly not ill. My prediction still stands - better today, back to normal tomorrow

If you are worried, though, you or dh can always call your health visitor and talk it through.

Glad things seem a bit better today. Agree with you re. doctor - mine would always say if ds seemed ok, then he probably was so was little help most of the time, although being told that made me feel a bit better! Hope things continue to improve.