is this what breastfeeding is like or do i have a fussy baby?

[spillyobeans]

Have a 3 week old ebf baby. Breastfeeding seems to be going well, mostly seems satisfied after a feed and lots of wet and dirty nappys and putting on plenty of weight. The last 4 or 5 days though he is being very fussy at the boob, arching back and coming on and off breast constantly, then wanting fed 10 mins later. Im using infacol before feeds and winding but feel like its not helping. I also feel like i am feeding him constantly - every hour for an hour, and then at night a cluster feed of 3 - 4hours long.

Is this normal? Is this just how demanding breastfeeding is? Or could this be something wrong? I am exhausted!

Also hes had some poos that a green?

Growth spurts are very common in these early weeks. Babies feed often, and it feels never ending (it does end, promise). A few green poos are ok, but if it's often and lasts a while, then it might be worth following up. My son had a few random green poos, but it wasn't every one and it wasn't everyday. (oddly, it was mainly at Christmas when I was doing my best to survive on cheese and trifle - I reduced my dairy intake to normal and it stopped).

It is exhausting, and the only thing for it is to give in for a few days. Sit down, stock up on drinks and snacks and wait it out.

Is he napping ok? Crying more?

The arching, and on and off, is wind. Stick with it - it gets much easier!

Congratulations on your baby

I have a nearly 5 week old so I'm right there in the throes of it too. From experience it does get better, but this first part is tough.

Re the back arching and faffing - do you persevere with the feed and find it settles, or do you stop feeding? My ds has just started doing this and I'm fairly sure it's because my let down has suddenly got pretty quick and he's struggling with it. If I persevere it gets better as the milk flow slows. Leaning right back at the start has helped too as it helps stem the flow a bit.

Constant feeding is normal. We are trained by experts to think baby only wants to be fed every 3 hours but my experience with 3 DC was same as you describe

I totally feel for you, it is exhausting when you're constantly feeding.

My DS was like this, in the end he was diagnosed with food allergies. Probably it is just mostly wind in your DC, but worth noting if he's particularly fussy what you've eaten beforehand.

Yeh i did think that it is normal but i was perhaps just not ready for how demanding! He is napping ok, longest he will go is 2hours. The crying is the same but he seems more frantic at the breast and arching and writhing around like crazy!

Sounds normal to me (3 extended ebf here). I usually hit a wall by week 6-7 then rally, then it gets better. Growth spurts/cluster feeding/teething/cluster feeding helped by co-sleeping/sleeping when baby sleeping but do not look at my house
The green nappy though means getting foremilk only and not the richer hindmilk...so would keep babe on longer if you can?

Thanks for the advice! I think its wind thats making him fussy, so using infacol and winding at end of feed or in middle if hes really going for it.

I was wondering about the green poops as iv had a bit of a sore tummy for couple of days and wondered if id made him unwell

Kindle- yes id read that somewhere but hes averaging out at 40mins on 1 boob and then might take other after for 15 mins. Surely 40mins on a boob is long enough for hind milk?

I'd say it was more likely that he's had lots of foremilk then you have swapped him to the other breast and he's had more foremilk, whereas keeping him longer on one side gets him the hindmilk. Unlikely he has been ill because of you ...I had really bad food poisoning from a festival stand when dc3 was about five weeks old - he was unaffected. Hope you feel much better soon. xx

Sorry, x-post. Yes, I would have thought 40 minutes on one side was plenty long enough. How hot is it where you are?

Im in scotland so not very!

Ahh well at least thats reassuring

Im hoping by 6 weeks it gets easier for me too! Did you express at all to feed with bottle? I am considering it future when hes older but dont want to mess up latch etc

I think it's more likely that he's had a mild form of what you've had. The foremilk/hindmilk thing isn't really as it sounds - your milk changes gradually throughout a feed, getting fattier as you go. Forty mins is certainly a decent length of feed, so I wouldn't worry about that.

I went through a similar thing with dd at around that age. We gave her infacol which seemed to help but I think it was just a growth spurt... There's a lot of growth spurts.

She did green poos too, those seemed to tie in with her teething. I think once she was on solids as well as milk they stopped happening. I was scared by the green poos at first but there was no sign of anything being wrong with her and she's a completely healthy one year old now and still breastfeeding.

I tried expressing but found it too hard work. I spent hours and got hardly any milk out. I know some people respond better to the pumps than others though. I also tried giving dd a bottle of formula in the early days thinking it would help me have a break but she never took to it. Tbh I've found it very easy just to breastfeed once feeding was established well.

Sometimes they have random green poos, it usually doesn't mean anything.
The foremilk/hindmilk stuff has mostly been discredited now. So long as you aren't rigidly feeding for 10mins each side like in days of yore it's probably not an issue.

Wind is a bugger. Not much you can do about it, it tends to settle down as they get a bit older.

Three weeks typical growth spurt time (like the rest of the first six months!) - if in doubt, feed, feed, feed.

It all sounds pretty normal based on my experience. I remember with my first that things seemed to change so quickly that I never really felt confident because the minute I'd got used to a pattern everything would change and there would be something new to worry about. It sounds like you are doing great.

i had the same. i couldnt take it so well done you!

its def wind

from experiemce with infacol i wouldnt give just before or during a feed. it brings up burps so if bab is lying down feeding hell break latch and squirm to get the burp out..

infacol is very good to ease those trapped wind pains in the gut tho if bab is bringing knees up it should help for that and they usually fart shortly after ;-)

I didn't express with any of my three OP, too lazy to do so and they all refused bottles. La leche league explains the changes in milk from higher lactose to higher fat here and does mention green nappies when too much lactose, but as the article is from 2008 I could well be out of date

www.llli.org/faq/foremilk/html

edit: the link won't go directly to article but you will find it by putting hindmilk into the search engine.

Could be overactive letdown like pasbeau suggested? Do you have a fast flow? I used to find it helped to take DD off just after it let down and catch the first part in a muslin or similar, then continue to feed after it slowed down a bit. She seemed more settled then.

Congratulations on your new baby. The fussiness sounds similar to my experiences and I have fast letdown and oversupply. I've started a thread and I've had some excellent advice and links posted on there so might be worth checking out. I don't know how to directly add a thread but it's called 'Fast letdown and oversupply leading to miserable mum and baby'.

Thanks i will chexk it out. I have noticed that my breasts will spert by themselves so maybe i do have a fast let down. Ive also tried expressing and can fill a bottle in 10 mins so i must have loads of milk.

Shite- yes i thought this was maybe a cause too. Ive been trying to keep him upright and then he wont settle - so frustrating! Im trying the clockwise rubbing on belly and bringing legs up and then down again in hope