unsettled and frequent feeder

[ciao]

I have an 11 week baby (born 3 weeks premature) who is exclusively breastfed. She's putting on weight well, poos and poos and has loads of wet nappies so must be well. She has been crying and unsettled since Boxing Day and nothing will calm her apart from being on my breast where she will feed well but will also just hang there and sometimes twist and squirm on 1 side. Have used a dummy but she tends to spit it out. Am exhausted. Is this normal? Any advice? She's my second so my toddler is struggling to get a look in

hi ciao i had the same problem with my dd she is most likely going through a growth spurt. I found the dummys were too slim so i found a nice cherry shaped dummy recommend by a friend.
she's nearly one now and its still working.
If i hadn't had it i think i would have given up breast feeding early on like i did my with my ds.

ciao - the things I can think of are:

1. too fast let down
2. too slow let down
3. thrush

I would have said growth spurt as well, except she has been doing this since Boxing Day ? So it is a bit too long for a growth spurt - they don't last more than few days usually.

Have you checked her mouth for signs of thrush ?

My DS used to squirm and make a fuss too at that age and then I realised my let down was too fast and it made him gag with so much milk going into his mouth.

Thrush is also a possibility as it makes their mouths sore and they fuss at the breast.

I highly recommned kellymom.com - there is a section on babies who are fussy at the breast.

I am sure you will find your anaswer either on kellymom or on MN !

Thanks, I will check out kellymom. After feeding all evening, she still only slept for 2 hours at a time last night. Aaagh!

Don't rule out teething as a possibility too. My dd seems to like to comfort suck a lot to ease the pain of it.

DS still does this occasionally - may be growth spurt combined with more development? DS seems to be developing really quickly atm (13 weeks) which I think is unsettling him. The 2 hr wakings are a killer, aren't they?

ciao - it's tough isn't it ? My DS was a rubbish sleeper too, during growth spurts he would wake every hour. It does get better though

She's settling down a bit now, especially if I'm out and about and her weight gain was good this month so I guess I should stop worrying and just go with it. Am letting her cry at the moment (she's not interested in feeding and just falls asleep on me) and feel terrible but want to know if she can settle herself. DH thinks we should leave her till she stops crying but I can't do that - men must be immune to guilt pangs!

ciao sometimes for the sake of your nipples it might be worth a try the crying thing.
I found when i do this they do sleep longer if they had lots of sleep in the day.
Try hoovering downstairs or washing up with the radio on. when you are busy you forget they are crying and when you remember they are fast asleep.
Most mums do this at some point. My friend used to leave the hoover on outside the nursery.
I also use nursery rhyme cds to settle dd.