4 week old and very short feeds

[singme]

Hi all!

I’m breastfeeding my 4 week old, she’s gaining weight, lots of wet and dirty nappies.

My concern is that she rarely feeds for very long. Sometimes 5 minutes then falls asleep. I try and get her to empty the breast, they do feel empty when she is done. I also have a very fast let down, when I feel the let down twinge I take her off for a few seconds otherwise she coughs and splutters. If she’s not falling asleep on the boob then sometimes she is unsettled, pulling off and screaming. These are how our daytime feeds usually go.

She does seem quite windy so I burp her frequently, I try and feed laidback to deal with the letdown, I try and minimise distractions.
At night she is nothing like this and has longer feeds, a burp and nappy change and then usually takes the other breast.

Is this just cluster feeding? I’m exhausted today, she keeps crying but when I offer the breast she either doesn’t take it, takes it for about 3 seconds or falls asleep on it.

Maybe also should say- I think she has a posterior tongue tie- I can feel it, midwife in hospital thought so and breastfeeding counsellor watched video. Could it be this causing problems and should I just get her assessed- despite Covid-19.

Not sure about the feeding behaviours but just wanted to say to you that my DS was born 16th March and midwife noticed posterior tongue tie at birth assessment. Said they wouldn’t do anything unless problems feeding- he fed fine but my nipples were red raw so we had it snipped at 4 weeks. Clinic had amazing measures in place to minimise risk re. covid and all felt very safe. Suppose I just wanted to say don’t let that put you off if you think that’s causing problems. It greatly improved things for us (gone on to have other problems but that’s a other story and unrelated!)

I was going to say tongue tie a possibility too. One of mine was gaining weight, wet nappies etc, but only fed four a few mins at a time. He was getting tired trying to stay latched. Got it snipped eventually (when I could convince someone that there was actually a problem), and he started feeding much better and longer, so less frequently. Do chase it up with professionals if you feel something isn't right.

Thanks! Every time we have problems or she is unsettled I wonder if it is the tongue tie. Hard to know but will look at getting it assessed!

Just to add you can pay to have someone come to your home and do it. We were going to buy got a cancellation on NHS next day by pure chance, was looking at £150 and obviously in your home you aren’t going to a clinic if you are worried re.covid