breast feeding

[YMNH]

Please can someone give me any advice or tips. I'm exclusively breast feeding my 4 week old. The first 2 weeks were perfect. She was latching on fine, having regular feeds and having wet and dirty nappies. This last week she has been very different. She latches on like normal but after about 5 minutes of being on, she starts straining, kicking her legs about and will pull back on the breast. I've been giving infacol to try and help with wind incase it's that but it hasn't seemed to help. She gets herself so hot and flustered that she won't latch back on, leaving her hungry. If I lay her down, she still strains as if she's trying to poo but she seems a lot more relaxed. Has anyone else been through this or know how to resolve this please

Could be your milk is coming too fast when she latches on? Could that be? If you have a fast let down it basically means your milk comes so forcefully she struggles to handle the amount at start..You can try express little first before she latches on or some feeding positions can also help if you have a fast let down, sometimes when you leave too long between feeds your breasts are full which can cause faster let down too..

I have noticed she is gulping very fast and heavy at the beginning of each feed so I have been hand expressing just enough so she can latch on properly. It's after the flow has slowed down that she seems to get irritated, strain and pull away

Could she be ready for the other side? Do you feed from both at each feed time? Or would other position help if you change when she latches off?
It could be as well just a passing phase, and/or she could be just working on upping your supply..is she putting weight on ok?

I don't know the answer to your question but the UK Breastfeeding Support Facebook group really helped me when I started breastfeeding. If you post there I'm sure you'll get lots of answers.

I offer the other side but she does the same. Will latch on for no longer than a couple of minutes and then does the straining and pulling back. I hope it's just a phase as I would really like to carry on with breast feeding for as long as I can. She hasn't been weighed for nearly 2 weeks now so I will get that checked.

Thankyou for the Facebook suggestion

Is she constipated? Is she still having regular dirty nappies? Do you wind her thoroughly after every feed?

If she is putting weight on ok she could be just finished with feed quicker now, she can feed more effectively now at few weeks old then when she was few days old for example so could also be that she is full more quicker.

Does your breast feel empty when she latches off?

Do you burp her when she comes off the breast? If your let down is very strong and fast and she's gulping, she may need a big burp before she goes back on again.

Its as if she is constipated because of straining but she does manage to poo during or after every feed. It does take a while for her to actually poo though.

I was going to say the same about burping her during the feed. I often take DD off to burp as she was getting like this.

@onedream I did think that about being fuller quicker, it's just the frustration and straining but then she still opens her mouth to latch on but won't stay latched on due to the straining. Breast doesn't always feel empty

@Somethingsnappy I normally wait for her to unlatch herself before burping. She does sometimes have trouble bringing up wind which is why I've been giving her infacol to try and help with it. Some times it really helps and other times it doesn't make a difference

@PeanutButterFalcon I find that if I stop her during a feed to wind her, she doesn't always go back on so she's not getting a full feed either way. Any techniques to help with winding?

Following. My baby is 8 weeks and in a similar situation. Particularly with infacol only sometimes working. Sometimes can't get burps up at all, but def windy.

@YMNH I was given some advice at 5/6 weeks which has really helped with burping - infacol which I see you’re using already, hit harder than you think with the palm of your hand and almost hang them over your shoulder including arms with legs straight. Put two fingers each side of the spine push in and up the back a few times (I find when she had wind this makes DD squirm and pull her legs up) then hit again. If this doesn’t work I pop her on my lap, one hand on chest supporting head and one on back and rock her back and forwards slowly, then tap and rub her back. Someone else also said to move them in a circle on your lap but the rock back and forwards usually gets the tricky ones up. I’ve also found with DD holding her under her arms in the air will make a burp pop out, usually when trying to pass her to DH to have a go burping her. Hope this makes sense.
Sometimes she will refuse to go back on too. I’ve had to learn when she’s needing to burp and can burp her so much quicker. As soon as she’s getting remotely fussy, stopped sucking, eyes flickering or smiling, she’s off for a burp then back on again. We were struggling and it’s only from about 8 weeks I’d say we’ve got the hang of it a bit more. If I’m tired it’s a disaster and she’ll still be squirming and straining when I pop her back in the cot.

Finger and thumb sorry. Two fingers would be hard

@PeanutButterFalcon makes perfect sense, thankyou so much

Try some baby massage too. Great for wind. Do this once a day. You can check it out online. Best one I tried was to lie baby on back in front of me, gentle tummy massage followed by moving baby’s legs in a cycling movement, then gently push legs toward her chest (yoga style moves, but hard to explain, so check it out online!). Be v. gentle. None of mine had colic and I did this every day for the first few months.

@YMNH I hope it helps

Haven't read everyone's replies but yes, I've had this a few times with my LO and took me ages to work it out! He's always changing the goal posts, I start to get a complex when he does this so I sympathise. Here's some food for thought on the times/reasons it's happened to me.

First time I realised it was because he was overtired. If I try again when he's asleep (dream feed) or after he wakes up, he'll take it.

Might not apply to you as your baby is so little but at some point my (now 3.5 month old) DS suddenly went longer between feedings and I didn't realise he wasn't hungry! Like you, I was convinced he was hungry but turned out he was just tired. Nobody told me some newborn babies don't just sleep all day, and have to be "made to"!

Recently he was refusing the boob cos he was sick - again, I felt so stupid for not realising. He started getting snuffles so was finding it hard to breathe through his nose.

Sorry, that probably wasn't helpful but I've found out there's loads of reasons why they can suddenly go off breastfeeding, sadly. They're like little enigmas and it just keeps changing!