Frustrated baby during breastfeeding - help!

[Loulouhels]

I posted last week regarding a problem I was having with the evening feed.

My baby is twelve weeks old and I have been exclusively breastfeeding really well up until last week and I don't know why

I start the feed really well and have always had a fast first let down which comes really quick and he doesn't have to work much to get it. But after about five minutes he keeps sucking and nothing comes he will suck for a while and then get really frustrated and start to pull off and cry making it hard for him to go back on and suck to make let down happen again. I end up having to put him on the other breast and the same thing happens on this side after five mins. He is still hungry after this so for the last couple of nights I try to feed as long as possible and then top him up with 3ozs of expressed milk I express in the morning.

Sometimes he feeds ok in the evenings and I don't have to give him a bottle but today he started to do this around his lunchtime feed. I am demand feeding in the day but he naturally seems to go ever 2.5-3hrs.

I have tried compression but this doesn't seem to work - it just doesn't seem to come quick enough for him and then he becomes too frustrated to suck to get anymore . Any suggestions?

My sympathies go to you Loulouhels! I am bf my 3rd baby and had lots of probs (despite being 'experienced'!). Is it possible that he has got wind?? My son often starts fussing after the initial gulping down and it has turned out to be trapped wind. He is now 16 weeks and although not colicky still occasionally has trouble bringing it up if he is lying down feeding. Also, if you are predicting him fussing, perhaps you are tensing up a little? I often tense up my shoulders when my lo is fussing and to help me relax again I consciously drop them down and close my eyes which seems to get milk flowing again. Sorry if I am preaching to the already wise, you never know what will help.

Keep going, it will work itself out in the end - good luck .

tellyaddict - don't think it is wind because when I give him the bottle of EM he gulps it down so would have thought he wouldn't do this if wind was the problem.

You are right about me tensing up as I know I do this because I really want him to feed well. I have been trying to feed lying down as this always relaxes me but the same thing happened. I will definitely try closing my eyes. If only it would come just a little quicker he would be fine. Do you think I should stop giving him the bottle to top him up? Could he be getting used to the fast flow? He is fine during the morning feeds. The only trouble is he is really hungry and will not stop crying until he is full and I don't think I could cope all night with him crying and having him on and off the breat only for him to refuse it.

Are you eating enough and drinking enough through the day. I found my evening feeds were harder as I was so tired and especially if I'd been too busy to drink enough through the day.

Could be a growth spurt that you haven't quite caught up with, I found I usually caught up in 24-48 hours, however if you want to try and catch up it would be harder if you are topping up.

Hi Snottyshoulders thanks for your post, I never forget to eat (too greedy)and drink plenty of fluids throughout the day as I constantly seem to be thirsty.

I suppose it could be a growth spurt - if he has a bad time at the breast and need to top up with BEM in the evenings I will express straight after because I am worried about my supply becoming low at this time.

I am going to the breastfeeding clinic on Thursday so will ask then. I am hoping this is just a phase???

It's a tricky one regarding the bottle. If giving him a bottle takes the pressure off you then go with it. If you feel it is only making things worse then perhaps try without it? Or maybe give him a little bottle first and then the boob so that he is not so starving??

I would definitely go with the advice of feeding more often for a bit. Maybe let him 'snack' during the day, it'll certainly up your supply and that in itself might solve the problem.

The advice about eating/drinking enough is extremely important as 'snottyshoulders' says (hey, I have snotty shoulders too at the moment!!). When I am tired my milk is low and I nearly started giving a bottle of formula when my son was feeding at 11pm and fussing away as I felt there was nothing in there. Instead I started to bring his bedtime forward a little every few nights until he was going to bed by 8pm, I have plenty of milk at this time of night! If you can't do that then try and rest loads from early afternoon and eat/drink plenty until an earlier bedtime is instigated by your baby, then you can go to bed earlier and get some more rest which will help with the whole milk production thing.

It will work out in the end.

when my ds was getting crazy fussy at evening feed my hv pointed out that it could be cos he is a little guzzler (oh so true) and gets frustrated with the slightly slower flow in the evenings, especially after the first surge... which sounds a bit like your situation.

i tend to lean back to bf as my flow is generally quite fast and also just cos thats how we are comfortable! hv suggested leaning forward a bit if ds started fussing as he may then get more milk more quickly.

it doesn't always work but it really helps sometimes. watch your back tho!

another possibility - could he be overtired? ds really fussy angry generally impossible on the boob if overtired or overstimulated.

hth xx