Bf baby crying from hunger, what do I do?

[fromheretomaternity]

I'm bf'ing a three week old. He is a hungry chap and will feed for an hour at a time, 30 mins each side.

In the mornings all goes well, he has that satisfied sleepy look on his face after a feed and goes off to sleep. But I just did a 1pm feed lasting an hour or so, he was squirming and sucking but I'm sure both breasts were empty by the end, nipples were dry and no milk visible in his mouth. After the feed he cried really hard, was turning his head to the side, eating his hand etc, obviously still hungry.

What should I do? It had been 4 hrs since his previous feed, did I leave it too long? I am trying to do a feed right now (started 3pm) but worried I'll have the same problem, surely milk won't have regenerated yet? If he is still hungry after this, is it time to give a formula top up? Can't be good to have baby crying from hunger all day, also it means I can't sleep which must be bad for milk prodection.

fromhere - a baby ending up in hosp with hydration problems is not getting enough fluid, that's for sure....but not because there is not enough there. It happens when the baby is not accessing it effectively - in your case, you had colostrum on day 3 but the baby was not getting it. It is always in my view a criticism of the healthcare professionals whose job it is to ensure the mum is breastfeeding effectively.

fromheretomaternity, totally understandable, but there is a difference between milk not coming in and milk having come in, stopping.
You're doing great and he will be fine, just offer the breasst as much as possible, before he cries, keep him close and watch for rooting or hands in mouth etc and offer the breast then

Just realised - your little boy was readmitted to hospital on day 3....so kudos to you for overcoming that crisis and continuing to bf!!

But BOO to the staff who sent you out thinking that 4 hrly feeds would be enough and that you need time to refill

he's been feeding for an hour now (has taken both sides) and is STILL hungry! do i switch back to boob 1? surely there's a limit to how much i can churn out?

no, no limit, just keep going.
FWIW, I have a 5day old on my lap, who ahs been feeding for the last two hours

VS is right - just chill and go back to side 1

It's a sunny day, relax, and enjoy!

Mothers have successfully fully breastfed triplets - for most women, the amount of milk that can be produced does not seem to have a limit.

Are you getting plenty of wet and pooey nappies?

I had a lot of problems bf-ing... I experienced what you are going through... DS would feed all day and still end up crying in hunger. I KNOW it's hunger as I would then give him a FF and he would be contented. I was so desperately unhappy and worried. I asked for help on this board and everyone told me to keep going. In the end, I mix-fed before moving on to formula. I tried everything but nothing worked. I have suspicions about my supply due to a hormonal imbalance (specifically due to me having a pituitary tumour and to prolactin levels...). I personally don't think it is true that every woman can bf. I certainly couldn't. You have to do what you think is right. If you feel your child is hungry and not getting enough from you, ffs, give him some formula, it ain't the end of the world. I tortured myself over it but could see DS clearly needed the feed. GL in whatever you decide to do.

Yes, lots of full nappies.

Back on boob 1 now and trying to take yr advice, relax and just keep going as long as the little one wants. Hope it's not too long as I could really do with that afternoon nap... right now he still seems as ravenous as he was at the start - no end in sight!

angel, no-one is saying ti is the end of the world to give formula, but it does have risks and if the op is willing to try extra feeds, which is possibly all she needs to do then surely that's better than believing she hasnt got enough milk or other such possibilities that aren't actually true?
If someone decides to formula feed, fine, that's their choice, but it shoudlnt be because of misinformation, rather because they have all information to hand and have made an informed decision.

and thanks to angel for another point of view, although i take on board everything here i need to trust my instincts too

fromheretomaternity, if you're tired, take him to bed with you.
Remove quilts, and only use a blanket, put a pillow to one side so he can't go there, you on the otherside, him in the middle, get him latched on and nap.
It's actually a good idea to go and lay down together, you will be calmer and he may drift off too.
Have your baby moon, they work wonders.

i had exactly this prob, baby never sleepy after feed, wanting to nfeed sometimes for more than 2 hours at a time. just keep feeding. also everyone said my latch was good but went to a breastfeeding workshop and the expert corrected it by a couple of millimetres, worked wnders!

VS, without knowing her, how can you say all the possibilities are not true? I am not trying to dispute that bf is the way to go. You can be sure I will try bf-ing again for my next.

All I am saying from the point of view of someone who has been there and had genuine reasons to believe I had real supply issues but was made to feel desperately inadequate for not being able to bf that sometimes, you have to make decisions based on your own instincts and not on what everyone else is telling you. I just don't want the OP to go to the dark place I found myself in when I was in the same position as her.

From her OP she says she is feeding a three week old baby, has established a pretty good routine, baby is feeding pretty much perfectly, every few hours, about an hour a time, in the morning he sleeps well etc.
If she had issues with her supply, which is not particualrly common, though I recognise possible, then she would be having this issue at all times rather than just a baby that seems to be hungrier than normal.
If she had said he is never satisfied then I'd think there could be other possibilites such as the latch, but she hasn't, it is just a bf baby whose hunger has increased which is completely normal, and healthy.

To back up what others have been saying about a babymoon... although we only mastered it a few weeks ago, feeding while asleep would have been a saviour during our first few weeks.

We co-sleep some of the time (DS suffers too much from wind the following morning if we do it all night, and I fall straight to sleep if I feed lying down so never get a chance to burp him!) so at our ~5am feed he comes into bed with me - I lay on my side or back with DS in the crook of my arm, and I latch him on, then drift off to sleep. He drifts off too, and just wriggles/grumbles a little while when he wants latching on again, I sort of wake up, latch him back on and go back to sleep.

If you're knackered give it a try - you might need to experiment with positions, but it is quite safe if your DC is completely on top of the duvet, or if you replace the duvet with blankets / sheets, make sure pillows are out of the way, and make sure your mattress isn't too soft. I also have a kids bed guard on my side of the bed to make me feel safer, although the only way DS has ever wriggled is closer to me! If you're worried, try doing it with DP / a friend around so they can check on you both regularly to ease your mind. You'll soon find that if you can get the latching on bit right, you'll get comfortable with the rest

he has fed for an hour and a half now and still crying. am going to change nappy in a minute to see if that is making him unhappy but i think he is hungry as he's still rooting around. mother and baby both getting very fed up and unhappy now. i have fed for 2 and a half hours out of the last three and a half. can't stand seeing him being unhappy and crying much longer.

VS, my DS fed fine for the first 3 weeks... It was at 3+ weeks that I found myself in the same position as OP. I took myself to the baby clinic as I was very worried and DS' tongue-tie was diagnosed. It was snipped very quickly but the feeding got worse.

The bf-ing counsellor said DS actually fed okay (even with the TT). My feeling is that it was when he required more from me that the problems emerged... Believe me, I nearly killed myself trying to bf. I did everything people suggested - abandoning everything and basically just bf - to no avail. Even the bf counsellor was at wits' end with me and eventually asked about past medical problems and we kinda put two and two together. I can't say for sure that my tumour was the cause of my bf-ing problems but it is likely.

It's easy to dismiss possibilities if you have never come across it. I'm only trying NOT to make OP feel like I did in those desperate times. My suggestion would be for her to go to a baby clinic near her to actually see someone who could diagnose latch, feeding issues...

i am going to lie down now as getting too tired, dh is home so is going to take baby and see if he will settle without feeding any more for now. have arranged to go to bf drop in centre on wednesday, also community midwife and health visitor here tomorrow, so hoping that will give me some more support and identify if there's a problem. tks for all the messages.