6 month old STILL struggles to breastfeed.

[JustMePlus3]

I emphasise the still because this has been a consistent problem since birth, nothing new. Every feed while she’s awake is a battle, she latches on and off, cries, arches her back, rolls on and off the boob, she will only feed in side laying position while doing all the above things, any other position and she will scream and refuse completely,

we’ve done elimination diets, no caffeine, no soy, no milk, no wheat, no gassy foods, the job lot and it made no difference.
shes on liquid omeprazole for reflux, hasn’t made a difference.
all the burping and gas elimating things we can think off, no success.

im just at a total loss on what to do now, im not even looking for advice at this point because everything people have suggested we’ve tried and nothing helps, im just wondering if anyone else has been through the same, and if so did it get better or am i wasting my sanity on this? I wanted to nurse her into toddlerhood but i dont think she’s going to want to 💔 it just seems to cause her so much discomfort.

im ordering a electric pump next week and going to try introducing some bottles to try save my sanity but even that breaks my heart to do, i just want to nurse my baby without her getting upset I don’t understand why something so natural just isn’t working even after all this time 😢

we’ve been to see a paediatrician the only response you get is ‘colic’ but at 6 months I’d of expected to see at least some improvement and just nothing, absolutely nothing, we’re in the same position we was months ago I just don’t know what’s going on 😣

@Bagpuss77thats sheer determination! Appreciate your sympathy’s, sometimes I wonder how we got this far, but we just take it day by day, my first goal was 6 months and we’ve done that, my main goal was to feed her till 1 years old, so if I think about it like that we’re already half way there, and even if I can’t continue to feed her threw the day and I have to pump for her il still feel ever so privileged that I get to feed her at night 🥰 thank you for sharing

When you say you tried eliminating milk from your diet, how strict were you? My baby has a dairy and soy allergy and sounds exactly like yours. I had to stop all dairy and soy, no biscuits, nothing even cooked in butter, no takeaways ever as restaurants use soy in their cooking etc. It took 2 weeks and he was transformed. Reflux, arching his back, being unhappy, latching on and off were his "only" symptoms.

Dr was not concerned as he was gaining weight but he was so so unbelievably unhappy. We confirmed his CMPA when weaning.

Interestingly, my son was diagnosed as Coeliac recently and we’ve gone through phases of wondering if he’s also lactose intolerant….

It is so difficult, isn't it... I have three children with varying degrees of digestion related issues, food intolerances and allergies - ages 16 to 20 now. It is easy to assume that the rash is related to food, which might be the actual trigger, but the underlying dysbiosis, structural issues in the mouth and neck and the impact of medications (PPI and anti fungal agents) all add to the picture... and it is really challenging to get help, not least because there is no clear answer. I remember having a conversation with a GP which included the phrase 'we do not treat these symptoms in babies' and 'we do not fully understand the long term impacts'. .. and maybe these babies just arrive here with these underlying issues.. and all we can do is work out the best way to support them.

@Nonna88we were really strict with it from her being 4 weeks old until she was 5 months old when the dietitian told us that since they was no change to slowly add things back in as not exposing her to them if she had no problems with them could actually cause more issues down the line, we’re still under the guidance due to us starting weaning, but they’res no concerns there in relation to allergies at the moment, and funnily enough I still have oat milk with everything as I prefer it over cows milk now 😅

@ChateauMargauxyeah all we can do is keep preserving, and speaking of anti fungals she had her first dose of nystatin at around 2pm and was very upset for the rest of the evening so I think it upset her tummy, weird though because I didn’t notice it last time she took it, maybe just coincidence? And I imagine the omeprazole could make her nauseous as I take it myself and get waves of nausea and often think if it’s giving her the same side effects, hoping her digestive system catches up soon so the poor girl can relax, on day 13 without a poo yet as well, poor baby just can’t catch a break 🥺

Have they swabbed to check for thrush? My daughter was mistakenly treated for it for quite a few weeks until a lactation consultant said it looked like milk pooling from a severe tongue tie- I would never have known had I not asked for feeding support at a mums’ group

Ds had a tongue tie which was assessed straight away and as he was gaining well they decided it was fine to leave it as it was. Had it reassessed at about 6 weeks because he was tortured with wind and it just didn't feel like his latch was good and same response. Between 4 and 5 months his weight plummeted because he couldn't get enough milk to sustain himself and again we were assessed and they said it might help or might not but I'd need to go private to get out released. Paid to get it done by a local dentist and it resolved our issues overnight and I was kicking myself that I didn't do it sooner even just to rule it out.

It took 5 minutes from we arrived until we left the appointment and ds didn't even flinch. I would recommend it even just so you know you've covered all your bases.

@Sophie3003 yes we was both swabbed a around 6 weeks ago and both came back positive, took 3 weeks to clear it up, had another 3 weeks where everything was fine until the weekend where it’s came back again, caught it nice and early this time though so hopefully doesn’t take as long to resolve as last time although we’ll be taking extra precautions this time even when it seems to have cleared up just to ensure it doesn’t return

@JustMePlus3 it's been nearly 4 years since I was dairy free and still have oat milk in coffee and cereal. My partner now only has cows milk in tea and eats cheese otherwise prefers oat based alternatives over dairy.

Oh dear I’ve been reading what you wrote and I can’t believe what I’m reading it sounds like you are describing my daughter. She is exactly same. I’m wondering how are you doing. How are the feeds going and anything helping. I’m sorry I don’t have any solution to the issues since I’m struggling with the same, only feeding normal while asleep but lately she has been fighting with naps so bad and her naps are on the breast that’s when she only feeds normal. I have a feeling she strugles with something while feeding but can’t figure out what she will only stay for one letdown and give up. It’s been so hard. She does have silent reflux and we seen dietitian since she has cmpa so wanted to mention maybe your little one could have some alergies. I found she reacts to foods from my diet. She is same age as your little one. My daughter was born in December last year. I’m just stunned thst what you described is exactly what we are experiencing. Please let me know how are you guys doing.

@Mybaby2024sorry to hear your having issues as well, it can be so hard not knowing what it is that’s wrong, we’re still in the same position really, even today we’re away with the kids and I saw some woman in our restaurant BFing her baby nicely while she sat and ate her food mean while my daughter was kicking and throwing herself around everywhere getting totally frustrated and struggling to maintain a deep enough latch, you could just hear all the noises she was making and her taking in air and it was just so frustrating for the both of us and I can’t lie I was so envious of the other lady I just wish that could be the case for us, we had a visit from breast feeding support worker who said our technique is perfect and isn’t the issue but she was unable to pin point what was going on so we’ve been referred to see the lactation consultant next Tuesday, il update you and let you know how we get on then and see if we’re any further to finding out what the problem is 🤞xx

@Mybaby2024 thank you for replying so fast, yeah hopefully one of us get to the root cause of this situation. Our problem is that my little one refuses to nurse, we have seen lactation consultant and cranial ostheopath, she does have a tongue tie but she is absolutely fine with a latch when she is half asleep or asleep and cutting the tie would not necessarily help also there is a chance of it reattaching after. My only assumption is that teflux is causing this, together with fast letdown. Let me how it goes hopefully you find the cause.

@Mybaby2024my little one turned 8 months old today and she’s finally feeding great! She lets me sit down now and has no issues at all now really feeding wise, seemed to come along at the same time as she discovered she could stick out her tongue, and I mean really stick it out, it was almost like she was fascinated by it, which is bizarre because they didn’t seem to think she had tongue tie but also said ‘if she does it will eventually release itself’ and that’s kinda almost like what I feel like must of happened, obviously I cannot be 100% sure but I’m just glad we’re finally at a place where feeding isn’t so stressful, I do hope things have improved for you xx

I am really glad things improved with feeding for you guys, Thans for the update I know how hard it is to find spare time with little ones. We are still struggling a bit she will only feed in bed with e next to her refuses any other way unfortunately, if she does it will be only a short few sucks and she stops. D