baby crying during feeding

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Hi there - I am a completely new mother so maybe someone can help me out.

My baby is 3 weeks old and just in the last few days has started screaming blue murder during and after feeding and even while trying to latch on. I think sometimes her latch is not perfect as she is often windy and needs burping but it is more than that I think eg: sometimes she will be latched on and feeding well and then will suddenly pull off, arching her back and wailing even though she has had a good feed. I am a bit disconcerted as up until now she always slept after a feed and seemed very contented and I don't think I am doing anything differently.

Someone has suggested that she may have a lactose intolerance and I should try cutting out cows milk products from my diet so I am going to give this a go tomorrow, but does anyone have any other ideas?? Or is this just something which babies do??

Many thanks for any advice, i am feeling a little despondent that my milk is making her so unhappy

It's possible that she's going through a bit of a growth spurt - lots of babies seem to have them at around 3wo, all 3 of mine certainly did.

Until your milk supply catches up with her new requirements, which should take a couple of days or so, she will be a bit cross during feeds and probably feeding much more frequently as she's not getting quite enough.

The pulling off and screaming in the middle of a feed may well be because the let down has stopped and she's not getting any milk. If she's hungry and impatient then she may not want to wait for another let down.

If you don't already, the best way to deal with it, ime, is to swap sides as soon as she starts fussing, as there will be more milk sitting behind the nipple, ready to go, rather than her having to work hard to stimulate another let down. Then you can swap back again if she fusses again, and repeat ad infinitum .

(I'm not sure if I'm explaining this very clearly - it's late! - so hopefully someone else can explain the technical bits more clearly .)

Hello Novicemama, Your milk is not making her unhappy! Your milk is making her a beautifully healthy baby, but sometimes babies' behaviour takes a bit of figuring out.
Yes, the crying could be for any of the reasons mentioned, but my babies also cried during feeds if they were tired and couldn't latch on properly because they were tired and scratchy. Seek expert advice from a bf counsellor (ideally one who comes out and sits with you for the full duration of a feed) but always, always follow your instincts. You might not think you have an instinct as a first-timer, but you really do (cos I look back at my first time experiences and realise it was that tiny voice that generally turned out to be right).
There's also a lot to be said for taking to your bed with the baba and feeding and sleeping together for as long as you both like - both mine fed better skin-to-skin, lying down, able to drop off if they wanted to. Ahh, the luxuries of having the first-born...
But keep it up, you're doing a great thing.

novice, whoever has told you to cut out cows milk from your diet because of lactose intolerance can safely be ignored - there will always be lactose in your milk, whatever your diet, as this is an unavoidable ingredient of breastmilk.

If they mean 'cows milk protein intolerance' then they should say so ... but even then the symptoms are rarely what your daughter is showing.

I second the suggestion to get someone expert to watch you feed and to talk it through. It could be you have a very powerful letdown which she is finding difficult to cope with at the moment, for example. It could be impatience with a slow let down, too. Not possible to say...get someone in

thanks everyone for the really good advice - I am going to go to bf clinic on Monday and see what they think. Of course, predictably she has been feeding like a dream today...

I had a similar problem with my dd who is now nearly 5 months. At times it had me in tears because I felt so inadequate about it. For us the problem did seem to be wind, and it was worse in the evenings as she was much less able to cope with being sore when she was tired.

I ended up stopping feeding when she started crying, very quickly offering the other side but stopping altogether if that didn't work. I'd try to forget completely about that feed and wait until she asked again for food even if that was an hour later. It's hard if you've read Gina Ford etc and feel like you're doing something wrong if you can't feed your baby in 20mins and then not need to think about it again for hours but I don't suppose that is the reality for very many people.

In the last few weeks things have really improved with my dd and it's hard to remember we ever had a problem, her weight gain has always been fine through all of this. So do hang in there