4 month old ebf baby distressed and arching back when feeding

[LunaLoo21]

My 19-week-old exclusively breastfed baby is in so much distress during daytime feeds and it’s getting progressively worse. Her difficulties started around week 7 but this week has been horrific. She is cutting her feeds right down now, managing 4 minutes max before she starts arching her back, crying, and pulling off the breast in obvious pain. Sometimes is as little as 2 minutes so I'm worrying she isn't getting enough as she will then refuse to relatch for about an hour. When she burps you can hear the silent reflux, and this week she’s started being sick way more, but it’s clear and watery rather than milk-like.

We saw the infant feeding team at 10 weeks and they said her latch was absolutely fine. She also used to take a bottle but completely stopped around 8 weeks because she was struggling so much with the squirming and back arching. I originally thought it might be my fast flow but she did the exact same thing on the bottle with slow flow teats, so it wasn't that.

At night she wakes every 1.5- 2 hours and feeds every wake up. I'm not sure if this is the 4 month sleep regression or if she's just genuinely hungry from her rubbish daytime feeds. At night she feeds perfectly fine with absolutely no back arching or crying at all.

We saw a GP 2 weeks ago who prescribed Gaviscon but because her daytime feeds are so short it’s getting impossible to administer halfway through. Then today we saw a second GP who totally dismissed it and said he doesn't think it's reflux because "most breastfed babies don't suffer from reflux." He reckoned it’s colic, but surely at nearly 5 months old and getting worse it can't be colic? He also said most breastfed babies don't get colic? I thought colic peaked at 6 weeks and cleared up by now.

She's having plenty of wet and dirty nappies and i think he weight gain is fine (going to get this checked this week) so the doctor said hes not concerned and she'll grow out of it. But its awful seeing her in distress and we've had 12 weeks of this now. It really is affecting her feeding so i need to get to the bottom of it.

Has anyone got anyexperience of this and can offer any advice?

Thanks so much

I went though something similar with my first at around the same age. The back arching and refusal to latch. I think, for us, it was the four month nursing strike and increased distractibility. As you say that she feeds fine at night, it makes me think it might be a similar issue.

It helped to feed a quiet, dark room. Sometimes, it was much easier to get her to latch while I was standing up and then sit down.

We're coming up to four months with my second so I'm wondering if we're going to experience this again.

For us it was reflux due to CMPA. But we did also have poor weight gain and highly numerous poos. Friends with BF babies were having babies pooing once a day or every other day and mine was going 8+ times a day.

Thanks @ThatLoudCat , thats helpful. Qe'll try the dark, quiet room. Shes completely gone off the bottle which I think might be the 4 month fussy stage so maybe its affecting the boob too!

@FlyingHighFlyingLow same here with the poos! We used to laugh when she was born because we never changed a nappy without poo in it. She was going 8-10 times a day. This changed to 3 nappy explosions a day at 3 months. I have given up dairy and noticed her poos have improved massively. I accidently ate something with dairy in it and she had an explosion the next day so I wonder if it is CMPA. Although her other symptoms havent improved but ive only been at it 17 days. Maybe I need to give it longer or consider cutting soy?

You could try cutting dairy and soya out of your diet, to see if it’s CMPI/A.

Cross post!