Strange breastfeeding behaviour - what's going on?

[Essie3]

DS who is 11 weeks has always been a good feeder, and is exclusively bfed. Great weight gain, I've had oversupply , and he's an extremely sucky baby. He occasionally gets a bottle of ebm in the night from DH.
Yesterday, he was acting strangely: feeding for a few minutes, then pulling off, getting distressed, crying, flailing, arching his back. I tried winding, to no avail (well, he burped but didn't go back on to feed properly). Last evening he produced a greenish nappy (so not enough of the hind milk). I put it down to a bad day, and he fed well for his night feed, and fed well for his first feed of the day (both lying down).
Just tried to feed him now and the same odd behaviour happened - pulling off, screaming, distress.
I carried him upstairs and put him down on the bed (whilst I wiped some chocolate off myself; that's another story ) and he screamed as if hungry. So I fed him lying down and he took it fine.

Any ideas what's going on here? Is he actually rejecting the nipple? I thought not, seeing as he feeds ok at night and first thing. Or is this some sort of rejecting sitting-up-feeds? That would be hugely inconvenient!

Sorry about the long post. Any advice welcomed!

any chance he could have thrush? we have it at the mo and this is exactly how i found out!

i had this exact problem with DS when he was that age and a bit older. i think at the time i just gave up and fed him lying down for a while. i had oversupply as well and i think he could just latch on better in that position. are your breast really really full when you try to feed him? (full like rock hard) sometimes i would express a bit to soften my breast and that would help.
probably not much help but just wanted you to know that i had been there and i think you are doing fabulously!

Could he be colicky?

Greenish nappy can also mean that he has a bit of a tummy upset.

Babies rarely reject the nipple.

Could indeed be thrush, if he has a sore patch on a particular place in his mouth he will try to avoid that.

Try rugby hold feeding, put him on a cushion next to you, legs under your arm, it takes a bt of practice but many babies like it.

Ooh, how can I check for thrush?

My oversupply isn't quite as bad as it was now purplemonkey, so I haven't felt I needed to express some off.
DH (not an expert but trying to be helpful ) suggested that maybe he's got bigger and isn't so comfortable in my arms? Whereas he's in control when we're lying down?

We should start a support thread for ladies with oversupply! I found it quite distressing at first. Now I find it funny, but my SOH is all based around poo and boobs these days.

look in the mouth witha little torch for white patches

Essie -my ds acted exactly the same way around that stage and I also had oversupply problems. Another option is maybe he's starting teething early and his gums are a bit sore in that position?

Essie3 mine also did this and I too had over supply and it came out very forcefully. If they pulled off at the wrong moment everyone around would get covered . I was recommended to try and feed lying down, I found it tricky but it sounds like it worked for you. Both my DCs only really settled at the breast after 15 weeks. Colief drops helped DD as she got very colicy from the fast let down etc and I remember taking her off them at 12 weeks and the problems all starting again, so I kept them up for another few weeks. DS would scream and arch and pull off, again he only got less fussy after 12 weeks. See if this helps

Oh, meant to add that throughout all the problems with both of mine they always fed fine at night. Apparently that is also common with over supply, everyone much more relaxed at night. I was also told not to wait until baby was screaming to feed because once they got upset and frustrated, then if the milk flew out it made things 10 times worse. I would tend to try and anticipate a bit when they needed feeding so we could get started before the screaming commenced.

man, kellymom is brilliant isn't it?
great link wags!

My son used to react like that if I'd eaten something that upset his tummy or that he didn't like....

Orange juice was one culprit that would make him fussy and would give green nappies as would my one cup of decaf coffee that allowed myself to have for a week or so after he was born.

Wags, thank you thank you thank you! That's exactly what's going on here, and like you, fine at night. The link is SUPERB! (I even have a name for my 100mls-a-minute boob problem, 'hyperlactation'!
Feeding lying down has helped, but gradually today he's gone back to persevering (rather than giving up and producing green poo) and we're getting normal nappies.

Also, great to meet others with hyperlactation. Wish I'd posted 10 weeks ago!

we had similar situation and in fact we mostly feed lying down now. lazy monkies!

Essie, glad it was helpful. Kellymom is a fab site isn't it