14w ds acting oddly when feeding

[megthedog]

don't know what he's doing - he's started squirming while I'm feeding him, tensing up, burrowing his face into my underarm, pulling his legs up then jerking back suddenly - just totally unsettled. My nipple is getting stretched all over the place! I try burping him, which usually works, then when I put him back on it all starts again...

He appears to be hungry. I'm not 'forcing' him to feed, IYKWIM. He cries until I put him on but then won't settle. It's very frustrating, and I don't recall ds1 or dd doing this.

any ideas?

He is at the age when he could be being distracted by his surroundings. DD has been doing this for weeks, she is 19 wks now. Noises, me talking to someone and other people in the room cause her to twist around and yank herself off.

Also could be an uncomfortable position for him, earache on one side, early teething. Have you tried feeding him on a slope with his head higher than legs incase it is bad wind?

If he pulls on your nipple stick a finger in the corner of his mouth and take him off. I got a cracked nipple at the base after DD did this for a while which was agony. It may be that after a few times of you detaching him he gets the message and settles down.

My DS acts the same sometimes - I have found singing to him calms him down enough to feed. Worth a try?

DD is same age and we have some 'twisty' feeds. Sometimes it seems to be wind/poo related, sometimes there seems to be no reason.

This is second time around for me and I seem to remember that DS went through this phase too, and that it passed. Things that helped were gentle rocking/crooning while feeding, or going to quiet place.

Hi. My 13 wk DS does this too. The distracted thing is a real pain, but more often than not it's wind. I have found DS sometimes likes sitting up on my lap to feed (bit of a contortion but once he's settled on the boob I can often lay him back into a more normal feeding position), and other times switching sides works. Let me know if you find the answer!

Could he have reflux?

My DS used to have pretty bad wind problems which could only be resolved by him sucking. He would seem to want to feed, but when he got milk when all he wanted was to suck, he would get really upset and squirmy like you describe. Once we had cottoned on to the fact that it was about sucking, we'd offer a finger and he would happily suck away until he had either burped or farted the wind out.

It passed by about the 16 week mark though and he barely has any windy issues at all now.

hi all, thanks for the replies..

it seems to be wind to me, so I burp him, which he bearly always needs, or occasionally a wee fart pops out, but the squirming continues! He's not quite at the being distracted stage yet so I don't think it's that - he starts getting upset and no amount of soothing clams him down, so I end up pulling him off me for a while.

I think it may be related to tiredness, hence the burrowing 'away' from me into my armpit. He rarely falls asleep when he's all het up though. It's doing my head in! He used to be such an efficient feeder, I hope this is just a phase.

I wish there was just a guide book that told you definitively what each and every movement or sound meant!

meg, I'm on DC No3 as well and this one is a complete conundrum too. Dh and I used to sit and look at him when he was tiny, all squirmy and crying, after trying every trick in our arsenal thinking "what is wrong with this child?"

I hope things are easier for him/you today