Four week old saying she's still hungry after feed but then fussing and crying on breast - what's going on?

[AnybodyHomeMcFly]

Does she just want to suckle? But if so why's she fussing? I gave a dummy last night which did seem to work but I'm worried that will mean I'm denying her feeding demands... if that's what it is.

Happening in the evenings btw (right now in fact)

i'm just amazed she's talking! ;)

In the evenings its quite likely that she is still hungry as that's when your supply is normally lowest.

Could she be fussing because of wind (my DS suffered badly) or perhaps its not coming quickly enough for her. You can try breast compression to help speed up the milk flow and see if that stops her fussing.

Evenings are just awful in the early days and I gave up trying to figure out why mine was actually crying. I'm not convinced even the babies know what the issue is in the evenings.

Sorry that probably wasn't very helpful, was it? I hope you get it figured out, but if you don't just remember it will sort itself out within a few weeks anyhow.

AnybodyHome that is EXACTLY like DS was. He would do the same thing - root for breast after a feed, but then unlatch after about 5 seconds or so and cry. I would get him back on and it would happen a few times before I gave up trying! I found giving him a finger to suck on was the only thing which would settle him at this time - so we gave in and reluctantly gave him a dummy. I had the same concerns as you, but at 6.5 months now he's never had formula and his weight gain has only been questioned once by a HV who seemed obsessed with her charts - I wasn't worried about his weight at that time and he is definitely fine now anyway. Also, he spontaneously decided to give up the dummy last week with absolutely no prompting from me whatsoever

I think try the dummy - if DS was genuinely still hungry, he wouldn't take it, but he did go through a phase of wanting it after pretty much every feed.

Arf goodnightmoon
She's headbanging (occasionally hitting her nose on my chest which doesn't improve her mood!) and doing that uh-uh-uh hungry cry thing.
She has now fallen asleep which is good...

I think a lot of them do this.

With my DD I put it down to a combination of wanting to suck/cluster feed and some wind. I gave her Infacol, winded her whenever she came off the breast and let her feed for as long as she wanted (got comfy with a book and the TV remote in bed). It passes really soon, honestly.

Oh yes - sorry - just to add, I would always offer the other breast to check first until I got to know when he wanted more and when he wanted the dummy. But again if I offered the dummy and he was still hungry he would refuse it anyway.

Thanks Cherry Choc that's good to hear

Also at about 4 weeks I reckon my supply was starting to regulate so she wasn't getting a faceful of milk with minimum effort, which made my DD a bit frustrated (lazy thing).

And yes I have been offering both breasts, sometimes swapping several times. She def cluster feeds which I don't have a problem with.

Have you checked for thrush? My DS had this when he was a couple of weeks old, he was really hungry but his mouth hurt so he kept coming off and crying, like you describe. Might be worth checking, just to rule it out.

Off to make tea while I can (she's asleep!). Thanks all

I feel for you McFly!! Don't wanna trivialise your experience AT ALL by sayin i been thro same wi DD1 and DD2, this is so normal and babys do stuff without a reason thaht we can see so much. But as this is so early in your relationship wi her you just can,t know her really well yet, just trust her and go with your instincts... Having said that she may not actually be hungry just kinda dicombobulated (love that word)In that case put her in a good sling or pram or wheelbarrow and walk her til she calms. If she is hungry DON'T give her a bottle unless you are prepared to scale down your milk production at this early stage, as milk is made to meet demand and if, as seems likely, she is increasing her demend due to growth spurt or whatever, then you need to let her suckle lots and try to nourish self and drink lots fluids- allowing your body to up its milk output.

I was advised to swap sides every 2 hours when they're cluster feeding - it worked for us.