can you overfeed a bf baby? - wind, posset, discomfort etc

[gingersarah]

Hello all bf experts,

My first baby is 16 days old and in the past couple of days she has been apparently having some real discomfort which I am guessing is digestive. She was very calm and placid up until recently, but has started crying spontaneously and looking in pain. She has always been a very possety baby and when I wind her, I can't tell if she is done or not - no matter how thoroughly she seems to burp the chances are she will bring up more air or matter in a few minutes / a little while, sometimes big volumes of yogurty looking, digested looking stuff.

She loves to feed and appears to "ask" often for the breast. Am I overfeeding her?
What can I do to ease her discomfort?

her nappies look normal and she is putting on weight on the same curve she was born on (big - 9lb) so far.

Thank you!

Hi gingersarah,
A lot of babies suffer from colic at this age, both of my dc's used to draw their legs to their chests and had a real high pitched scream. I think you're right in thinking it's wind, colic remedies could help, eg-infacol. To help with wind sometimes it eases them if you lay them on their tummy over your lap, on a cushion. The stuff shes bringing up sounds completely normal, both of mine used to, ds1 much more so. It's really good in the early days that she's at the breast a lot as it will increase your milk supply if she's suckling. It is almost impossible to overfeed a breastfed baby as such, but I did find with ds1 that I fed him sometimes when he was tired or something other than hunger was bothering him, so he wasn't neccessarily crying due to hunger. To be honest it sounds like you're doing brilliantly.

if it is reflux, the signs are (IME): pain when lying flat on back (ie when changed, sleeping, getting changed); choking or gurgling when feeding; posseting; painful cry which can't be eased.

You can't really overfeed when bfing but you may be exacerbating the problem by feeding too close together. With DD1 the first thing the hopsital did was to help me get her into a rough 3 hour feeding routine, then they put her on meds (Ranitidine and Domperidone) - within a few hours I had a completely different baby. (It took about three months for diagnosis though).

Th putting on weight is encouraging - you're obviously doing v well ;)

FB me if you like! xx