3 month old BF baby being massively sick after most feeds - bad latch?

[DrSkidaddle]

OK he's doing fine, 91st percentile, happy, goes 2-3 hours btwn feeds in the day and up to 5 hours at night. HOWEVER, he is very often sick after a feed, sometimes straight after, sometimes up to an hour afterwards. Usually it is just milk, sometimes it is sort of curdled. Sometimes it is accompanied with a burp (and sometimes screaming), sometimes it just pours out and doesn't seem to bother him at all. It can be up to a mug's worth, or even more.

Could this be due to a bad latch which causes him to gulp down too much air? Someone has suggested that it might be reflux and I have half-heartedly tried Gaviscon a couple of times but am not convinved.

Has anyone else experienced this? If it is reflux, will it just get better with time? Do I even need to worry about it if he is OK? TBH perhaps my biggest problem with it (apart from when he cries in pain) is having to change both his and my clothes several times per day! Thanks

I had this when my DS was about 3mo. My supply was good and rather than eating to appetite, DS was a guzzler and just drained me dry. He then either puked up what he didn't need pretty much straight away, or sometimes up to an hour afterwards. The longer it was after the feed, the more curdled (i.e. digested) it appeared.

The problem sorted itself out as his capacity for milk increased and he suddenly just stopped being sick.

I found a good way of preventing having to get changed all the time was to change his nappy straight after a feed. I put a muslin square under his head on the changing mat. The pressure of the new nappy going on round his stomach would generally trigger the puking. The muslin would catch the sick, and a dry corner could be used to mop his face.

would check out reflux with GP and also decide whether what comes out of the other end is ok. My DS1 was like this and I had no idea that his fizzy poo meant he was allergic to cows milk....if only I'd had MN back then!! If not then no worries, they sometimes gulp an awful lot of air. At three months they're going towards a Biiiigggg growth spurt and are insatiably hungry iirc.

thanks both, so do you think all is well and I should just live with it? feel a bit ridiculous going to my GP for something so trivial

great tip for catching the puke MissM - will def try that...

his poo is fine btw so I don't think he's having any problems digesting it at that end at least!

My DS was a guzzler, and would always puke up after a feed as he got rid of what he didn't actually need. My HV described him as a happy chucker, and it suited him perfectly

I think some babies are just chuckers.

If he is growing well, feeding/sleeping well and is quite happy then I wouldn't worry about it.

Just check your clothes before going out!

Agree with Morloth. Both my DDs were sick after their feeds. When folk would hold DD2 I would always warn them "She'll be sick - sorry" and then got fed up apologising, after all it wasn't me being sick on them! Thank God DD2 is now onto solids and sick less often! You just have to have a big supply of muslins/bibs!

Ds was greedy and quite simply took too much!!! However he is now on solids and can still be sick when he has too much.....he doesnt seem to know when to stop. It is getting better though. i gave up on bibs and tie dyed some muslins and use them instead!!!! also small smart price hand towels from asda work a treat for mopping up. xx

well I think he is just greedy then! He is an absolute monster (going into 6-9 month clothes and only 3 months today...) I do sometimes wonder if I overfeed him as he is my 3rd and I often feed him in anticipation - e.g. before school run, when other DC are relatively calm, when I know I need to make dinner soon etc

Have to say I don't even both checking clothes anymore - just walk around smelling of puke with white streaks all over me, I know I know, I am irresistible

Nobody thinks it's a bad latch then?

i dont think so....but i am no expert??!! my ds is huge too....24lb at 24 weeks and in 9-12 month clothes. i was told you cant overfeed a bf baby.....i fed whenever he wanted and dud the same as you..... a top up before the school run etc.....thats the fab thing about bf .....you can do that!!!!!!!

Not necessarily skidaddle , my ds puked constantly until he was 6 months, I bought a very long trench coat and found that it covered most of the vom stains during the school run .

Its probably that he's just a piglet, he knows (being no3) he's got to take the opportunity to feed when you offer it because sometimes you will be busy, my no 3 was the same v fast efficient feeder.

You could try taking him of after the 1st let down has finished and winding him. Then put him back for the rest of the feed. Sometimes if they gulp a bit through the 1st let down they can take in a bit of air, which finally comes up pushing out the feed.

Sounds like you're doing great even if you are a bit vom stained !

KAQ's advice is sound about trying to wind him mid-feed, if indeed he's taking in air rather than just being a guzzler. However, prepare yourself for some serious screaming if he thinks his feed has been interrupted prematurely.

My DS howls if I don't swap him between Boob 1 and Boob 2 quite quickly enough for his liking. I have a matter of milliseconds before the elderly start tutting about me letting him get so hungry he's screaming. Answer to this at home of course is just to sit around with both boobs out and at the ready. Not so easy in M&S cafe.

FWIW, I'm no real expert, but I don't think its anything to do with latch.

I know this isn't for everyone, but with one of mine who was a fast guzzler, fantastically strong let-down, and me always in a hurry running after one of the other children, I tried bottling it instead and giving baby and still-warm bottle of milk to daddy It meant he couldn't either gobble it or get drowned trying to keep up with my fast-flow, we got the wide neck trendy-sounding Dr-somebody's [sorry wish I could remember who] bottles (I'm so not trendy but they worked!) Problem/ pukes did reduce significantly.

just re-read that and it sounds like the milk drowning the daddy
BABY, obv

dd1 and ds1 were both chuckers . interesting theory, gigglewitch.. dd2 couldn't bf (born without a suck lol) and wasn't a chucker... i do have super-go-faster boobs

ds1's best ever moment was when he upchucked all over my lovely best friends newly decorated bedroom wall, me, and her. it was like a scene from a horror movie. he just lay there and chuckled to himself whilst we flapped like drowned chickens. (she re-decorated).

ds1 was a complete pig. really. he screamed blue murder every two hours on the dot and nothing except boob would shut him up. he was over 16lbs at 11 weeks.

KAQ - I have tried winding him after the first let down and you're right MissM he is NOT HAPPY but it does sometimes mean the rest of the feed is OK. So I reckon it is that he gulps down air - he is rarely calm once my boob is out (even if he was fine just before the feed) and so doesn't feed very calmly at first. Once he has had a bit of milk he is a bit more civilised . But then again that doesn't explain the pukes an hour after a feed...

gigglewitch - I do actually like your idea but WHEN WHEN WHEN am I going to find the time to express [hmmm, perhaps about now instead of spending all evening MNetting...]???

Nickoftime at your friend having to redecorate and also at your DS's weight - puts my 16lb at 16 week old DS to shame!

Did anyone with a pukey baby consider reflux as a cause or is that quite different?

Could you have a fast let down and oversupply?

Does any of this sound familiar

If it is oversupply, it is fairly easily remedied.

wow that does sound like me, mawbroon - thanks very much. Will try all the suggestions there and see if it helps.

Hope it helps DrSkidaddle

I'm assuming this is now resolved..... Did you ever get to the bottom of the cause and/or find a solution? Am searching cos my DD has just started doing the same. I can't put her down for ages after a feed cos the sick is clearly sat there waiting to come up and is causing her pain (sorry TMI!).

thevirginmummy how old is your baby? My dad has been like this since about 10 weeks and seems to slowly be growing out of it at 5 months. Nothing really 'worked', it just seems to have been a case of waiting it out

Oh dear, obviously not my dad, stupid autocorrect. Dd!

Lol. Glad your Dad has grown out of it!

She's twenty weeks and it's started in the past few weeks. She had it when she was a few weeks old but then it stopped. It seems worse now cos she's older, wrigglier, and there's more of it! I'm wondering if it's something I'm eating as I've been trying to be a bit healthier lately. Fruit? Oats? Bugger it - pass the cakes!

My little one was the same took her to the docs and said she was just full of wind and suggested infacol :)