EBF 4 week old advice please

[napa]

Hi, hope someone can help. Its a long story so good luck to those reading it!

I am currently ebf 4 week old DS. He is my second baby and I ebf DD until she was 13 months old, not without problems - never seemed to have enough milk, she failed to gain weight and then started losing weight in the first few months and I was pretty stressed about it. This time my one worry was that the same 'lack of milk/weight loss' issue would happen again, instead DS never went below birth weight and on day 10 was 6 oz over his birth weight. He has not been weighed since.

However I now have nipple thrush, got treatment today so just need that to start working!!

My main concern is now back to whether my milk is depleting. Until this week he has mostly fed well 2-3.5 hrly on demand - wakes up latches on feeds for 20 ish minutes on one side, nappy change and cuddle/play, then a little feed on the other side until he falls asleep. My boobs have always felt full, and if he sleeps for more than 2 hrs, have felt very full and have been leaking.

This week he has been fussing at the breast a lot of the time, pulling around, on and off, clawing at the breast at times, rarely feeding until he falls asleep, and my breasts feel completely soft now, even after his longest gap between feeds, and are not leaking any more.

He is still having plenty of wet nappies and several dirty nappies a day.

So questions to all you experts...

Is it likely that my milk supply has settled down already? Or do I not have enough milk any more? If so what should I do to boost it?

DS also seems to have oral thrush - have treatment for him but is this likely to be the cause of his fussing at the breast? Or any other ideas why? Could he be so fidgety because there is not enough milk for him?

Thanks very much

I think if you did not have enough milk, your baby would not just fuss at the breast, but cry with hunger and also not produce the wet and soiled nappies you mention.

I don't know about the oral thrush but from your OP I don't think there is any evidence of insufficient milk.

Sounds like a growth spurt to me. Many babies have one around 6 weeks but it can be any time really. My DS was exactly like this at 6 weeks.

Info from Kellymom on babies fussing at the breast here.

If you are feeding on demand and baby doesn't have any medical issues you should be producing enough milk.

Soft breasts and no leaks aren't an indication that you don't have enough milk. More likely, you are producing just the right amount - or if it's a growth spurt, your supply is increasing to match his demand.

thanks for that kelly mom link, lots of good information on there and things seem to be better!!

I am not an expert on thrush, but I believe you need to treat both him and you at the same time.

It is ... well, I want to say unlikely, but really I mean extremely unlikely, vanishingly unlikely, that your supply is bad.

It is normal for supply to settle down, and for you to stop leaking. It is also normal for the baby to start taking more, meaning your breasts are not painfully full any more.

The thrush worries me a bit though - have you been on antibiotics? Have you got any other health issues?

Are you sure it is thrush and not lazy latch or similar?

Thank you the supply worries do seem to have settled, breasts back to being fuller and he is more settled.

Not sure how/why I got thrush. Have not been on antibiotics. I had noticed sore red nipples for a week or two (painful for anything to touch them etc) so checked latch and was really strict about him latching on, esp at night where I had been feeding in very dim light so not sure about latch, but the nipple pain was not getting better. Then started noticing itchiness and by friday was very painful to the point that I was concerned about feeding him as I was worried it would hurt afterwards! He also had the classic white layer on his tongue, not just after feeding either.

We are both having treatment (DH picked up prescription on friday evening so nearly 48 hrs). Hope it works!!