not satisfied after feeds

[modi]

Help! I am starting to hate the trauma of feeding my 12 week old. We were doing well with him doing 30-45min feeds every 3-4 hours round the clock. He was gaining weight fine although is on the 2nd centile. He has always been a very unsettled baby. He was diagnosed with reflux at 4 weeks and started on gaviscon which helped a bit. We were giving the gaviscon in 15ml of water after every feed. Since then he has never been satisfied at the end of a feed. He now feeds for 10 mins on one breast and then starts fussing, pulling off and crying. I have tried to keep him on for longer but fusses. It feels like he is fussing because he has emptied that breast as he is no longer swallowing. I then change him to the 2nd breast and he gulps again for about 10 mins and then does the same fussing. We then usually end the feed with him arching and screaming, and he eventually calms down after about 10 mins. I have tried winding him more often during the feeds but the minute he is taken off the breast he screams and arches. He is impossible to bend in the middle. He now feeds every 2-3 hours and will sleep from his last feed at 10.30ish to 6am. He is wetting his nappies fine and poos every couple of days and is putting weight on (but slowly).

I have borrowed some baby weighing scales and done pre- and post- weighings and I calculated he was getting 3-4oz with most feeds which seems just about acceptable to a 10lb baby. I have also tried topping him up with a couple of ounces of formula when he has one of these screaming fits and that seems to make it worse. I am really starting to dread feeding him and am considering giving up in another week or so when he reaches 3 months old. Does anyone have any suggestions about what this might be or does anyone have a similar experience. I can't feed him in public as it is so embarrassing.

Anyway, off to do another traumatic feed.

Sorry can't offer much concrete advice except to say try speaking to or making an appt with a breastfeeding counsellor. It sounds like you have done really well so far so it would be a shame if you had to give up as it sounds like you don't really want to. Commitment is the number one thing to suceeding at bfing so you've got a headstart! I guess you would have tried different feeding positions already given the reflux? Have you tried feeding expressed milk from a bottle? You could try this in the interim to top him up rather than formula & feed in public until you have got over this. (& if you do try this then I would recommend an electric pump to make it easier).

if he does suffer from reflux try and get ranitidine prescribed, it really helps with the acid coming back which leads to back arching and screaming. My prem ds is on ranitidine and domperidone for the reflux and after a few weeks messing about trying to get the doses right the ranitidine really helps. As for feeding him in public - I tend to do half feeds when out as taking a smaller feed stops the hunger cry, but a larger feed leads to the reflux cry. I decided it would work itself out in the wash and that worrying about it didn't help me or him. It does mean I don't get 3 hours in the day, but I still get it overnight so I'll take that.

Unfortunatley in my experience botle feeding (expressed milk) sometimes makes the reflux worse, although its sometimes better. I just do what seems best on a case by case basis. Last week I thought he was giving up on breast, this week it seems to be bottles.....