Can't understand my baby

[sammyjayneex]

Sometimes I think there is something wrong with my baby. He is 6 weeks old on Tuesday and is fully breast fed. He has always been a good feeder but now it seems like she's not interested in feeding and only when I put him to the breast he will feed reluctantly. But if I put him over my shoulder he will root about and then bite his fingers. So why has he suddenly stopped being interested in feeding but will bite his hands? I suspected could he be teething early because He cries a lot. When he's not asleep or feeding he will winge apart from the odd five minutes where he will smile and coo but he seems like he's always crying and it's hard to settle him. It's not a high pitched cry more like a constant winge and if you ignore it he will then scream. He will also wake up at the slightest noise, you have to be so quite for him to stay asleep which is difficult when I have other children. My girls where never like this. My first did have colic though where she would scream for hours. I'm wondering whether my son could have something wrong with him?
He just doesn't seem happy.

If you're worried I would take him to be checked out but apart from being off his bf he sounds very much like my DS2 in the first few months. He bf all the time, if he wasn't feeding/sucking he was crying. He was impossible to take any where as he hated the pushchair and car seat. I spent most of the first 3 months on the settee feeding and watching box sets. He was the total opposite to DS1 who was a very content baby.
He was an early teether and he was always dribbling and biting his hands. Maybe that's why he was so grumpy, who knows. He's 11 months now and still not as smiley as DS1 was but he's definitely better. He still likes a whinge though

I just can't cope with him anymore

He never sleeps. He messes at the breast all the time coming on off on off so I take him away and he just cries. It's really hard to get him to sleep and it's making me really angry. I can't get anything done, can't go anywhere on my own coz he's always crying when I leave him with DH. He never goes to sleep for long. I can't cope. I'm losing my patience. It's took me 2 and half hours to try get him to sleep tonight and he's still awake fussing about messing winging. He won't stay on the breast long enough to get him to sleep, he won't take a dummy. DH fucked off to the gym at 20:00 leaving me to it. All he does is pass the baby to me telling me to breast feed him when he won't feed. I've had enough and have all these thoughts running through my head feel like just leaving this baby

DD did this. I moved over to expressing as she took breast milk from a bottle easier. After developing eczema at 10 weeks it now looks like she has severe food allergies and she was having a reaction to my breast milk. we're waiting on the blood results from the allergist.

Other symptoms were snotty nose, terrible gas and being fucked off 24/7. She's on a dairy and soya free formula now along with her eczema being treated, and like a different child.

Op I think you need to ask for your post to be put in a busier topic like chat.

You must be exhausted! Looking after a fussy baby and older DC too! I really feel for you! Have you told your DH how you feel? What about hv or gp??

My ds1 was quite a. Fussy baby. I don't think we ever got the latch sorted - has anyone taken a look at yours? Feeding sounded similar to yours and was very difficult. I avoided going out anywhere in case he had to be fed. Other mums would just pop baby on and baby would feed, but mine would wiggle, on, off, on, off scream a bit, then repeat!!!

He was also very colicky. But he seemed to settle from around 10/12 weeks. I took him to see a cranial osteopath, and I believe it worked but DH wasn't so sure (he is very sceptical)

Please, please talk to someone in RL about your concerns!

OP do get him checked out but even if there are no medical reasons it will get better. DS2 is torally different now than he was at 12 weeks. Accepting that he wasn't the chilled out character that DS1 was helped. It's so difficult but it will pass.

Get him checked for tongue tie.
Try expressing some milk first use hot flannel as it may be either milk not letting down quickly and he gets frustrated or not too much and he can't latch on properly. Either way if you put warm flannel on breast it will ease it if you express a bit. Just hand express will do. Your milk will be in and you might be a bit enjoyed which makes it harder to feed.
If this doesn't work see if there is a Breast feeding counsellor near you. They can pinpoint quickly what is the problem. If nothing else it might give you support and reassurance. You are doing a good job. It's early days still.

Agree with getting checked for tongue tie or food intolerance. Coming on and off while feeding is a big sign of it

Could the heat be affecting him? My little one was very ratty and wasn't feeding well. I stripped him down to a nappy and put a fan on, I gave him some cooled boiled water which settled him enough to feed.

DD was like this, diagnosed with silent reflux at 5 weeks and ranitidine helped enormously. Boots gripe mixture was also a miracle cure for her. She preferred feeding in an upright position or laying on my tummy with me laying almost flat. Hope things get better.

Thank you all. I don't think he has tongue tie but that's a good suggestion though thanks.
I did suspect a food intolerance could be a cause but not sure how I would check that. Reflux is also something I suspect as he does he hiccups every day at Least once or twice ( not sure if that's a symptom). He does 'cough' at the start of a feed so I'm thinking my milk could be coming out fast but could that cause him to be fussy/wings when he's not feeding? His poos are 'loud' as well. You can hear when his poo is coming out as he is pooing lol?

Wingy not wings

My baby started behaving just like this, wanting to feed, then pulling off the beast and screaming soon after. Also making a grumbling sound near constantly, unable to put down or get him to sleep. Turned out to be cows milk protein allergy. Only way to 'test' is to cut dairy out of your diet for 1 month or so, and see if things improve or not! Daunting at first but worth it if this is the cause!

My DS was like this. He just seemed like he didn't want to be on the outside. A very typical fourth trimester baby (google it if you haven't already). He got gradually better with every milestone and time was the only healer for him. He's still highly strung dramatic and bloody hardwork at 2yo. I convinced myself that he had allergies/wind/latch issues/anything that could explain him but it's just the way he was/is and I love him for it. 9wo DD on the other hand is a placid thing that only really cries if I am too busy dealing with my challenging toddler to notice she needs feeding - poor thing.

Seconding possible tongue tie suggestion. My son was like this until 4 weeks, every midwife (at hospital and at home) and HV missed it until we went to a breastfeeding clinic at the hospital and he was diagnosed with posterior tongue tie by lactation consultants. He's an absolute joy (most of the time) now that he's not constantly hungry!