Baby crying while breastfeeding

[harrietm87]

My 3 week old has started crying while he's feeding, shouting out and, which is particularly bad, pulling his head back with my nipple still in his mouth which really hurts! The first 2 weeks of breastfeeding were agony and I had about 3 days where it was pain free and great, and now this!

He's got a good latch and is over his birthweight, in perfect health.

I've googled and can't find anything conclusive - is it wind? Too much milk? Not enough? There doesn't seem to be a pattern to when he does it - all times of day and both breasts. I'd love him to stop it as worried about him damaging my nipples again!

When my little one (13 weeks) does this, it’s usually one of two things:

1. A bit of wind (so I turn him upright, give him a few gentle pats on the back, and wait til I get a decent burp)
2. A bit of shock from the letdown. I don’t think my letdown is usually particularly quick, but occasionally - when I can physically feel the letdown happening (which is rare for me) - my little one gets a bit of a surprise from the fast flow. Again I sit him up, give him a cuddle, and wait for him to calm down. While I’m doing this, of course, I’m usually spraying milk everywhere, but that’s all part of the fun...

Congratulations, and I hope you find a way to work out what’s happening here and how to mitigate it!

Awww congratulations on your lovely new baby, and on persevering through initial BF difficulties. You're doing ever so well.

I had problems with fast letdown too, like PP. I'd unlatch the baby and hand express a little, to get the initial spray shock out of the way, and it did help. And I agree that wind can make them fuss on the boob like that. Try to get him to unlatch and burp him every few minutes and see if that helps - it can often make so much difference.

I carried my baby in a wrap sling a lot - both the upright position and the movement was great for gentle burping as he was quite windy.

How is he otherwise, is he generally settled or does he cry a lot? Does he arch his back? Does he mind lying on his back? Sometimes feeding difficulties can be a sign of silent reflux. If it turns out to be that, there's medication that can help.

Have you also tried a different position for him, when they're this small you could have his body in line with yours as you recline so he is sort of face first into your breast. Harder to fight if he has to lift his head up against gravity. Or try feeding and walking about so you can gently rock too. Sometimes that can really help fussiness.
My children have all gone through phases of doing this sort of thing and with dc2 it became almost impossible to feed at all. The screaming and pulling got so bad and she was hardly taking any milk. I'd like to say there was an answer but there wasn't. She just stopped one day. My current 11month old pushes against me whilst still attached, ouch! I try holding his hand and playing with his fingers as a distraction now he is older.
Hope you can bear it out!

Thanks so much for the replies. I'm not sure it's fast letdown - I don't leak and have never sprayed/squirted milk. But I do get quite strong letdown pain still so maybe it is that?

He doesn't like lying down in his cot and screams when we put him in, as well as when we change his nappy, but he's fine in the pram and on his back in our bed so I think he's probably just contrary!

I think it most likely is wind - is it possible he could suddenly get much more windy out of nowhere? The midwife told me breastfed babies didn't need to be burped so for the first week I didn't bother and he didn't do this. I do burp him now but wait for one burp - maybe he needs to do more?

I'll try the upright feeding position. Have been alternating cradle/rugby/lying down and he does it in all of them.

Yep, I have a contrary one too, I think!

From what I’ve seen so far, wind can definitely come and go. We can go for several days without having one of these mid-feed crying ‘episodes’, only to then have it happen twice or three times in one day. It’s definitely worse if he’s agitated when he starts to feed.

I can see that reflux has been mentioned by a PP. I’m not sure how easily a GP or health visitor might be able to check for it (I’ve wondered myself whether my little one had a mild case) but it could be worth looking into.

BTW I too was told by a midwife early on that my exclusively breastfed baby wouldn’t need burping. I soon realised that he did, albeit not after every feed (and hardly ever at night).

Both my breastfed babies needed winding so your HV wasn't being very helpful with that advice.

I'm sure you'll find a burp will help - and like the previous poster said stopping mid-feed to get a burp should help with the crying.