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Pulling away and squirming while feeding
Has anyone else experienced this? Hugo is 17 weeks and for the last month or so has begun really squirming, wriggling and pulling away while feeding - while still actually being latched on. He also sort of kneads my breast while he's feeding, often pushing it away with his hands while still latched on. It's really painful and when I'm feeding him when we're out, it's difficult to keep holding him in a good position, balance myself and stop from flashing the entire world!
Has anyone else had this? It's every feed and seems to be getting worse. I'm getting to the point where I'm almost considering FF. My nipples feel far more painful than they did when he was newborn.
Help!
Has anyone else had this? It's every feed and seems to be getting worse. I'm getting to the point where I'm almost considering FF. My nipples feel far more painful than they did when he was newborn.
Help!
0
Replies
My DS1 was similar to this and I spoke to my HV. She suggested it might be that he was getting frustrated with the milk flow cos it's slower than he wanted and he didn't want to have to work harder to make it come faster! She suggested leaning forward slightly while feeding as this can make your flow faster.
Hope its something as simple as that x
She also kneads my breast which I love but have to remember to bite her nails off or I get scratched!
Don't worry, this seems to be a perfectly natural phase that some babies go through. My lo had always been a calm, settled feeder but around 20 weeks she went exactly as you described - very wriggly, writhing around, pulling away and gripping right at the end of nipple (OUCH!) and kneading my breast.
It was actually quite embarrasing to feed any where other than at home as there was no way I could be discreet. I was at my wits end as I was considering giving up BF as my nipples were getting so painful. Anway, I perservered and it lasted about 4-5 weeks. After that she went back to feeding fine again! She is now 6.5 months old and feeds really well (like she did as a newborn). I never did find out what it was, although I do suspect it might be an increase in wind (maybe trying to suckle too fast?). If she started writhing too much, I used to detach her from my breast, try and wind her before putting her back on. Sometimes taking her off the breast for a few minutes was enough to calm her down and get her to finish the feed more calmly! Good luck, I am absolutely sure that your lo will be feeding fine again soon.
xxxxx
For the soreness I'm sure you're already using lansinoh, the only other thing I can suggest is paracetamol or ibuprofen - I took both for weeks while I had thrush and the GP said it was perfectly safe. Just took the edge off enough to keep going with it.
I was going to suggest nipple shields as well but they will be counter productive if it's a slow flow issue.
Will keep thinking in case I come up with anything else!!
C
The other thing I was wondering is whether it could be something you're eating that Hugo doesn't like the taste of? Chocolate is notorious for making babies hate BM if consumed in large quantities - not implying you're a choc fiend or anything but we have just had Easter... also apparently there are some other foods which they can be sensitive to, such as broccoli, garlic and some other random ones. I know it sounds a bit weird but a girl in mr NCT group was having squirming issues and she took a day off eating chocolate and noticed a big difference.
I have been making sure I take my fenugreek tablets religiously in case it's a milk flow issue and for the last day, it's got a bit better. The GP put Hugo on infant gaviscon so it may be that having an affect.
Charlotte, for the first time in living history I hardly had any chocolate over Easter! Easter kind of passed us by as we spent half of it on a plane. I've also tried avoiding some foods (particularly windy ones) since H was about 3 weeks on the advice of my HV. Haven't noticed much of a difference though - though apparently you have to avoid a particular thing for 3 weeks before you reintroduce it, to rule out whether it's having an adverse effect. In any event, I haven't noticed much difference in terms of my food.
So I'm hoping that maybe it's just a phase and things will be looking up soon.
thanks everyone!
It's killing me, but I don't want to wean him as he's really showing none of the signs that he wants solids - ie watching me eat etc. So I guess I have another 8 weeks of this - agggghhhhh!
How's Hugo doing this week? x x x
He still has a bit of a cold so maybe that's taking its toll, but I think it's a mixture of that, the recent trip in NZ which put his body clock out of whack, and his recent jabs which taken in comination have completely thrown him.
It's now been nearly 3 weeks since he's stopped his fantastic sleeping pattern (going down at 7.30, waking once for a quick feed then back down again till 6.30) so I'm forced to accept that he's not suddenly going to switch back to normal and I'm going to have to instigate some sort of sleep training. I'm just waiting till I have sufficient reserves to start it as at the moment I'm too tired to do anything other than to feed him every time he wakes, just to ensure some sleep!
Hope Jak is over his cold and back to sleeping well?
Hugo has also started sort of whimpering while feeding, or making noises at the back of his throat. This accompanies the restless eating so it's GREAT fun in public. I'm sure people must think I have kidnapped him!
Hope it is just a phase as luckymumoftwo experienced cos my nipples can't take that all the time!
Fingers crossed ladies!
x
Scubachick, that sounds so familiar, putting Jak on the other boob stops him crying and getting frustrated, so maybe it's a flow issue for me again?
I give up, I'm in tears as I write this because I gave in and fed him baby rice earlier at about 5pm because I didn't know what else to do. I tried to express to put that in the rice - the pack says you only need about 15ml and I couldn't even get that. I've ALWAYS been able to express at least 2oz, at any time of the day, and I used to get 5/6oz first thing in the morning. I'm so gutted, I think my milk's drying up and I don't know why.
I too gave Hugo some rice in a bottle of formula for 2 nights in a row, to see if it made any difference to his sleeping/comfort levels at night. This was recommended by the GP. It made no difference whatsoever though, so only did it twice and he's now back to BF exclusively.
I know exactly what you're going through with the tiredness. Last week I swear I fell asleep literally on my feet in the kitchen! I suddenly felt myself start to fall backwards which woke me up (and gave me a heart attack) and I've been petrified of falling asleep when holding Hugo, ever since.
I hate feeling like this but I really can't wait till he's old enough for solids. I know I'll miss this time when it's gone though.
Hang in there, and I hope things have been better for you in the last day
Peeptoe x