baby crying while nursing. Switching side too fast?

[lidiayy]

   Hi Ladies,

   Please, I need some help. My LO is almost 4 mo now and since she was 2 1/2 mo, she cries when nursing. Not all the time, but almost always.
   I just don't know what happens  . At first, I thought it could be gas, the bowel movements may disturb her while nursing?
   I thought of forceful letdown, but she doesn't gulps or chokes, actually it does happen, but not always.
   I thought my supply was coming down, so I started pumping after feeds, not all of them, but at least 3 times a day. After feeds, I can get 1 to 1 1/2 Oz.
   She clearly prefer one side, the right boob. But even when starting feeding in this side, she would cry.
   Lately, she's been very fast nursing, only 10 minutes. This time has decreased so fast, is this normal? And after only 3-4 min, she wants to switch sides. I wonder if it's making things worse (more foremilk - more gas?), because I think she hasn't got enough and after switching to the 2nd boob and letting her nurse, I always return to the 1st boob so as to let her have more (and she takes it). Am I starting a bad habit? I know I should let her finish the 1st boob, but she doesn't want it! She arches her body back and even if I try to take her in, she doesn't get it!

   She has been checked by her pedi last week and yesterday. She is very healthy and putting on weight normally. But why crying?

   Sorry for me venting and for this messy text. English is not my mother tongue so I need to think a lot before posting and DD is almost waking up from a nap (I hear her thumbsucking) and I will nurse her in a few minutes, hoping that this time we won't have cries.

   I just love so much to nurse and I'm afraid she will wean before I expected her to.

  Any thoughts/suggestions would be of great help.

   Thanks,

   Lidia
   

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

There's nothing wrong with doing side 1, side 2 and back to side 1 again!  Some babies get frustrated with a slower letdown around this age so they want to switch to the *easier* side.  It can be a good way of finishing both sides, actually.  Does she cry at other times, and how is she doing overnight?  How long do you go between nursing sessions during the day?

[JenJ]

Lidia

My LO did that for a while.  It was just a phase DS went through.  It is very frustrating and all I can do is give you hugs.  Hang in there.  You are doing what I did with my LO at that time!

Jen

[Samuel's mum]

Hi Lidia - that sounds tough.
There is a useful checklist here:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/fussy-while-nursing.html
Does it appear to be wind/ gas? Is she raising her legs into her body when she cries?

Switch nursing is fine (switching back and forth). It's a useful technique.
If she's putting on weight she's not just getting foremilk.


Have you tried different positions?
A nursing necklace might help. With my dd I used to hold and waggle her arm gently and it distracted her when the letdown was faster and she seemed more content to feed.

It's normal for the length of a feed to shorten considerably. It often unsettles mum!

[lidiayy]

Hi!

Thank you very much for the support and hugs, all very much appreciated! It's interesting how things works, right after posting, I think DD read the post too   - she was very nice to me and nursed without crying. She only cried at night, last feed before bedtime. I think she was OT by then.

She woke up at 2 am (not normal, she usually wakes at 4 am for night feed) and I thought it wasn't hunger... I tried to resettle her by giving the paci, no success. She ended up waking up DH and he suggested feeding her. I got so anxious by thinking that if I feed her I would start a bad habit that the letdown reflex wasn't happening. DD got upset and so did DH!     I'm still not sure if it's a GS, though.

Erin: i can see that she likes the 'easier' side. I try to do one side, change her body position and redo the same side. I don't know if the milk has different aroma, she refuses without even latching. When I last did the baby quiz, I found out that she is pretty much textbook/angel, so she doesn't cry other times. Last week she was crying a lot while settling for the 2nd nap but now she's been doing fine. We're on 3.5 hrs EASY.

If this is GS, would she want to eat in shorter periods?

Samuel's mum: yes, it seems that gas could be an issue. If I try to burp her while nursing before switching sides, I wonder if she thinks I'm not going to give her more because she gets really upset. So burping during feed doesn't work for us. I've also tried to walk, side lying position, cradle hold, football hold (no working out needed after that  ) the only thing that I haven't tried yet is to wear a nursing necklace. I'll give it a go, thanks for the tip.

Maybe i just need to wait her grow up a little so that she can handle those gas issues.

Thanks once more.

Lidia

[Tamar A]

DD does the same thing, has for a few weeks now. Has your Dr. considered reflux? That could be one cause. I find that the crying is worse when DS is OT/OS....try winding down (or waking completely up!!) before a feed. I have to switch nurse too, just to keep him happy, with frequent burps. He's gaining fine.

[lidiayy]

  Hi TamarA,

  I've asked two different doctors about reflux. They say that at her age is not common to have reflux and babies who have it would show much more symptoms than she does. Since she only cries for nursing, they say we need to wait a little longer before giving medicine. I think it's a wise decision.
  At least, it's comforting to know that I'm not alone. Hopefully, this will end soon.

  thanks,

   Lidia