((Hugs)) fussy feeding is no fun.
He often rears his head back - taking my nipple with him OW! If he's unswaddled he waves his arms around frantically (and ends up scratching me) and often pops off coughing and gasping or he digs his head in and grunts. It doesn't happen all the time, but most day feeds it does.
The behaviour described really sounds like reflux,it is very typical to do all those things, they are indications that are not dealing well with the pain in their oesophagus as they feed. Think of their oesophagus as red, inflamed and very sensitive and aore, as they are constantly having stomach contents washed upawards again and again and if its a bit acidic, then ouch!!
Refluxers are grunters by trade, it is a pain noise really. Coughing and gasping can be fast let down too, but with reflux it often is that fact that they are in pain when feeding. Rearing the back again is often a pain behaviour, again when the throat is hurting a way to counteract it is to arch.
but it's around 5.5kg. He is on 0.7ml three times per day.
I can't quite do the math here as I am unsure of the concentration of the ranititinde, but the dose should be about 4mg/kg 2-3 times per day. Ranitidine is weight sensitive (as you know
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It sounds like the reflux is bothering him, and maybe he needs a dose increase or else another med, or maybe a thickener before each breastfeed. We used a carob bean gum thickener for our refluxer with great success. Had to give it before every breastfeed with a little water in a syringe. It allowed the milk to thicken in the stomach to the consistency of cream, it really helped with pain.
