14 weeks old short feeds and spitting a lot of milk

[Katrix]

Hi, my DD who is Ebf is turning 14 week on Sunday and the last few days I am having hard times feeding her. She would suckle for a few minutes then start staring around (with my poor nipple still in her mouth). And most of the time she will spit a lot of milk afterwords or while I try to burn her. She seems ok, enough full diapers, I just don't want to fall into reversed schedule.  She has always been on EASY since she was born, I just had a week of accidental parenting when I would take her next to me in bed for her night feed and fall asleep by accident. She is back on track now but she still wakes to eat around 3 am.
Please advise how to keep her on the breast. Should I worry that she spits most of her milk a few times a day?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Have you tried feeding in a dark room right when she wakes from a nap? Sort of a df of sorts while she is still drowsy!  Mine all got distracted when feeding by that age. As for the nights - is she having a df and the nf? Still totally normal for an ebf baby to have a few nf's at ths age. Has she always spit up a lot?

[Katrix]

I've tried the dark feeding but the issue I have is she sometimes wakes way before her feed time. Lately it's like:
6pm E
7pm bath
7.30-8 pm nap
8 pm E
8.30 straight to bed
11pm DF
Then she'd wake some time between 1.30 and 3.30 am suposably hungry, because she refuses the dummy and eats for some good 15min
6-6.30 am E
And here comes my confusion. She'd wake around 7.30-8 am and she is ok to wait for food by 9am. I have the feeling she can even wait longer. But when I put her on the breast she suckles for 5 min and then starts bouncing on and off and twisting and turning her head. She kinda eats for 10 min like this and sometimes spits everything on the pillow, sometimes when I try to burn her. Sometimes she doesn't spit at all.
By around 9.45-10.15 she is ready for a nap but as you can expect would wake around 11. She sleeps longer when we are out or when I leave her to sleep in the pram, but at the same time  I don't want it to be too long
12 pm E
1-1.30 nap while we go for a walk till 3 pm
3 pm E
4.30 pm nap till 5.30-6pm
And all over again.

Oh, and sometimes she is really fussy while feeding.

Does it make sense or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Kat

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

They do get more efficient as they grow so a 10 min feed can be a full feed. I see how with the early morning feed then she would not be hungry on waking. What about a nursing necklace for her to fidget with while she feeds?  The spit up makes me wonder - do you think reflux is an issue? How is her sleep?

[Katrix]

I have to try the nursing necklace, good idea. Sometimes she would suddenly start crying while feeding or just be very upset. It's a sharp cry. And she would try to put her fist in her mouth and cry at the same time. I looked inside, there is nothing on her gums that might be bothering her.
I don't think it's a reflux, she sleeps fine, she doesn't seem to pay attention to it when she spits, it doesn't smell weird. At least I hope it's not a reflux.
I was thinking with waking earlier and then being distracted while eating- do you recon it might be time for me to move her on a 3,5-4h schedule maybe.
Cheers

[katerinask]

This sounds exactly like what we are going through at the moment at 15 weeks. I discussed it with my paediatrician and she offered a range of causes, but neither of us could be sure what it really is. She insisted to not give up on BF though and said that it's pretty normal for babies to just go through a phase of troubled feedings and then go back to normal.

For us I think it could be any of the following (in fact I think it may be lots of these together):
- Too distracted by surroundings
- Growth spurt and milk supply struggling to keep up
- Gum pain made worse by sucking, thus the crying and fussing (in our case the doctor said there are teeth beginning to show)
- Ready to move to a 3.5 pr 4 hour routine, so not that hungry when fed at 3 hours
- Just a silly phase she is going through

I've tried to tackle all of the above, so I now mostly feed in the nursery with no other ppl around and no distractions (maybe you could also try draping a muslin square over your LO's head and your shoulder to really block things out), feeding or expressing often to increase supply, gel for her gums, and finally we have begun the transition to a 3.5/4 hr routine (we saw other signs as well... not sure if she's ready though, today was our first day and it went well).

[zissi]

hey, we had that problem too with my DD and I emailed Dr Jack Newman who said it was decreased milk supply and the baby fussing as a result. have a look here and see if this description fits. he offers solutions to the problem too:
https://www.facebook.com/DrJackNewman/posts/264063463744707

hope that helps!