fidgety eater

[lulu'smom]

Hi. I am new to this website and motherhood. My son Lucas who is 6 wks old has started to be a very fitful eater lately. When he eats, he starts getting very fidgety about halway through, and twists turns with my breast in his mouth. It is proving to be very painful. I have tried taking him off the breast (thinking it is his way of telling me that he has had enough), but then he cried because he is still hungry. I have tried stabilizing his head with my hand but he seems to try and break free evn more. Has anyone experienced this? Any tips? :lol:

[Flo]

Hi,

My DS has done this since he was born and I was told by the midwife that it is wind.  I usually just sit him upright and massage his tummy for a bit before putting him back to the breast.

Lisa

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Hi there - another Montrealer!! Where abouts are you living?

A few possibilities come to me:
1. I agree, there's a good chance it's gas.  How's your latch?  Can you hear any noises when he sucks - like clicking?  Depending where you are, a lot of the CLSCs have nurses trained to check your latch - you could drop by.  If his latch is poor, he'll take in a lot more air.

2. It could be a supply issue. How's his weight gain and diaper count? Does your milk supply seem to be good?  Sometimes when the flow is low, they get impatient and pop off a lot.  You're also at the 6 week growth spurt time - did this just start?  He might be getting frustrated because he's just hungrier! If this is the case, it should get better in a couple of days.

3. Overactive letdown.  Sometimes if your letdown is really powerful, they sputter and come off, squirming too - they just have a hard time controlling the flow.  Do you ever spray at these times? If this is the case, there are also options to help.

4. Reflux.  You might want to check the Colic, Crying and Reflux board, just to see if any of those signs ring a bell.

Let me know if any of this seems to fit or if you have more questions.

[lulu'smom]

Wow- thanks you guys so much...it's great to have this website to be able to ask your questions and get tips. Thanks for being so helpful. I think it coul dbe all the things you are saying. There is clicking noise sometimes when he drinks, also there are jets of milk when he releases at other times. I'll just stick with it, as I am sure this shall pass.

I actually had a woman from a local CLSC come to the house, and I seemed to be BF fine, the latch on was good...

Thanks for the help...

Redstarfalling**I live in Hudson, off the island of MTL***
where are you from?

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

There is clicking noise sometimes when he drinks, also there are jets of milk when he releases at other times. I'll just stick with it, as I am sure this shall pass.

Uh....it might not pass on its own... :oops: There's not supposed to be a clicking noise when he eats - that means he's NOT latching properly. The nurse from the CLSC may not have noticed or been well trained enough to help out.

I really think you need to see someone to check it.  I'm actually in Pierrefonds and the Pierrefonds CLSC has a breastfeeding club every Tuesday afternoon from 1-3:30pm (I've been going for the past year!).  It's great - the nurses belong to the Nourri-Source group that I'm in and one of them (Josee) has just been certified as an lc.  Do you have access to a car?  You could pop out on Tuesday (they won't care that you're not a Pierrefonds resident - no one checks!).  The other thing you could do is pay for a lc consult - there might be some in your area, and I know for a fact that the pharmacist at the Kirkland Walmart is one (she's really nice too). There are probably some good lc's in Hudson too - if you have a hard time finding them, let me know and I'll inquire.

It's just that it's really important to get this checked early so that if there's a problem, he won't be learning bad habits.

As for the jets - that's often a sign of an overactive letdown reflex.  An lc can give you some suggestions, but there are also some on kellymom.com.  Things like changing position to nurse.

PM me if you want more info or if you want to talk - I can give you my phone number.

[drover]

also there are jets of milk when he releases at other times. quote]

Sounds like overactive letdown to me.  My daughter would do the same thing - start to fuss when my milk let down and then pop off her latch.  I would be spraying milk at the time.  I have found that feeding her in an upright position (which is uncofortable for me) gets her eating very well!

Try something other than the cradle hold - try sitting him up and see how that helps!