Biting. (breastfeeding help, please)

[Charlotte91]

DS (9w) is giving me some grief. We've barely had any problems with breastfeeding and I love it.

All this usually happens of an evening when he's a cranky bum.

He'll feed fine for a few minutes, then bite really hard, pull off and cry.

He also sucks hard, and pulls his head back. Ouch!

Another thing he does is suck really hard then start crying (while attached) and flailing his arms and kicking legs and gets hideously upset.

I know I've got plenty of milk, and it doesn't happen at letdown, only ever after 5+ minutes.

Any ideas why he's being a ferret?

[onthefly]

So, sounds like things are going well, on the whole? He's getting plenty of milk and growing very well, so that's good.
There are a few possibilities as to why he's doing this. It might be that he's finished feeding after a few minutes. What happens if you just stop the feed?
If he's biting, he must be pulling back and detatching from the breast. If you watch him carefully, you'll probably see when he's about to do it, and can pop him off quickly before he actually bites you.
The pulling and crying at the breast could be that he's trying to hurry another let-down along.

You might find it helpful to have a chat with an ABA counsellor for some more ideas and suggestions - 1800-686-268

[luna moth]

We used to get this kind of evening fussing when DD was overstimulated. Nothing to do with the actual breasts, or the milk, just that she'd had it for the day and couldn't cope anymore - although it's comforting, sucking is also hard work, which I guess is why she cracked it. Babywearing during the day (6+ hours) did the trick for us.

[Charlotte91]

He's growing like a weed. He was born at 2.8kg and he's just over 5.1kg. He's so chubby.

With the bite, if I pull him off he's usually not too fussed. If I go to put him back on, he'll just bite me some more so I give up.

With the sucking real hard and pulling, if I detach him he'll cry. No matter how much I try and get him to feed properly, he'll just pull on me real hard or won't latch.
So, again, I give up. He'll usually have a cry so I just cuddle him til he calms down, then he'll feed properly.

He also has a bad habit lately of getting distracted and turning his head suddenly, while still latched. It really hurts.

I know I sound like he's a real ferret, but he only ever acts up between 7pm and 9pm. He feeds like an angel during the day and his nighttime feed.

[~TT40~]

DD sometimes does that, I think its when milk is in the way and she just wants to suck, but gets angry when she gets a mouthful (or atleast i think thats why). but she wont take a dummy, so has no choice but to suck me if she wants to suck. now i think about it it does happen more in the evening/ when she is over stimulated/tired.

[onthefly]

Ah! If it's the same time of day then it's probably tiredness/overstimulation/arsenic hour(s).
He doesn't sound like a ferret at all! He sounds like a pretty normal little baby. Nice work on all the growth! You're doing great.