Fussing and Tugging

[snowchickie79]

My DD is 5 weeks this Monday and the last two days she has been fussing alot more when BF'ing. She has been primarily BF since birth with the odd FF thrown in when necessary but only probably a total of 3 FF since birth. I do also express and use the EBM to top her up at night or when needed.

The last two days she has been very unsettled in the afternoon/night period and will not go down for a sleep. This is meaning she is awake from noon onwards and she really needs some sleep.

I've noticed she is more and more tugging on my BB and pulling herself off, reattaching herself, coming back off and so forth. She seems to be ok for the first few minutes and then starts with this nonsense which drives me nuts.

I was taking motillium but yesterday & today have forgotten to take it due to being out and about and having guests etc so I don't know if my milk is still struggling or if she is not wanting the breast anymore.

Any tips on what this might be or what i can do to solve it.

I lost patience tonight and gave her a FF which is the first major one she has had since birth. She had 5 minutes of BF and stuffing around and then 100ml of FF. ( Don't really want to hear how I shouldn't give her FF as I'm aware of this but my patience after being tugged on for 3 feeds in a 6 hour period was at a low).. She normally only feeds every 4-5 hours and has done so since week 2 but she has even been waking between 4-5am the last 3 nights whereas she normally has been sleeping through till 7am. I gave her a feed at 5am this morning (about 20-25 minutes) and she went straight back to sleep till 9am but again this is not the norm for her.

I have the number of an ABA consultant so am going to call her in the morning but thought I'd see if anyone could give me some suggestions about what the cause of the tugging and fussiness might be..

Sorry about the long rant..

[Claire]

They change so rapidly......as soon as you think you have them sussed, they change their routine!!
At five weeks, I'd be expecting a growth spurt which in my case lasted right thorough to over four months with 2 hourly feeding round the clock with my second.

The tugging could suggest trying to get another let down or to try and make your milk come out quicker and feeding more often would back that up. Your baby is trying to increase your supply and by being given complete access all the time, is the perfect way of doing it.

[snowchickie79]

So by her pulling on my boob she is trying to get a let-down? I thought once let-down happened that it didn't stop during a feed? I know when i express that when I have let-down my BB goes very warm and then it just flows till it's empty, i assumed the same when she is feeding.

Maybe I'm not 100% relaxed do you think which is why let-down not happening? I know it does when she first attaches because I can hear her guzzling the milk rapidly.

With the heat I was thinking the increased feeding was her being thirsty. She had some short feeds today, but mainly because she was screaming so I offered her the BB and she took it, not sure if she was actually hungry or just taking advantage on the offer.

I managed to express 50ml tonight and I'll try again before I go to bed. She is asleep now so I'll see if she sleeps through or if she wakes. If she wakes during the night I'm going to assume she is having her growth spurt, which i did suspect earlier, but if she sleeps through could i assume that the 100ml FF has filled her up and maybe the other feeds haven't been?

Just such a confusing thing this whole BF situation. I'm so happy that I've been able to BF this long (even though only 4.5 weeks) as I had always prepared myself that I'd have troubles BF'ing (reason being I had a TERRIBLE pregnancy so just expected the worse case scenarios, plus I am quite a flat chested woman and just assumed I'd probably have issues). I know I won't BF forever and I was happy to make 4 weeks and i'll be even happier if i make 8 weeks but at the same time I love the closeness from BF'ing so will miss that, but not the stress and anguish from it. Some times I feel like just putting her on formula but then I feel like I need to at least do what I can to keep BF'ing. aaahhhh

As another question - would stress affect my supply dramatically??

[Claire]

I've never found stress to affect my supply really, more lack of water drunk that day!

I'm no expert though!! This is only my personal thought but I've had multiple let-downs during a feed on both sides, so I would think tugging would be about getting another let down happening. The formula may well feed bubs up but that would then have a knock on effect on your supply, because in the early stages it's critical to have access to the breast whenever needed. Like I said, I fed 2 hourly for months and months, whether it was offered by me or asked for by him.

Your breastmilk is perfectly designed for this stage, it's really dificult to not be concerned about length of feeding and duration with your first (I know!) but you'd do yourself a big favour if you trusted your body to produce what baby needed when it needed it. I found blind faith helped a lot! Obviously eating healthily as much as you can and drinking plenty of water.

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

When baby fusses at the breast some-times it makes us think that that they don't want to feed as often or as long. But, it's usually the case that they want to feed more. Its fairly unusual for a baby to only be feeding 4-5 hourly, and sleeping all night at this age. Some-times they can seem quite placid for a few weeks after the birth as they recover and get used to their new surroundings. So, when they start "demanding" feeds it can be a bit of a shock for mum! Try offering the breast every 3 or so hours. You will find that she feeds more easily than you would have thought, and that your milk supply improves. Motilium acts to increase your prolactin levels (one of the hormones that makes milk) but it won't have any real effect unless you feed your baby more often.
The letdown reflex is triggered in response to the baby suckling. (or the pump) Most women only notice the first letdown relex, but in fact you get smaller relexes throughout the feed. You might notice that when you feed she seems to be snoozing and just "butterfly sucking" and then she will get "stuck into it" and be sucking strongly again. She has probably just stimulated another letdown. Or, if you are pumping, you will notic the flow slows down, and then when you get another letdown it will start to spurt again.
Stress won't affect your milk supply - women continue to breastfeed in some of the most stressful situations. But, remember, it is normal for babies to feed 8-12 times in 24hours. The Australian Breastfeeding Association's book "Breastfeeding Naturally" is fabulous and only $34.95 - and comes free with a subscription to the Australian Breastfeeding Association. It is a fabulous and informative guide to breastfeeding
Warm Regards
Barb

[snowchickie79]

OK so here is an update on the situation - which really isn't much better..

Early this week we had our clinic visit for 2nd weigh in and Chloe had only put on 50g. The clinic nurse was a little concerned and asked about my milk supply which I knew was lacking after our previous issues where this thread originated. I had already started back on motillium the day before seeing the nurse. She advised me to start giving her 2 x 60ml FF per day for the next week to get her weight up again and that i had to come back in a week for another weigh in to see if she gains weight. She is still in 0000 and would be in 00000 if she didn't have the length she has. The 0000 are still large around her upper body.

So I've been taking the motillium as advised and also got some Aktavite as seen on this site. My milk has increased and I can now express 60-80ml (previously would get 40ml and only 20ml when my supply died) but for some reason Chloe is fussing on the BB still so I'm thinking she has figured the bottle is easier and why worry about BB anymore. As she isn't feeding properly I'm giving her BB first, then once she starts fussing or they feel empty I give her EBM, or for 2 feeds per day 60ml FF.

Any suggestions on how I can keep her interested in BB?? Obviously I need to follow the clinic nurse with the FF's to make sure she gains weight this week but don't want this to turn her off the BB if I can avoid it. I've went and bought the Tommee Tippee Breastfeeding bottles that are supposed to mimic the nipple to make moving between BB and bottle easy but I've also got some Avent bottles with a newborn (#1) teat. Any other suggestions???

Either way since the additional feeds she is much more settled and has started back sleeping through the night. For about 5 days she was waking anywhere from 3-5am and I'd have to feed her. For 1.5 days I was feeding her every few hours and boy can I admit that it was very tiring and I was completely over the whole thing and being tugged on and was just hoping for someone to say "put her on the bottle, BF is not working for you"..

I know that I'll get alot of "Pro BF'ing" responses here but to be 100% honest I'd rather do what is best for Chloe (which I know BF'ing is over FF but I don't feel it is if she is not getting enough from it) and if she is not thriving while BF'ing anymore then I'd rather change to FF and make sure she is doing well. There is nothing worse than seeing her unsettled due to hunger.