Hi girls,

I thought I'd post an update in case our story is ever useful to others. It is an active, continuing update as we have no answers yet. Basically I thought the crying and 'yelling at my boob' during feeds was at it's worst- I'd given the Losec seven days to kick in before contacting a LC. On the 5th and 6th days she was crying through every feed bar night feeds. On the 7th day and for almost two weeks after there was a notable difference - she only cried through a couple of feeds a day- almost always the last to second last feeds before bed at night. I thought we had cracked it- the problem was reflux, helped enormously by losec. But after those 1.5-2 weeks things slowly returned to bad again. Oddly she doesn't seem bothered when she spits up. Still taking losec.

Anyway bit the bullet and booked a LC, she spent a few hours with us just yesterday. And it is a mystery to the LC too! We think I did have oversupply issues earlier but now my supply is a little low- despite still having an obviously forceful letdown and fast flow. The gagging/sputtering/snorting milk up the nose continues but is improved. Just once a feed, as opposed to several times, and not as severe.

Now It is as though at first DD2 is bothered by the forceful flow, but later is bothered by milk not enough coming fast enough.

Because while her weight at 7 weeks is not bad at 4422 it *could* be higher considering significant weight gains up to 3 or so weeks old- exactly when the fussy feeding started. Her weight wouldn't bother me except for the extreme fussing. We think the fussiness means she is refusing to finish feeds even when still just a bit hungry so of course my milk has adjusted. She also tends to be a tad unsettled between feeds.

How weird is this though- I fed DD2 off one side so the LC could observe then weigh her to determine approx mls taken etc. We both noted a couple of strong let downs. She didn't feed for too long before getting fussy and refusing more but when was feeding had a great suck swallow pattern, was swallowing deeply, there was milk in the corners of her mouth etc. It looked like lots of milk and a thorough albeit brief feed! LC said maybe despite the brevity of the feed DD2 had had a 'monster' feed going on what we had observed and I thought so too as DD1 had always fed like that - fast and furious - and gained well. But according to the weigh in DD2 had only taken about 14mls!!! But then with some coercion she had a more 'normal' amount from the other side.

Her latch is great, no tongue or lip tie, our positioning is good. No thrush. I'm already doing everything LC had planned to suggest regarding keeping her feeding longer - optimal positioning, feeding while walking, sneakily calming with a dummy then swapping it out with my nipple, having little breaks, swapping back and forth between sides, compressing when she seems bothered by no/slow flow. she burps without effort but does seem to be in obvious pain part way through and intermittently after a feed. LC thinks maybe a gut issue (horrendously smelly farts, though poo looks normal) and /or immature swallowing/nasal bits as she gets a bit wheezy/snores and gets a snotty nose for a period after feeds. And hiccups!

We are trialling two weeks of me taking a high level probiotic and if that fails two weeks of no dairy (hard as I love the stuff!) will keep everyone posted. Continuing losec for time being.