Feeding and other problems!

I have a 7 week old and the last couple of days she has been so restless. Sheesh where to start she is barely sleeping its hard to get her to sleep she is not feeding great at all this is all during the day. At night once you finally have her asleep she feeds every 4 hours get to the day time its absolute chaos. I feed her 10mins one side then swap she fusses and pulls herself off then i have my nipple in her mouth and she turns her head quickly from side to side and plays with her tongue. I take her off thinking she is done and she cracks it she is crying alot and she wont sleep without someone holding her and then once she is put down she wakes up withing minutes or even half an hour. Seriously please help i dont know what to do!!!
Also she has like little pimples on her cheeks and chin is this normal?

Hi there,

Around the 6-7 week mark is the time when a lot of babies "wake up" - they go from being sleepy little bundles that can fall asleep anywhere anytime to not settling so well, needing to be cuddled and held a lot and becoming fussier when feeding.

Is she feeding for 10 minutes on one side and then detaching herself, or are you swapping her over? Perhaps you can leave her to feed as long as she wants on the one side if you are changing her over yourself. This will ensure that she is getting to the nice fatty, satisfying milk that comes later in a feed, and hopefully you'll find she'll be able to settle for longer when she sleeps during the day. It is normal for young babies to take quite a while to feed - anything up to 40 minutes or sometimes longer is very normal. My DD would take sometimes longer than an hour between two sides when she was your DD's age.

She could also be fussing when you change her to the other side as she's impatient for a let-down to happen. Could you try hand expressing a little milk into her mouth before you attach her so that you've got things started for her and she's not stressing waiting for milk to start flowing?

At 6-7 weeks many babies are going through a "growth spurt" and will often want to be nursing on and off all day, and your DD may be doing this also. This is very normal - sometimes it can last a day or two of this behaviour, often it can be longer.

It is difficult when you go from having a sleepy little baby to one that seems to suddenly be so much more demanding of you, but I assure that it's all really normal. Perhaps you could think about putting her in a sling during the day - she will most likely sleep really well there, being tucked up close to you, and it will allow you some hands-free (and quiet!) time.

Regarding the pimples, it's fairly normal for babies to get pimples on their cheeks and there can be a few reasons - they've had lots of your pregnancy hormones running through them whilst in utero, and it takes time for their little bodies to get to their normal hormonal state after birth. As you're also BF, the hormones in your BM are also being passed on to her, changing her hormones more. Babies also have such delicate skin on their face and their oil-producing glands and sweat-producing glands are only just getting going now, so this can often lead to their skin breaking out also.

Hope this information is helpful, and please know you're doing a really great job. The first few months are really hard - the hardest thing being trying to work out what your baby needs and wants. You're a great mum doing for coming in seeking help and advice here.

Good luck, and there's always someone here if you have any more questions or need more help or support.

Miss C :)

Well said Miss C. I think you've pretty much covered it!

Clasik, how many feeds would you say she is having in 24 hours now? And how many wet and dirty nappies?

It sounds pretty normal to me, and I second Miss C's advice. It will settle down hun so don't despair!

Thankyou soooooo much your advice it has been awesome and has made me feel alot better.
I feed her 10 minutes and take her off myself and then put her on the other side I try and get her to feed on my right hand side cause that side produces HEAPS more milk and the let down happens when she is on but then kind of gets a little choked lol poor thing. Should i start her on the right hand side every time and leave her as long as i can? She pulls herself off of that side and fusses but the left hand side she is fine with.
I was feeding her every 4 hours but the last 3 days it can but every 2 hours for the day and then go to 4 hours over night she has a dirty nappy every time I change her which is normally every feed time and mostly is wet to.

You are doing a great job hun.

It might work better to let her finish one side first. I would alternate the side you start from, but you might need to express a little from the right side if she doesn't drink from it at a feed. Usually at that age they will only feed from one side. What mums usually find works is to feed from one side until they are finished, do a burp and nappy change to wake the baby up a bit, then offer the second side. If she doesn't want the second side that's ok. Whether or not she takes the second side, you still offer that side first next feed.

With the fast flow, that will probably settle down. In the meantime there are a couple of things you can try. One is to try feeding against gravity - so lying on your back with her across your chest, or even in a sitting position leaning back can help. Another idea is to express from that side until let down, so that the fastest flow happens before she is attached.

At 7 weeks, most babies will feed every 2 -3 hours during the day, with a longer spell between feeds at night. So your DD seems to be doing all the right things.

See how you go with this, and also the "growth spurt" should pass soon, so hopefully she will be more settled shortly.

Thankyou for that i am definately feeling alot better than what i was before. the only thing that i worry is that if she doesnt take the other side and i have to wait till the next feed i am worried about getting mastitus thats all but i guess if i amm expressing a bit after if she doesnt take it it should be ok hey? I still dont know why she thrashes her head from side to side even though my nipple is in her mouth and she is not latched on and then she will just latch on all of a sudden do you know why that it is?

I can understand your concern about mastitis. How full does the right side get? If you feel full and uncomfortable, it is best to express, but only enough for comfort. Otherwise your supply won't settle down as quickly. Over the next couple of weeks it is likely that your supply will start to settle down, and by 12 weeks you might even find that you don't feel full at all between feeds. This is totally normal, and still means you have enough milk. Are you comfortable with expressing?

With the thrashing, is it only on the right side that she does it? It could be that finds it harder to draw that nipple out, it could be waiting for let down or it could be the fast flow. It might even not be related to you at all, but she might just be more comfortable lying one way rather than the other. Have you tried different feeding positions - maybe the football hold, or feeding lying down would work better on that side.

It's really confusing at this early stage, but it does get easier.

It can get pretty full and it feels a little hard cause it gets that full and i have expressed and am comfortable to do that. I have tried the different holds or grips and she isnt silly haha she knows its the same side and she still does the same thing. She gulps really bad but nothing i do stops her from doing that and i have tried leaning back as well.
I guess it is just a matter of trying different things and just going with whatever she needs not trying to figure it out cause it always changes so should just relax and go with it!

You're spot on there! If it doesn't ease up, you might like to try the expressing before attaching. It sounds like you are doing really well though so keep up the great work.

Hi Clasik,

It's sounds like you are doing a wonderful job hun. Well done :)

I read your first reply earlier but didn't get a chance to reply. I was going to say that part of the reason that she might be thrashing about on the right side is because of the fast flow at the beginning of your let down from you being full is upsetting her a bit, as MR has mentioned. I have been through the same thing with my DD, and I found with lots of trial and error that the best thing that worked for us was letting DD start to suck, and then when she started fussing as the fast let down began I would let her come off, and allow the most forceful part of the let down to spray into a towel (or collect it if you want) and then I would let her reattach when milk was not spraying as forcefully. She would fuss whilst she was wanting to feed and I was letting the milk spray, but then she would be much happier attaching and feeding after that. The other option as MR has said is to express the fullest amount of off before you also start feeding - I also tried this and it worked when DD was very young.

As MR has said and I can vouch for this, as your DD gets bigger she will handle the fast flow much better and won't gulp as much or fuss - my DD is really good with it now and only gulps or splutters if I'm really full.

You've got a great attitude hun - often all you can do is relax and go with it, especially when you have tried many things. Hopefully the extra little tips will help, and if not, just know that once your supply continues to settle in the next little while (and I agree with MR, keep alternating breasts between feeds as much as you can as your supply will settle down to the way it needs to if you keep alternating each feed) the fast flow and gulping should definitely get better.

Good luck with it all - I think you're doing brilliantly :)

no worries i shall try that thankyou very much for your help hopefully fingers crossed this growth spurt ends and my milk eases up its a pain to keep changing tops lol!!