2 week old clamping down and pulling head back

[sezzolou]

After getting over the initial pain of feeding/latch problems we were doing ok. The last 24 hours haven't been so good. Lo is mega fussy on the boob every feed for most of the feed and spends a lot of time clamping down, pulling his head back with my nipple still in his mouth and squirming. He has had really bad wind. He is abit congested from a cold so didn't know if that was the reason. Or someone mentioned it could be a flow/letdown thing. This feed he keeps unlatching and crying.

Can anyone offer any insight/ reassurance. Last night was horrible 😞

 

[noon_child]

It could be a growth spurt and this is his way of stimulating your letdown. You sometimes see animals doing the same, massaging (or pummelling really!) the breast and nipple with their mouths, hands, anypart of their body to get the milk to come NOW!

If you think though that it might be fast let down, try to feed leaning back. This will stop too much coming out all at once and swamping him.

In fact leaning back with LO free to crawl and bob his way to your nipple could be good for either scenario!

I'd expect if it was fast letdown it would be most obvious when milk flow is fast - so first morning feed within the first few seconds of latching. If he gets progressively "fussier" as they day progresses it's more likely he is wanting more milk more quickly and your body will catch up in a day or two.

 

[sezzolou]

It could be a growth spurt and this is his way of stimulating your letdown. You sometimes see animals doing the same, massaging (or pummelling really!) the breast and nipple with their mouths, hands, anypart of their body to get the milk to come NOW!

If you think though that it might be fast let down, try to feed leaning back. This will stop too much coming out all at once and swamping him.

In fact leaning back with LO free to crawl and bob his way to your nipple could be good for either scenario!

I'd expect if it was fast letdown it would be most obvious when milk flow is fast - so first morning feed within the first few seconds of latching. If he gets progressively "fussier" as they day progresses it's more likely he is wanting more milk more quickly and your body will catch up in a day or two.

Thanks. I hadn't Thought if that. He us ' kneading' my breast at the same time with his hands. Makes sense.

 

[cookette]

I went through the same thing with Mesa about that age and for a couple weeks after. Not ever really sure what it was...I do have fast let down, and she was also cluster feeding so could have been a growth spurt. It did eventually pass. She does still do it on occasion if I have let her get overtired of wait too long to feed.

 

[mara16jade]

Yup, growth spurt or stimulation. My LO still does it from time to time, but really only did it up to about 8 weeks.

 

[sezzolou]

Ughh, I'm almost at breaking point 😞 he's not clamping down quite as often but the initial pain when he first latches is almost unbearable. It improves after about a minute but I get so on edge as he can take a while to latch and sometimes has a few attempts.

 

[mara16jade]

It was pretty painful for me too. So much that I'd clench the pillow LO was resting on while BF'ing. I had some pretty horrid latch issues in the beginning that resulted in mastitis twice and SUPER painful milk blister. I was a dummy and refused to use a nipple shield until after 4-5 weeks of struggling and almost giving up. And the nipple shield saved the day. When I was too sore to nurse, I'd use the shield. When LO couldn't latch right - used the shield. When I was so engorged LO couldn't get his mouth around, yup...used the shield. I used the shield for a total of probably a month or two. And then just stopped using it when it looked like we had everything under control. And I'm still going strong at almost 7 months and I just have to get my bb in his general direction and now and he takes it from here.

If things are really hurting, there's no harm in trying a shield. You don't have to use it the entire time you feed, or every time you feed. But it was a really nice barrier for when things were so sore or when LO didn't know how to latch if his life depended on it.

Good luck!

 

[luna_19]

I had that severe pain upon latch on in the beginning too, it got better after a few weeks. The clamping down was overactive letdown for us, doing a laid back position helped, if.you are a sprayer unlatching him and spraying into a towel can help also (I could never manage that for some reason) my letdown got under control by about 3 months, hang in there

 

[sezzolou]

Thanks for the replies. I'm hanging in there taking it feed by feed. This feed isn't as bad but the last few were awful. Going to try the laid back position. We have struggled with that so far with him having some congestion and me not getting the position quite right for his nose/breathing.