Baby fussing during feedings. WHY???

[Zeri]

My newborn daughter (3 weeks old) gets really fussy when nursing, particularly in the evenings. She'll show signs of hunger (rooting for the breast, mouth open etc) and will latch on to my breast and suck hungrily. However, after a minute or so she'll stop and push away from me and the breast and start a loud crying. Her face will turn red and she'll arch her back , throw back her head with her legs and flail her arms and legs about, while I'm thinking, "????????"" At some point I usually coax her back onto the breast but she'll do the same thing - latch on hungrily again, suck hungrily, and then pull away and start screaming. It's really frustrating because I can't figure out why she's upset. Sometimes I think she has gas and needs to be burped, but even when she does belch sometimes she goes back to crying.

I do feel as if she's getting enough milk - because when she sucks I can see the milk around the corners of her mouth, and sometimes when she pulls away from the breast I can see the milk trickling down her chin. I was reading online about overactive letdown - but I don't think that's the problem either, because I don't have any problems with excessive leakage/spraying, and baby doesn't seem to be gulping or struggling to keep up with the flow when she's being fed.

I don't know if she's just really hungry or impatient....sometimes when I get her back on the breasts she sucks voraciously...but then, why would she pull away and cry if she's hungry?

I really can't figure it out. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be going on? Does anyone else's newborns do this?

 

[bonbon]

Hi, unfortunately I don't have any answers but I can completely relate to u as my lo is exactly the same (he is6wks old). I posted something about it the other say called stressful evenings, some of the replies to my thread may help u?!

 

[Pink1981]

my lo does this when he's got wind, it can sometimes take as much as 15 mins to get his wind uo before he's happy to start feeding again. hth i know how frustrating it can be, not to mention sore!

 

[lyre]

sounds like discomfort due to wind or reflux or something else.........most likely wind though, burping regularly may help or try infancol. my lo found it really hard to burp until recently, so it may take you a while to be able to get the wind up x

 

[KrisKitten]

Yep tommy does this with wind.
Not so much burpy but bottom wind.
Lots and lots of winding, tummy rubbing, having him facing me leaning against my knees so hes almost squatting and rubbing his tummy and i usually get sum nice big farts blush and hes suddenly starving again.
If theyr starving while ur trying to wind that can be touhg. Just try and aviod touching her cheek at all and encouraging her to think about food while ur burping/tummy rubbing and try and calm her by talking softly and constantly to her
hope that helps xxxxxxxxxx

 

[Maffie]

At that age we would sometime stake in excess of an hour to get wind up.

 

[Zeri]

Thanks for your suggestions! I do think part of it might be wind/gas. I'll try to burp her a bit more frequently. Thinking about it a bit more last night, too, I also think a part of it is that she might not be getting the milk fast enough (for her apetite?). I noticed last night that she makes these clawing motions on my breast - almost as if she's saying, "Come, milk, come!! Faster, faster!!". When I switched her to my other breast (which was fuller) she didn't make the clawing motion - which makes me think she gets impatient with the milk flow sometimes, which leads to fussiness/frustration.

I'll monitor it some more and see what happens.

Thanks!

 

[wishingonastar]

when isabel was newborn i found in the evening she was a fussy little monster just like you describe, partly it was due to her wanting to cluster feed, but it mainly came down to either of these three things:

- wind
- letdown had become too slow for her liking so she wanted to switch sides
- she thought she was hungry but was actually completely knackered and wanted to be helped to sleep!

 

[Kekei]

My lo used to do exactly the same and it was so upsetting seeing her so upset. I found that it always would happen on her last feed before bedtime and I soon realised that she was just so tired. Now she has her last feed before her bath and I put her down without feeding her. This routine has worked brilliant and I can't remember the last time she crying whist feeding. Also it allows my OH to be involved in her bedtime as he can put her down as I don't feed her to sleep. This is great as it gives me some alone time which sometimes I pop out to tesco and do the shopping alone also it gives him some important daddy/daughter time.

 

[becstar]

Great advice here. I think most babies go through this stage - I know Ilana did but then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. There are also great tips on kellymom: https://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html

It can be sheer exhaustion mixed with/confused with hunger sometimes. I also know it was wind sometimes as she'd occasionally release a huge burp or fart and then be much better! It is so frustrating in the meantime (I was considering all sorts, like getting her cranial osteopathy or buying Colief etc etc) but it is really really normal and does pass.

 

[Szaffi]

I have the same problem with Bianka - she just seems to have a very hard time passing wind and burping. She seems to do better with smaller `snacklike` meals, but that means I'm feeding and burping constantly. I think she's also going through a growth spurt, as she seems to be very hungry every 1.5 hours, but also her digestive system doesn't seem to be able to process all that well all the excess food, so we get frequent screaming with gas pain. At the moment, she seems to sleep best when we carry her around in the Babybjorn carrier - all upright.

I hope it won't last too long, as I am getting pretty exhausted...

 

[polaris]

My lo used to do exactly the same and it was so upsetting seeing her so upset. I found that it always would happen on her last feed before bedtime and I soon realised that she was just so tired. Now she has her last feed before her bath and I put her down without feeding her. This routine has worked brilliant and I can't remember the last time she crying whist feeding. Also it allows my OH to be involved in her bedtime as he can put her down as I don't feed her to sleep. This is great as it gives me some alone time which sometimes I pop out to tesco and do the shopping alone also it gives him some important daddy/daughter time.

I have started doing this for the past two nights as the last feed after his bath always seemed to be difficult. So now he gets up from his last nap of the day, has a feed, then has a good play and kicks on his play mat, then after about an hour and a half has a top-up feed, then his bath and then bed. It has worked much better so far.

ETA : It sounds like wind problems to me too, I used to spend much too little time winding.

 

[Kaites]

I agree that it sounds like wind, especially at that age, but is it possible that you've eaten something that she doesn't like the taste of? Emma was doing the exact same thing as your baby last week and we figured out that it was the taste of jalapenos from our lunch since she was well winded but happily devoured a bottle of EBM when I offered it to her out of desperation.