Three month old fussing at breast, eating every hour: UPDATE

[WantsALittle1]

Our three month old started fussing at the breast approximately three days ago.

Prior to this, he was eating every 3 hours and sleeping beautifully in between feedings overnight. Almost suddenly, he began rejecting the breast. I have *always* had oversupply and forceful letdown issues, but Little Man has been fine with it up until now. At 3 months, he is 17+ pounds, so gaining weight beautifully.

Starting three days ago, he arcs back when I try to put him on the breast, and at most will suck for 1-2 minutes before he pulls off and acts like I'm terrorizing him if I try to put him back on. He does this same thing over night, and as a result I am having to wake every HOUR to feed him. I cannot go on like this. I have tried feeding while walking, feeding while rocking, many different positions, and nothing is working. If he does actually feed for a long time (he falls asleep, so this is after diaper changes, tickling, cold baby wipes, anything to get him to wake up), he will still wake after an hour and want to eat! He will sit there staring at me with a big smile on his face (his signal for "I want to eat!") gnawing on his hands and looking starving. As soon as I put him on, he rejects.

What is going on? Why is he terrified of my breasts all of the sudden, and why won't he eat enough to get full? When will this torture end? I need to sleep so badly. I could honestly cry right now.

 

[MoldyVoldy]

This WILL end! You WILL sleep again! I know how you feel, and it DOES get better.

At 3 months, your LO may very well be teething. Look into that a little more, maybe look into ways to relieve that pressure for your LO if you think he is in fact teething.

How is your let down? Would you consider it to be forceful? Maybe once you feel your let down happen, let your LO off the breast, let your milk flow for a minute, then put LO back on once the flow is slower.

It's also possibly that your LO is having a growth spurt. That doesn't just mean physically. It can mean something mentally as well Maybe he is learning something new right now or is n fact growing physically and needs that extra milk (hence the nursing every hour).

I hope this helped! Vent here all you need.

 

[dairymomma]

It could also be the taste of your milk. Is there something you started eating that's different? Maybe try cutting out some common allergenic foods or strong tasting foods (garlic, onion, etc.) to see if that helps. And one other thing that always made my kids reject the boob or be cranky about nursing is hormones. If I was leading up to a period or had gotten pregnant, my kids would get fussier about nursing. (My DD started getting reflux.)

 

[WantsALittle1]

MoldyVoldy: Thank you, I had thought about growth spurt. We ended up seeing the Ped and she said it sounded like he was on a nursing strike, brought about by a greater awareness of what's going on around him. Things have gotten much better since last night but my supply is still a bit in excess so I've been pumping. Ped said she wanted us to give him one bottle a day from now on to help him not be so picky about the breast but to be generally more accepting of how the food is offered to him. I'll be pumping for that bottle, so I'm okay doing it.

dairymomma: Something you said made me think. What if my PP period is coming back...? I started bleeding at 3 mo PP with DD, and I'm in that time window now with DS... What if my milk is tasting different for that reason? Also, regarding changes in my diet, yes, I have been eating excessive amounts of chocolate, so bad that I am breaking out, since Easter. (Guilty face!)

 

[MoldyVoldy]

How are things today? xx

 

[dairymomma]

For me, it was hormones usually. I am not one of the lucky ladies who doesn't get a period if she's nursing and my cycle/pregnancy was pretty much the only thing that made my kids cranky about breast feeding.

 

[WantsALittle1]

Hi everyone. OP here. Well, last Thursday (5/1) after days of all this sudden fussing at the breast I noticed some bright red jelly in Little Man's stool. Called the nurse and was told to rush him to the hospital right away. 24 hours, two ultrasounds, and a barium enema later we learnt that he had likely had a self-correcting minor intussusception.

He is okay now and has been released from the hospital, but this was one of the worst 24 hours of my life. Our Ped said that all the fussing at the breast was likely linked to the intussusception, and now we are pretty sure it has been corrected, and no coincidence the fussiness is gone. So if you all ever notice sudden fussy feedings and red jelly in the stool like in the attached photo, call your doctor right away!

 

[dairymomma]

Wow, glad everything has turned out okay.