I've been through some BF-ing challenges with my 5-wo already...she was born tongue tied, snipped at 5 days, and we worked HARD with a lactation consultant to teach her to latch on afterwards. She seemed to get it finally, but due to her high suck needs, I introduced a pacifier at around 2-1/2 weeks. (I felt guilty...but it was the only way I was going to get any rest.)
Now she's 5 weeks old, and she seems to want to be on the breast LITERALLY constantly, but sucks very lazily once she's on there. She'll flutter-suck, rest, pull away, then have a panic attack because there's no nipple in her moth, get back on, flutter, rest, flutter, etc. I have a very hard time telling when she's hungry and when she just needs to suck. Sometimes the pacifier works, sometimes it doesn't. If she doesn't have something in her mouth, she is always crying. She's constantly fussy, and she's pooping immense amounts (big poops like 6-8 times a day...up from 2-3 times previously), and gaining what seems like maybe too much weight. (She'd gained 13 ounces at 3-1/2 weeks, I haven't had her weighed since then, but she's growing out of everything suddenly.) Because of her lazy sucking, I'm worried that she's not getting enough hindmilk, and that might explain the fussiness and poopiness. I've been limiting her to one breast per 2 hour period, but I don't know if it's making a difference. She's still sleeping okay at night (typically wakes 2 or 3 times within a 12 hour period), but very reluctant to sleep during the day. Don't know if it's related, but she also has developed really bad baby acne on her face the last few days.
I'm feeling guilty, confused, and frazzled. There's no happy time, she's no fun to live with, and it's putting strain on me and my husband. I don't know why she's so reluctant to really SUCK. It's all comfort sucking, all the time. Any insight or ideas would be appreciated.
Now she's 5 weeks old, and she seems to want to be on the breast LITERALLY constantly, but sucks very lazily once she's on there. She'll flutter-suck, rest, pull away, then have a panic attack because there's no nipple in her moth, get back on, flutter, rest, flutter, etc. I have a very hard time telling when she's hungry and when she just needs to suck. Sometimes the pacifier works, sometimes it doesn't. If she doesn't have something in her mouth, she is always crying. She's constantly fussy, and she's pooping immense amounts (big poops like 6-8 times a day...up from 2-3 times previously), and gaining what seems like maybe too much weight. (She'd gained 13 ounces at 3-1/2 weeks, I haven't had her weighed since then, but she's growing out of everything suddenly.) Because of her lazy sucking, I'm worried that she's not getting enough hindmilk, and that might explain the fussiness and poopiness. I've been limiting her to one breast per 2 hour period, but I don't know if it's making a difference. She's still sleeping okay at night (typically wakes 2 or 3 times within a 12 hour period), but very reluctant to sleep during the day. Don't know if it's related, but she also has developed really bad baby acne on her face the last few days.
I'm feeling guilty, confused, and frazzled. There's no happy time, she's no fun to live with, and it's putting strain on me and my husband. I don't know why she's so reluctant to really SUCK. It's all comfort sucking, all the time. Any insight or ideas would be appreciated.
For now.
:
She had a marathon spinach-green poop session last night before bed, then first thing in the morning was beautiful golden yellow, and now they're green again. I'm doing the block feeding, so the only thing I can think is that when I do switch boobs after 3 hours, the first feeding on the (usually very full) boob is more fore-milk-y? I'm also cutting out dairy, just for kicks, to see if that makes a difference. Also...maybe TMI, but...her poops are very foamy. We do EC, and when I hold her over the potty, it's like a baking soda and vinegar volcano. Normal?
