nursing 3 week old - issues

[ilah17]

Ack, where to start? Well, my 3 week old son has no trouble latching on and nursing. However, after 1.5 weeks, we started having spitting up issues, and he has thrown up 5 times now (in about 12 days). It is not affecting his weight gain and he does not seem to be in pain, so his pediatrician told me it's a cleaning issue, not a medical issue. I am thinking maybe he's getting too much foremilk? I am not sure if I have an oversupply issue or a fast letdown issue but usually when he nurses at some point his mouth gets too full and he chokes a little and pulls away. He rarely nurses for longer than 10 minutes. His bowel movements are yellow and seedy and frequent, as I think they are supposed to be at this point, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Also, sometimes when he's passing a bowel movement he strains and grunts so much, he gets so frustrated sometimes he cries a little until it passes - could this be an indication of too much foremilk as well??

I am so worried I can hardly think, and I don't know if this post is even cohesive enough for anyone to help me, so please feel free to ask me questions for clarification!! Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can offer me

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

Foremilk might very well be your prob. try nursing from the same side 2-3 times before going on to the other side. Block feeding.

He may also have a dairy intollerane at this age. I am almost POSATIVE my son did, because when I cut out basic dairy, milk, cheese, from my diet, he stopped puking like that. ( I mean 4 ounces of BM would come spewing out) He is fine with it now, but I read somewhere that newborns have a hard time digesting the protein enzymes in dairy.

[alegna]

If spitting up is all there is- could well be normal.

-Angela

[Super~Single~Mama]

Congrats on your new baby!

his poop sounds fine. My son would get a little cranky when he pooped as well - it was a new sensation and he didn't like it much for a long time.

If he get choked up right when let down happens then you can pull him off and let the milk run into a rag or something and then put him back on - this helped my son tremendously when we were sitting up to nurse. Or, you could nurse sidelying since the let down didn't seem to bother him then.

I second cutting out basic dairy stuff like milk, cheese, ice cream for a while - that also helped my son with the puking. He didn't puke much (about like your baby) and now he tolerates it just fine (although it's not a main part of my diet).

[Llyra]

Some kids are just spitters. They just need time for their GI system to mature, and in the meantime, they spit up or even barf a lot. My girls were both like that; DD1 was like that to an extreme-- she used to spew some after every single feeding. And yet they both grew out of it with no intervention and no long-term problems.

If baby is growing normally and is not excessively fussy (keep in mind please that newborns sometimes just ARE fussy, for a multitude of reasons; I mean if he's really intensely miserably) then there really may be no problem at all. I wouldn't go making any drastic changes to your diet or nursing routine. Even choking a bit and drooling milk are normal behaviors for a newborn sometimes-- it takes them time to get good at nursing, and there are plenty of hitches along the way as they learn. It's also normal for them to be a bit gassy, or to turn bright red and PUSH and grunt and cry a bit when they need to have a BM. To poop requires a very complex series of muscle movements. You have to relax one set of muscles, and push with another, and it takes time for them to get good at it.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about it another minute, and just keep plenty of towels or flat diapers around to catch the "urps" when they come. And keep in mind, too, that the peak for fussy crying happens around 6 weeks. Many mothers report that everything, breastfeeding included, seems to start to settle down, slowly and steadily, after that time. Your supply will start to regulate itself to his needs, he may start to develop some habits and patterns you'll be able to follow, and his control of his own muscles will start to improve.

In the meantime, try keeping him semi-upright for a half hour or so after he nurses, like in a carrier on you or just perched on your lap. Gravity can help keep the feed down.

The spitting seems to get sharply better around the time they learn to sit up.

I disagree about the foremilk (respectfully, of course). A baby that's pooping yellow is getting plenty of hindmilk, I'd venture to guess.

[Bluegoat]

Originally Posted by Llyra

Some kids are just spitters. They just need time for their GI system to mature, and in the meantime, they spit up or even barf a lot. My girls were both like that; DD1 was like that to an extreme-- she used to spew some after every single feeding. And yet they both grew out of it with no intervention and no long-term problems.

If baby is growing normally and is not excessively fussy (keep in mind please that newborns sometimes just ARE fussy, for a multitude of reasons; I mean if he's really intensely miserably) then there really may be no problem at all. I wouldn't go making any drastic changes to your diet or nursing routine. Even choking a bit and drooling milk are normal behaviors for a newborn sometimes-- it takes them time to get good at nursing, and there are plenty of hitches along the way as they learn. It's also normal for them to be a bit gassy, or to turn bright red and PUSH and grunt and cry a bit when they need to have a BM. To poop requires a very complex series of muscle movements. You have to relax one set of muscles, and push with another, and it takes time for them to get good at it.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about it another minute, and just keep plenty of towels or flat diapers around to catch the "urps" when they come. And keep in mind, too, that the peak for fussy crying happens around 6 weeks. Many mothers report that everything, breastfeeding included, seems to start to settle down, slowly and steadily, after that time. Your supply will start to regulate itself to his needs, he may start to develop some habits and patterns you'll be able to follow, and his control of his own muscles will start to improve.

In the meantime, try keeping him semi-upright for a half hour or so after he nurses, like in a carrier on you or just perched on your lap. Gravity can help keep the feed down.

The spitting seems to get sharply better around the time they learn to sit up.

I disagree about the foremilk (respectfully, of course). A baby that's pooping yellow is getting plenty of hindmilk, I'd venture to guess.

:

Sounds like a normal baby to me.

[mjg013]

Originally Posted by Llyra

Some kids are just spitters. They just need time for their GI system to mature, and in the meantime, they spit up or even barf a lot. My girls were both like that; DD1 was like that to an extreme-- she used to spew some after every single feeding. And yet they both grew out of it with no intervention and no long-term problems.

If baby is growing normally and is not excessively fussy (keep in mind please that newborns sometimes just ARE fussy, for a multitude of reasons; I mean if he's really intensely miserably) then there really may be no problem at all. I wouldn't go making any drastic changes to your diet or nursing routine. Even choking a bit and drooling milk are normal behaviors for a newborn sometimes-- it takes them time to get good at nursing, and there are plenty of hitches along the way as they learn. It's also normal for them to be a bit gassy, or to turn bright red and PUSH and grunt and cry a bit when they need to have a BM. To poop requires a very complex series of muscle movements. You have to relax one set of muscles, and push with another, and it takes time for them to get good at it.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about it another minute, and just keep plenty of towels or flat diapers around to catch the "urps" when they come. And keep in mind, too, that the peak for fussy crying happens around 6 weeks. Many mothers report that everything, breastfeeding included, seems to start to settle down, slowly and steadily, after that time. Your supply will start to regulate itself to his needs, he may start to develop some habits and patterns you'll be able to follow, and his control of his own muscles will start to improve.

In the meantime, try keeping him semi-upright for a half hour or so after he nurses, like in a carrier on you or just perched on your lap. Gravity can help keep the feed down.

The spitting seems to get sharply better around the time they learn to sit up.

I disagree about the foremilk (respectfully, of course). A baby that's pooping yellow is getting plenty of hindmilk, I'd venture to guess.

I agree with all that. I have a spitter too. Well not anymore. He spit up a lot the first few months then around 3 months it stopped. I have overactive letdown too and I talked to my ped about it. He said that if he isn't in pain or fussing all the time then it's probably just that he's getting too much too fast. After a few months my milk supply evened out and he was feeding at consistent intervals and the spitting up stopped. If he's gaining, wetting, poo'ing and not showing signs of pain and discomfort I would not worry about it. The straining for BM is pretty par for the course. And yellow, seedy poops mean he's getting plenty of hindmilk.

[ilah17]

Thanks everyone New mom jitters I guess - I freak out about everything :P

[IndianaMomToBe]

I disagree about the foremilk (respectfully, of course). A baby that's pooping yellow is getting plenty of hindmilk, I'd venture to guess.

Can anyone tell me why my babe has some good orange/ yellow seedy poops in a day but ends up having at least one or two green poops too? She is 3 weeks old, very fussy at times, does the grunting and squirming to poop and sometimes vomits and spits up.

[Vortexing]

The green is from foremilk, the yellow from hindmilk. So when babe gets a lot of hindmilk (say those nursings were longer and he/she really drained the breast well), then poo=yellow. But maybe some other nursings during the day are shorter and so the kiddo gets a little more foremilk than during the other longer nursings, poo=green.

It's fine, you just don't want the kid to have ALL green poo, b/c they might not be getting enough hindmilk. Not that all green poo is necessarily something to worry about either. HTH!

[Vortexing]

Oh, and OP - is your babe spitting up 5x PER DAY, or just 5 times in 12 days? If it's in 12 days, I'd say you're on the side of a rare-spitter-upper. NB's just do that, and honestly 5 times in 12 days sounds like a great frequency to me.

[veedeepee]

I agree with a lot of what PPs are saying here, so I'll keep this short:

One thing that REALLY helped my LO with the grunting/crying pooping issue: After he eats, if he hasn't pooped (he almost always pooped while eating for the first few months), I would take his diaper off and hold him over the toilet in a standard elimination communication hold. I would hold him with his back against my chest, one hand under each thigh, so he's in a sort of squatting position with my chest supporting his head. Then I'd kneel on the floor by the toilet and hold him over. He had a MUCH easier time pooping in this position (plus, no poopy diaper!). We still do that now, at 4 months.

[Vortexing]

Originally Posted by veedeepee

I agree with a lot of what PPs are saying here, so I'll keep this short:

One thing that REALLY helped my LO with the grunting/crying pooping issue: After he eats, if he hasn't pooped (he almost always pooped while eating for the first few months), I would take his diaper off and hold him over the toilet in a standard elimination communication hold. I would hold him with his back against my chest, one hand under each thigh, so he's in a sort of squatting position with my chest supporting his head. Then I'd kneel on the floor by the toilet and hold him over. He had a MUCH easier time pooping in this position (plus, no poopy diaper!). We still do that now, at 4 months.

This exact scenario is how we discovered EC with our first DD. It's helped a ton with this one too as she's really gassy as well.

[twins+1]

my 11 wk old does some grunting and a bit of fussing before he poops sometimes. I don't think he's uncomfortable though - just adjusting to the feelings. He poops very easily when he sits up or is propped up more so than laying on his back. Also a little tummy massage helps too.