Crying at the Breast?

[dislocator3972]

My daughter is 16 days old and she's started crying at the breast. We've had some challenges and really struggled to nurse. At about 5 days we got a nipple shield and that has been the only way we could nurse at all. We're trying to get off of it, and we're making progress.

But sometimes she just cries and cries while she nurses. She doesn't seem to need to burp, she's clean and dry, and she's been nursing for a while. Today I feel like I've been nursing nearly continuously since noon. (in retrospect I haven't really nursed the whole time, but certainly a lot)

This session started around 4. She woke up wanting to nurse, so we did. I stopped and burped her after about 10 or 15 minutes, then put her back to the breast. She fell asleep, slept lightly for about 10 or 15 minutes, and wanted to nurse again. We've been repeating those steps over and over since then and it's now nearly 7 (with a few diaper changes along the way). About 10 minutes ago she just started crying while she was nursing, so we changed her and let her nurse some more. It's like nursing isn't exactly what she wants but she doesn't want anything else either. And she's fighting with her hands right up to her mouth even while she's nursing, but if I try to hold them gently away from her face she just gets so angry!

What am I doing wrong? Or missing? She's definitely my first and I don't want to give up breastfeeding but I'm starting to really resent her cries, her being awake, everything. I love her, but I just don't want to nurse or have her crying at my breast anymore. I feel like I'm going to crack!

She's upstairs with DH right now and she isn't currently crying, just fussing. Maybe she's just tired? But then why wont she sleep? I've never met a baby I couldn't put to sleep, but I just don't know if she even wants to sleep.

TIA

[bajamergrrl]

Could she be going through a growth spurt? She's at the right age for one. I know I just about lost my mind when my DS had his first growth spurt at 10 days old. I didn't realize that's what it was at the time until the helpful mamas at MDC pointed it out to me.

[dislocator3972]

Is this what happens when they hit a growth spurt? She's gaining about 1/2 ounce per day chasing her birth weight, would that count as a growth spurt?

Since my last post she's nursed, fallen asleep (2-5 minutes), woken up crying, and repeated. Sometimes I can get a good burp out of her but that doesn't seem to have any impact.

If I wasn't using a shield my nipples would be ground beef by now. Maybe I should give her some expressed milk and see if we can fill her belly enough for her to get some sleep?

[phrogger]

Nope, keep nursing. She is helping to up your supply. This is such a rough time, but it DOES get better.

[mags]

It could be a variety of things, growth spurt, thrush (sometimes it hurts for them to nurse and they also get more gas) or if your let down is too fast (startles them) or too slow (impatient), that can make them cry too.

[bajamergrrl]

Will she let you carry her in a wrap? That helped to calm my son. We took a walk and he went to sleep and stayed asleep for about 2 hours. Growth spurts can last a few days but once they're over, they're over. Use lots of lanisoh.