why does he do this?

[texaspeach]

my 8 day old rears his head back while my nipple is still in his mouth. It hurts! Even though his neck/lower head are supported it feels like he's going to rip my nipple off. We're trying to correct some latch problems so I''ve already got tenderness.

[OTMomma]

It may be that your milk is letting down too fast for him, and he's trying to cut off the flow so he doesn't feel like he's drowning.

[Mama_of_1]

I had this exact problem with my 2 week old a few days ago. It was the over-active letdown. She'd been nursing about every hour for a couple of days and it sped up my milk production (and quantity) but when it came in, she couldn't handle the flow. I emailed one of my LLL leaders and she clarified that that's what it is. It should only last the day or two and then he'll get better at not pulling back. I also couldn't catch my girl right before she did it and it exascerbated the soreness I had from her lazy latch. I still have that problem but at least the head-pull only lasted the day.