Crying immediately after nursing

[MeredithK]

I should say that the baby is crying, not me (although sometimes it could be me!). My DS is 5 weeks and I'm trying to figure out what is causing him to cry immediately after nursing.

Sometimes we don't even make it to the second breast as he's so frantic. I guess I am wondering if it's just normal gas or could an intolerance (such as dairy) cause that so quickly after nursing?

I asked one of the peds he saw and he suggested giving DS gas drops before each feeding. I really don't want to do that.

I try to burp him when he's so fussy, but that doesn't always work (he's not the best burper). Could that be it or should I continue searching for the answer?

Any advice would be appreciated, I feel so terrible that I can't make him feel better.

[AnnieNimIty]

Congrats New Mama. Have you stopped the nursing half-way through and tried burping him? Like before he is done with the first breast?
There are foods that can give your baby gas if you eat them. I would imagine you would have to go through a process of elimination to find out which one is affecting him.

[GreenGranolaMama]

My DS did the same thing until he was almost 3mo... I cut soy/dairy/caffeine and sometimes it seemed to help, but other times not so much. I second burping and our lactation consultant mentioned making sure he has a good latch to avoid sucking in too much air. I ended up giving DS some homeopathic gas drops at night because I needed to sleep so badly, and they seemed to help a little... but honestly I think what made the biggest difference for us was time

[MeredithK]

I wish he could just talk to me and tell me what's going on! I'll try to burp him in the middle of feeding. I've been working really hard at a good latch, so maybe as we get better and better, that will help.

It ends up being a bad cycle of him getting fussy, which I know puts air in his tummy. Then, he has gas bubbles which freaks him out which causes him to want to nurse, which causes him to get more gas.....it's never ending sometimes.

[Bokonon]

Could you have overactive letdown?

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS did the same thing, starting around 3 weeks old and getting horrible by 6 weeks (to the point where he'd refuse the breast, pop off and scream 10+ times during each feeding during the day) and he had silent reflux. I didn't want to put him on medication, so I cut out dairy and tomatoes (he seemed to react to those) and that helped only a little. We ended up trying Zantac first, which didn't help, and then switched to Prevacid. After 2 weeks, the screaming stopped and he nursed like a champ.

If it is reflux, it is really important to treat it as best you can, be it by an elimination diet, or worse cases by medication. If left untreated, your baby's esophagus could become eroded and have a lot of damage.

hope you get this figured out soon!

[Maluhia]

This was what DD had with "silent reflux" so she did not even spit up, some do some don't. Please ask your PED - the medication for reflux is low-risk and the problems from letting it go are high-risk.

[LadyCatherine185]

Originally Posted by Maluhia

This was what DD had with "silent reflux" so she did not even spit up, some do some don't. Please ask your PED - the medication for reflux is low-risk and the problems from letting it go are high-risk.

[MeredithK]

The more I read about it, I am thinking that it could be reflux. Tonight was particularly bad. He couldn't stop crying and he had the worst hiccups which really upset him. I will call the Dr tomorrow. I hope that we can get some help.