Help, 5-week-old thrashing at the breast

[Ms. Cellaneous]

Hi,

I am new to this and my babe and I are learning as we go, but I wonder if I'm doing something wrong here. Generally breastfeeding is going great and he's gaining well. BUT sometimes, and more frequently in the past few days, he has seemed really uncomfortable/unhappy at the breast. I know he's hungry and he wants to nurse, but he will thrash around, shake his head back and forth -- it's like he's wrestling a tiger or something! I wish I could tell him to just relax and nurse! Sometimes he'll be hungry, but once I get him latched on he'll pop off and start crying again, or just cry with the nipple in his mouth. I don't know exactly what's going on. Is this normal?
Sometimes there's a clear reason for the fussiness, like he'll make a big fart or poop and then his little body will just relax. But other times (like last night) it just goes on and on for no apparent reason. It's very frustrating -- I know he's hungry, the boob is right in front of him, but it seems like he's fighting it!
Any thoughts/suggestions? Thank you!

[sonomama]

My little one does this as well (she's 5 weeks also). I think that she is frustrated because she just wants to comfort suck and keeps getting milk. She pulls off and fusses just when my milk starts to let down. She also will continue to root or play with my nipple (until she starts to get really fussy)like she wants to nurse, but won't latch on after the first try because she really doesn't want the milk.

I know you said that you feel like your little guy is really hungry so maybe this is not what you are experiencing, but thought I would share just in case it might help.

Good luck!

[zensven42]

1

[writteninkursive]

Burp him! My baby eats peacefully until he has to burp, and then thrashes like a madman. I take him off, burp him, he sometimes spits up a little, and then back to nursing (and he usually falls asleep after that).

If you hear loud gulping while he is eating, he is probably getting too much air and it hurts his belly.

[Ms. Cellaneous]

Thank you!!! I have been doing a lot more burping and it REALLY helps. This is really good advice.

I think there might be something to the comfort sucking thing too. I mean, he seems hungry to me, but it's really hard for me to tell the difference between hunger and wanting to suck.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the responses!

[ewe+lamb]

OK - you seem to be doing well, but if baby is gulping air this isn't right, so check the latch and position before anything else, ear, shoulder and hip in a direct line, tummy to tummy and snuggled in nice and close, make sure that the lips are turned out like an open book, point your nipple at baby's nose and let baby take the breast look for the open mouth (almost to 180 degrees) and let baby latch on himself. If there is lots of gassiness, where is it? Is it coming back soon after burping or is it lower down in the intestine? what are the nappies like? nice yellowy mustardy nappies or green frothy ones? Do the nappies smell rather sweet and pleasant or unpleasant?

[LadyCatherine185]

Just wanted to say my DS did this when we were dealing with silent reflux.

good luck!

[Tuesday]

My older son did this as well - he had reflux. Besides checking your latch - I'd monitor your diet and occurrence of this "thrashing". In the early months, I was eating things like dairy, melon, broccoli, garlic (etc.) and all these foods would bother my son and increased the thrashing at the nipple.

I recall having to actually hold my nipple into his mouth ... I know you're not supposed to do this ... but it seemed to be hard for him .... My second son had none of these issues so I do believe it was the reflux causing issues.

Good luck!!!!

[~pi]

My DS did that -- I referred to it as nursing an angry octopus.

Swaddling him to nurse totally fixed our problem.

[Therese's Mommy]

My baby does this periodically and my first did it as well. With both I am sure that it was because they wanted to comfort suck but were getting a mouthful of milk that they did not want. I offer my finger to suck on (be sure to keep your fingernails trimmed well) and almost always within a minute she drifts off to sleep

[Twinklefae]

I found that until DS figured out the secret way to nurse and not get milk around 7 weeks he would do that when he wanted to comfort nurse. It was a hard couple of weeks and thenhe settled right down.