Newborn wants to nurse a lot but throws it right back up!

[AmyRS]

My DD is 16 days old and is doing really well with nursing in general.

I have a very strong/fast letdown and she handles it pretty well.

Our problem is she will have usually one period during the day (usually around midnight, sometimes around 5PM or 8PM) where she wants to eat constantly and is very fussy and upset at the breast. Usually she nurses for 6-8 mins total on one side only and is done and rarely has a small spit-up afterwards. When she eats for longer than this she spits it up because her tummy can't seem to hold more than that amount. During this period she eats several times within an hour and then throws up quite a large amount (not projectile).

I think she just wants to suck but her stomach can't handle the volume of milk she gets, even when I put her on the same side over and over again to completely empty one breast. I'm debating trying a soother, which I really don't want to have to do, but I'm not sure how else to get over this, other than to continue to let her eat like crazy and throw up.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has any suggestions?

She is gaining well and usually has this rough period only once a day, maybe twice.

[PatioGardener]

That cluster feeding is completely normal. If she is comfortable at other times, at 16 days old, I would let her feed and if she spits up, she spits up. If this were happening more than once a day, and not just during the cluster feeding time, I would think more about trying a paci, but as they can give latch issues sometimes, and she is not uncomfortable/fussy in general, then I'd stick with the breast for now.

Interested to hear what others think!

ps Congrats

[Megan73]

I agree. I've read that it simply takes a while for babies' esophegeal sphincters to mature. As she gets bigger I bet the problem will resolve. I'd also add - as the mom of a baby who was diagnosed with reflux and vomited ALL DAY LONG - it really looks like more volume than it is.
Sounds like you're both doing an awesome job at nursing. Enjoy your babymoon

[rlmueller]

Mine did the same

No flaming, but around 7pm at the fussy time she wants to eat more than she could hold and would spit up about 2 oz's, once or twice a day--I don't know how she put weight on. What a mess. We did make sure she was clean, dry, fed, burped and then I kept her on the empty side a bit and use a paci at about 7 pm. It took a bit of paci training--nothing awful. Now she uses it in the car (a God send for my 6 year old) and at 7 until only 7:30, then she is cool and content until bedtime.

[averlee]

My daughter was a regular barf factory, until she reached crawling age. I don't know if the crawling had anything to do with it, but that was when all spitting-up ceased and also she didn't need to be burped anymore. I found that feeding in different positions seemed to help, in general being more upright, but we also had great success with side-lying as long as I burped her when we'd switch sides. There was never a time the barfing seemed to bother her- she didn't even seem to notice. Also, the barf was always just fresh milk, there was never any funkiness to it that made me worry anything might be wrong. Also, my daughter never lagged with the wet/dirty diapers (or weight gain), so I knew if she was making that much output, she was getting plenty of input.

[AmyRS]

Thanks so much for all of the responses...

We are doing better and DD hasn't had a big throw up for a few days now. We ended up trying a soother and that seems to have made a difference with the wanting to feed a million times and then throwing it up. However, I also realised that 2-3 weeks is a growth spurt, and she is 3 weeks tomorrow so I bet it is a combination of both things!

Hopefully we are over the worst of it but I will post again if it continues