STRESSED! and a 4 month old

[Bananas]

Ok, so here's my situation. My daughter is 4 months old and has been weird on the breast for the last week. It seemed like nothing was coming out, and 2-3 hours had past since her last feed so I "should've had milk", well she kept sucking for a couple seconds and than would twist in annoyance. So I decided well I'll just pump it out. NOTHING! I'm drinking enough water. So I'm thinking it's because she wants more food. So I've been giving her some Rice cereal mixed in with some breastmilk once or twice a day. This is only because I can usually pump at night when she's gone to bed, but I only get 60-90 mL at most. So I'm trying to feed her, and also I'm trying to store milk up because I'm in my best friends wedding on 8/7 so my husband is going to have to give her most of her feeding for that day, but I'm also trying to give her some milk with rice cereal to satisfy her since she's often not getting anything out of me once or twice a day. I'm trying to do this without dipping into the milk I already have stored, but that's not working out. I'm sooooo stressed, and I just don't know what to do or how to go about anything anymore.

[annettemarie]

As per the forum guidelines, I am moving this out to the main Breastfeeding forum.

[Bananas]

Oh, sorry about that

[PatioGardener]

4 months is a strange time for breastfeeding - many mamas feel like they have no milk, but they still do.

How many wet diapers does your DD have in 24 h? If she has 4-5 heavy wets in 24 h then she is getting enough. http://kellymom.com/bf/supply/enoughmilk-older.html

As for the cereal, I would stop that immediately. It has far fewer calories than breastmilk, and all medical associations now recommend exclusive breastfeeding (no solids) until 6 months as it is healthier for the baby to wait (early solids increases the risk of several illnesses).

Some things that can reduce milk supply: feeding on a schedule; birth control; cold medicines, some herbs.

There are many ways to increase milk supply if you need to: oatmeal, fenugreek, domperidone, pumping between feeds, cosleeping, etc.

[Bananas]

Thanks for replying. All the things you mentioned for reducing milk supply I'm not doing. I have started taking Mother's Milk Tea - it contains bitter fennel fruit, aniseed fruit, coriander fruit, fenugreek seed & blessed thistle herb. Than it says proprietary blend (which I don't know what that means and there's no amounts but it says the following)
spearmint leaf, west indian lemongrass leaf, lemon verbena leaf, and marshmallow root. I'm suppose to drink 3-5 cups of 8oz each. So I guess we'll see if that helps.
But she definately was getting upset and irritated when she was trying to nurse, so what am I suppose to do when she's like that?? Am I going to have to have a screaming, sad, upset baby for 2 days, more?? The other thing, is I had spoken with an LC and she said to pump every 2 hours but that didn't really make sense, so I was pumping after DD ate - how many days do I do this before I see results and that she can happily nurse throughout the day, instead of fighting it mid-day?
I honestly haven't written down the exact number of wet diapers she's having but they do seem to be consistent to what she's been having all along.

[PatioGardener]

The consistant diapers are great! If I were you I'd keep track for 24 hours just to be reassured. This may be a growth spurt, which will give you a fussy baby for a couple of days, but with lots of nursing it should increase your milk supply and be over soon (the fussiness, that is).

Does your DD have one time of day that is worse than the rest? Does she nurse well at any time? What about when she is sleepy?

[Bananas]

Well, she nurses the absolute best first thing in the morning (that's a given) And usually the feed after that, but than it's been sporadic for the rest of the day until maybe early evening, than that's a feed where she seems content and maybe the next to last feed, but than she's tired and ready for bed an hour later and I still put her to breast but she clearly becomes frustrated because "nothings coming out" She also use to sleep through the night, I would put her to bed at 8:30 - 9 o'clock and she would wake up around 6 AM, but since this feeding confusement has started about a week-week and half ago she's been waking up between 3am-5am clearly hungry.

[dakotablue]

you may be having a delayed let down. Stress doesn't help that. I second growth spurt, or she might not want to nurse, rather want comfort or is teething or has to fart or so many other things. Ds went though this..can't remember what age, but I liken it to, "I want something..Oh boob wait no no that's not what I wanted" he also did this while teething because he wanted to chomp and Praise God didn't want to chop me!

If her output is fine then I'm sure she's ok. I would stop the 'food' ASAP because that will affect your supply and lessen her caloric intake.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Bananas

Well, she nurses the absolute best first thing in the morning (that's a given) And usually the feed after that, but than it's been sporadic for the rest of the day until maybe early evening, than that's a feed where she seems content and maybe the next to last feed, but than she's tired and ready for bed an hour later and I still put her to breast but she clearly becomes frustrated because "nothings coming out" She also use to sleep through the night, I would put her to bed at 8:30 - 9 o'clock and she would wake up around 6 AM, but since this feeding confusement has started about a week-week and half ago she's been waking up between 3am-5am clearly hungry.

this is the 4th month sleep regression - very common, completely normal and nothing to do with your milk supply. which is great news! just keep nursing her whenever she wakes hang in there - it will pass.

[Bananas]

Thanks guys for both your input. I noticed that today she has been more normal (like she use to be) since this all began--I am beginning to see the light
Thanks again!

[AislinCarys]

So glad it is getting better!

Well to me it sounds like the 4 month sleep regression, in combination with a growth spurt! DD went through that.

Can tell you something else - later, when we started solids, it did nothing whatsoever for her sleep!

I think that what they need is to breastfeed more for a while, then it settles down a bit. So just breastfeed more, and the baby should get more.

I think being ready for solids is a very different thing - and not really connected with hunger, but with being ready to eat, to play with foods, to practice eating.

And I had supply issues which we got sorted just about when DD started solids. She still breastfed for food and ate solids for fun, and asked for a breastfeed when she was hungry (signing), until she was over a year old.

[Bananas]

I sure hope it gets better, and that I just didn't just have a "good" day today She's been awfully drooly too, so there could be some teeth trying to make an appearance. Poor thing, talk about getting a wallop!

[ElliesMomma]

oh well teeth coming in, that explains the twisting and being weird on the breast. do not be surprised if you are bitten a bit. if/when this happens, explain flatly, do not bite, remove her from the breast (briefly) and try again. she'll get it.

my only advice is to ramp up your supply by eating massive quantities of oatmeal. if you do this, it pretty much guarantees you will have adequate milk, if not abundant milk.

and like others have said, stop the cereal to fill her up. let her fill up on her breastmilk. nurse on demand, and offer, offer, offer. make it your business to just nurse constantly. pump when she is asleep and you know she'll be out for a good stretch.

you can do this!

[Bananas]

Ok, so I haven't given DD any rice cereal with the breastmilk, or at all for that matter since I first started this thread~so that's one small success. However she is still being weird on the breast. I also noticed something else, at one other time I did this method of nursing and it seemed to "calm" her? So I tried it again tonight when she was being weird and it worked. I nurse her kind of really upright is the only way I can explain it. It's not the most comfortable position for me but it is doable and she actually nursed nursed. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to encourage staying on the breast longer to ensure she's getting the hindmilk?? Because except for first thing in the morning I'm not too sure she's actually getting it because that seems to be the only time she gulps towards the end. When she's being weird on the breast I usually have to put her upright to basically get her attention on the breast again than I lay her down into regular position (I usually have to do this about 3 times) than after that when she does it again, I'll switch to the other side and repeat the above routine. It's such a pain and I have no idea why she's doing it

[flavorfull1]

When DS did this I had to nurse him laying down. Another thing that happened was that he refused to nurse to sleep. Got all weird about our usual routine. So, I just rocked him instead of trying to force the nursing and he went out right away. It was like nursing was too much to keep up with and trying to sleep. It did mean he woke up more during the night to nurse but he was doing that anyway. As far as making sure he nursed long enough- I just nursed when he would, offered it often throughout the day but didn't really worry about if it was a few gulps here and there. He ended up eating more throughout the night and then has gone back to nursing to sleep in the rocking chair after his tooth broke through and he is a little older. I feel for you mama and I think it is that whole 4 mo sleep regression thing, it feels like forever during it but it is such a short time over all. Keep with it and just try different things! milestones can be hard.

[Quinalla]

Glad it is getting better! But yeah, definitely sounds like a growth spurt and/or prepping for a developmental leap. My daughter just went through the latter and I was about ready to pull my hair out with her sleeping getting so much worse, but she is getting back to normal too.