OUCH! DD keeps yanking her head back while latched- please help

[ebbb]

Hi,
my DD who is 3 1/2 months had started to pull her head back quickly, while still being latched and it is starting to really hurt. She only does it on the left side. Any ideas on what is causing this? She has been a really great nurser from the start-, her latch has always been good, and it's not a gas thing because she has very specific movement she does when she needs to be burped during a feeding. She has been drooling a lot lately and chewing on her fingers, I think she has started teething. Is there anything I can do to get her to stop doing this?

Thanks

[princesstutu]

To stop it: push her face into your boob to get her to unlatch whenever she begins to do that or right before she normally would do it, if you've been paying attention that closely.

You may be having a faster letdown and it's annoying her. Or she may be tired and wants to unlatch but isn't making the connection to open her mouth at the time. Teething can affect it, too.

[TulsiLeaf]

Originally Posted by princesstutu

To stop it: push her face into your boob to get her to unlatch whenever she begins to do that or right before she normally would do it, if you've been paying attention that closely.

You may be having a faster letdown and it's annoying her. Or she may be tired and wants to unlatch but isn't making the connection to open her mouth at the time. Teething can affect it, too.

There is a problem with that.

It's frightening to the child sometimes. I imagine if you were 3 months old and you were nursing and trying to do something and then all of a sudden Mum is smashing your face into her breast. Also, it always doesn't end up in the baby unlatching.


To the OP. My daughter started doing that around that age. It hurt like you know what. What I found was to just unlatch her and set her down for a few. Just keep doing it. Teach her nursing manners. We did that from the start(very gently. I would unlatch and then redirect her for a minute).

Is she giving clues when she is doing it? Try to see if there are clues, and unlatch her just before she is going to do it.

[Llyra]

Here's an idea-- when during a feed is she doing it?

Is she doing it later in a feed, when the flow has slowed down? She may be still hungry, and impatient for another letdown for a faster flow. Babies learn quickly that yanking and pulling will often speed up the flow. It can help to switch sides at that point, even if you already used the other side. That can often elicit another letdown. It's called switch-nursing, and it's a supply-increasing technique.

Is she doing it during the letdown, when the milk is coming quickly and you hear active swallowing? She may be overwhelmed by the speed of the flow on that side, and is trying to slow it down by pulling back. Unlatching for a moment and letting some milk flow into a towel will help with that. If you suspect that you have a very bountiful supply, you might want to look into block feeding, which means feeding on only one side for a specified block of the day, before switching to using the other side for another block of time. This is a supply-reducing technique, so you don't want to use it if baby's weight gain has not been optimal.

If it's related to teething, it can help to gently unlatch her when she does it and set her down for a minute, so that she gradually learns not to clamp down. But at three and a half months, that wouldn't be my first response. I'd be more likely to suspect a growth spurt and increased demand, and maybe she's trying to increase your supply.

[Ellien C]

Originally Posted by princesstutu

To stop it: push her face into your boob to get her to unlatch whenever she begins to do that or right before she normally would do it, if you've been paying attention that closely.

You may be having a faster letdown and it's annoying her. Or she may be tired and wants to unlatch but isn't making the connection to open her mouth at the time. Teething can affect it, too.

I posted the same thing when my baby was around the same age, I think. Just a few weeks ago. In our case it was definitely an unlatch problem. This worked for us and it was short-lived. He doesn't do it anymore.

[HonkyTonka]

so glad I found this thread... I could have written the OPs post!
I'm going to try unlatching at her first yank.