Breastfeeding trouble...help!

I've started to have this problem with my daughter lately. She is almost five months old now. I will be breast feeding her and she starts crying and getting really fussy but I can see that she is still hungry. I think that when this happens she isn't getting any milk. It really worried me at first but then I would make her a bottle when this happened and she would suck the whole thing down. I breastfeed primarily but when I don't have enough milk to satisfy her I substitute that with some enfamil lipil. You can give it a try and see if that works. It worked for me! Hope this helps.

This is completely normal (I've nursed 3 children...my oldest nursed until 3yrs)...you may have over-active letdown (which is where your milk sprays a little after you let down) this is VERY normal when your baby is nursing a lot getting ready for a growth spurt...(6 months is a BIG one!)something that may help is 'block nursing' which is where baby nurses on one side only for each feeding to make sure they are getting the fatty hindmilk)

You may want to check out kellymom.com (a GREAT nursing site) or get in touch with La Leche League which helped me a lot as well. Good luck!

i can almost guaranty it's teething. put some baby oragel on her gums and then try to nurse her. you might want to start rice cerel. that will help her get full with out sucking. the sucking bothered my son around 5 1/2 - 6 months and a few weeks later he got a tooth and a week after that another one. DONT STOP NURSING she will get the nutrience she needs. also every time my son teeths he gets a runny nose is congested and sometimes gets ear infections. the dr said it wasnt because he was teething. but it is like clock work. he cant stop drooling and his nose wont stop. hope this helps.

Dont worry! I am still nursing my son (13 months old morning and night) He also did something similar to this on and off at this age and you know what? He got his first tooth at 5 and a half months. We now have 9 teeth. Isaac would have his moments when I was prying him off of me after 12 minutes per side and other times when he would want to nurse 10 minutes one side and 4 the other. She may be finished. Babies know when they are full and dont eat the way adults do. When they are done they are done. I did try to keep Isaac on a schedule and not feed on demand. I would try really hard to make him wait 3 hours unless he was just wigging out. You are the mom and you know what is best for her. Trust your heart, it isnt wrong! Good job with breastfeeding this long and continued good luck!

Are you sure that she is getting milk from the 2nd side? Is it always the same breast that she cries on? You could have a problem like that - where she is having to work too hard to get milk from that one breast. Otherwise if it's both sides (just her 2nd "helping") ...then hummm. I don't know! I would think gas, etc., but you say that you burp her.

Keep trying anything you can & don't get discouraged. Breastfeeding is a wonderful thing, but seems to be tricky for many people. I know I had a heck of a time with my 1st, but I will definitley do it again.

She may be going through growth spurt and trying to build your milk up(this why you shoul NOT give a bottle after feeding) Let her nurse on demand and burp her freqently. My next guess would be teething.
Have you gone to a La Leche League meeting? They are very helpful!

I would try using Mylicon. It is a baby gas medicine. If she has gas it will be hard for her to eat, yet she will still feel hungry and pain from the gas. I breastfed both my son and daughter until they were 12 months old. The mylicon helped us through numerous cry spats. Also, it may help to check out what foods you eat that may cause your daughter to have gas. There's probably info on the web and some foods are hit and miss. For instance, I know my daughter would get upset if I ate coconut.

I had the same trouble when my son was around that age (he is 14 months now). I tried everything from changing positions to burping to--well everything. My pedi said that it could be teething or could be a feeding strike. He told me to give it some time, to try and stay calm and not get upset. He also said I may have to pump the milk and bottle feed. Well, he was right. I pumped when he wouldn't eat and after about a week he started feeding normally again. I was able to breastfeed him for 10 months. He also acted this way every time he got a tooth. I hope this helps. I know how frustrating it can be!

After reading about 'over active let-down', I wanted to suggest to try to pump a little before feeding her to help ease up on the flow of milk. Unfortunately, I'm on all sorts of herbs and whatnot to keep my supply up, but in my readings, I've read about babies crying about TOO much milk, and this was a suggestion. Good luck!

I think it could be reflux...my son had it and they kept saying no because he was spitting up or throwing up at that time, He would drink so much and then start flaring back and screaming. When we finally had some test ran it showed it going down about 4oz and then it would start coming up to the top of his espohagus irritating him. Putting her down flat would probably make it hurt. Sounds weird but if you put her down like on a boppy pillow with her head up and her lying on her belly it might help...It helped with our son and we couldn't figure out why after we found out for sure it was reflux because he was turned over. Doctor said it closed that little door on the esopogus when he was lying down on his belly at an angle so it helped it not come back up...Good luck, T.

This might be a simple issue of adjusting your breast so the nipple is pointed towards the roof of her mouth instead of the back of her throat! I had a similar problem where one breast flowed more freely than the other, and found that my son couldn't swallow fast enough. I made a small adjustment by pulling back right above the nipple so that it adjusted the direction of the flow, and it solved the problem! Good luck :-)

You may have more milk on one side versus the other. Don't feel so alone. I had that problem when I was nursing. Try drinking a lot more water and give the little one a little baby orajel to combat both ideal problems. I started giving my little one a bottle of my breastmilk with a little rice cereal in it too.

My son had this same problem exactly! It turned out he had a form of acid reflux. When I would lay him down it hurt because the acid would come up. Ask your doctor about it. We had him on some medicine for it. It is important to have it checked out. Jax had to spend some time at childrens for a torn esophagus (I know that is spelled wrong). Anyway, I would ask your doctor if reflux could be a possability.

Hi J., I breastfed my daughter for the first year. Whenever I felt like she was still hungry, I would feed her a little bit of baby rice or oatmeal beforehand (my doctor recommended afterwards). You might try pumping once just to see how much milk you are producing - you can always add rice or oatmeal to your milk then give it to your daughter in a bottle. Good Luck!

Could it be something that you are eating that is making her uncomfortable? You might want to review any new foods that you are eating/drinking. Just a thought.

Hi Jaime,

I have a 3 month old son that had a smiliar problem. In the last 2 weeks, I have changed to breast feeding on one side only for a 2 hour period. I think I had "over active let down" (over producing milk). By feeding on both sides at each feeding, your daughter might be getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk. The foremilk is very acidic. Without the right amount of hindmilk to balance the foremilk it could upset your daughter's stomach. I read a little about this online. I think it said that each breast has like 2 ounces of foremilk and 3-4 ounces of hindmilk. So if she eats full on oneside and then goes to the other side she might just be eating enough on the secound side to only be getting the foremilk.

By letting my son just eat on one side for the 2 hour period, it allows him to fully get the foremilk. I also started sitting him up to breast feed. I know it sounds stranged but online they mentioned that if the baby's head is above the nipple it keeps an overactive milk production from spraying to the back of the baby's throat. The baby can then use his or her mouth to stop the flow of the milk thru the nipple when the flow becomes too much. I think this has helped us as well.

I know the frustration you feel when you can tell your baby is hungry and hurting. When breastfeeding normally provides comfort for her,it is frustrating to see her in pain from breastfeeding. He has always been a good hungry eater but now he is so does not cry out while breastfeeding. We are both so much happier. Good luck!

A sympathetic first time mom,
H.