Really need help please

[@llli*kileyr82]

My 5 week old baby keeps latching on for a few minutes and then pulling off the nipple which is really hurting my nipples now. We had weeks of no problem feeding and now I am really struggling. She is only feeding for 5 minutes at a time and wanting food every hour so this is also hurting my nipples. She mainly struggles at night and I know I have enough milk because she is spitting it out when she pulls off. Can anyone please suggest ways to get her to feed for longer periods?? I'm not sure what has gone wrong. I have tried to cut out dairy products as she has had green poo as well. Could this just be wind? She only seems irritated when on the breast and she seems to be hungry but not able to keep still for more than 5 minutes. I kept trying to put her back on but she just pulls off each time. Any help would be really appreciated.

[@llli*littleturtlelove]

It kind of sounds like an OALD or OS, or it could be the other way around, she may be getting impatient at the breast. Try the laid back position, or if that doesn't work try doing compressions while she eats.

[@llli*mommal]

It kind of sounds like an OALD or OS, or it could be the other way around, she may be getting impatient at the breast. Try the laid back position, or if that doesn't work try doing compressions while she eats.

Do you experience any or all of the following:
- frequent feelings of fullness or engorgement
- frequent leaking
- intense letdown sensation (it may feel like a tingling, or pins and needles)
- ability to pump multiple oz of milk with ease, if you are pumping
- milk sometimes spraying or streaming from the breast if baby pulls off while nursing
- baby makes a clicking or clucking sound when nursing
- baby chokes, coughs, splutters, gags, etc. while nursing
- baby starts out with a good latch but "slips up" onto the nipple
- baby "clamps down" while nursing

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

I agree, this could be oversupply/overactive let down. That would also cause the green poops (potentially) and dairy might have nothing to do with it. (I always hate to see mamas trying to eliminate foods from their diet when it's maybe not necessary, just because that's hard!) Do you have any of the other symptoms Mommal describes?

[@llli*kileyr82]

Hi Ladies, Thank you so much for your advice. After reading this I tried laying down with my baby on me and so far this has worked a treat. I have had a lot of the symptoms above. My breasts often feel full and my baby was doing a lot of the things you mentioned above. I looked up oversupply and am trying to use the same breast within a 2 hour period so that she is getting some of the hind milk and not just the foremilk each time. I am also expressing little amounts before feeds. Last night, after doing this, my daughter slept for 5 hours straight and this to me was heaven! Hoping that it wasn't just a one off but thanks to you I now think I know what is happening which means I can look for solutions. Really can't thank you all enough for your help and advice. I feel so much more refreshed now that I've had a few more hours sleep and I'm optimistic that when/if she struggles on the breast in future I can resolve it.

[@llli*djs.mom]

YAY! A 5hour stretch is ALWAYS good news!

[@llli*mommal]

I'm so glad things are going better! Just a side note: don't worry too much about the whole "foremilk/hindmilk" thing. Truth is there are no such things as foremilk or hindmilk. You only produce milk. At the beginning of the feeding, the milk is relatively watery and lower in fat (but not non-fat!), and as the feeding progresses and the breast gets emptier, the milk contains gradually increasing amounts of fat. I think there's this mindset out there that "foremilk is bad, hindmilk is good", and if you could get to a place where your baby only got hindmilk that would be good- but it's not. Both types of milk- the relatively low-fat stuff that a baby gets at the beginning of a feeding, and the relatively high-fat stuff he gets at the end- are good, and have a place in baby's diet. So don't let the whole foremilk vs. hindmilk thing drive you nuts.

ETA: 2 things to be cautious about:
1. Expressing before nursing- every time you take milk out of the breast, you are telling your body that it needs to be making at least that much milk. So expressing milk before feedings can perpetuate oversupply issues.
2. Block feeding (using 1 breast for one or more feedings in a row)- is designed to reduce supply, so be cautious with it. It's possible to go too far!

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

I think a two hour block is pretty reasonable - that's basically what I did with Joe, one boob at a time. But with block feeding, you do need to be careful not to be too rigid. If your baby wants the other breast, give it to her! I did one boob at a time most of the day but tended to offer both sides during the fussy evening times. Watch your baby, not the clock. And since the purpose of block feeding is to reduce your supply, you do want to be careful not to go too far with it.

About foremilk/hindmilk too. Letting your baby really empty your breast before switching sides (not that a breast is ever truly empty) is a good thing, but don't get too obsessed with it. Truth be told, my baby continued to have occasional green poops for many months, but he was happy, so I was happy. I think sometimes mamas get so worried about the color of their baby's poops, they forget about the most important thing - oversupply, OALD, or foremilk/hindmilk imbalance that doesn't bother your child shouldn't worry you either! It's only when it makes your baby (or you) uncomfortable that it's an issue.



Expressing milk before feeds can help with OALD, but it's best to use manual expression, or let the baby start sucking, then when your milk lets down and baby pops off, just let the milk spray onto a cloth. Using a pump can easily aggravate oversupply. You'd be amazed at how fast that can happen.

So glad you're doing better!!

[@llli*phi]

Completely with PPs. I just wanted to add that pumping can aggravate OALD as well as the OS. It might help in the short term, but it can really worsen the OALD overall. My letdown was always very forceful, but it was much worse when I was pumping at work than when I was off and not pumping. Nursing relined is really the best thing that you can do to deal with OALD. If you can avoid expressing any milk at all it will ultimately help most with both OS and OALD; but if you have no choice but to express, then hand express a minimal amount of milk.

I also did some very minor block feeding (one breast per feeding, or per every two feedings in the thick of it), but I didn't need to get to aggressive with it. The very frequent nursing actually helps a lot with the OALD too, so don't try to discourage that.

All of this gets better with time as your baby grows. My milk old spray across the room for 15 months, but my baby ony had trouble with it for the first few months.