What the......?

[@llli*acover4422]

So, today started out GREAT. I nursed LO for 40 minutes early this morning; pain-free; without her protesting (or, rather, without any protesting that nursing in motion couldn't solve). About three hours later, I nursed her again for 40 minutes; pain-free; protest free. Then again a few hours later, for 10 minutes; and I started to rejoice. Then again for 50 minutes, and I wanted to throw a party. We've never had a day like this before.

But now, it's all gone downhill. I started nursing LO at 16:05. An hour later, she was still nursing, but drifting off to sleep. I broke the suction to see if she wanted to eat more or to sleep, and she wanted to eat more, so of course I let her. About ten minutes later, it started to get painful. In total, I nursed her for an hour and fifty minutes; with just over an hour of that being pain-free.

First of all, I have no idea why it suddenly became painful. I would understand if it was right after I broke the latch, but it wasn't: it was ten minutes after she re-latched.

But the far bigger problem is that she's STILL eating. When I handed her to DH, she was screaming and shaking her head from side to side, and turned her face to his chest: she was definitely still hungry. I've just nursed her for nearly two hours and apparently it's done nothing; and I'm in pain; so I asked him to give her some formula. She just had 4oz. DH followed all the suggestions I've found on here before: he paused frequently; waited long enough between pauses to determine whether she was still hungry or just protesting; he offered her a pacifier and her thumb; nothing. All she wanted was food.

What the is going on here? I know I've posted about this before, but I feel like this is getting worse. TWO HOURS?

[@llli*mommal]

The fact that you had a good morning is HUGE! it implies that your baby can get a good latch- perhaps she is finally growing enough that she can achieve a deeper latch with less effort. Or her tongue mobility is improving. Something positive seems to be going on, anyway!

It's very common for babies to become increasingly fussy and difficult to nurse as the day wears on and the baby gets more tired out. If a mom is having issues with supply, those issues tend to be worst in the afternoon/evening and least troublesome in the night/morning, due to natural fluctuations in the level of Prolacting (the milk-making hormone, which tends to be most abundant at night and least abundant in the afternoon/evening).

I am sorry the day turned so frustrating, but focus on the wonderful morning you had!

[@llli*lllmeg]

I agree with mommal. When approaching nursing issues, it is so often two steps forward and one step back. If you can nurse pain free part of the time, it is a very good sign that pain free nursing will be possible all of the time. It's progress, in other words.

As far as why it would start to hurt, some possibilities: Baby is getting fatigued at the breast and clamping or no longer using tongue as baby should...this is a sign of tt as well...
baby is slipping off so latch becomes shallow after being good, positioning tweeks might help that...
baby is clamping as baby falls asleep


As far as baby wanting to nurse for two hours and then wanting 'more'
as mommal says, it may be due to you (because you have supply issues) not having "enough" milk at the end of the day,
But babies like to nurse to sleep, right into sleep and in their sleep. So perhaps she just needed a few minutes more so she could get to sleep. Also all this nursing in the afternoon or evening would act to increase milk supply, so in that sense it is normal and beneficial. I am not suggesting you keep nursing forever when it is painful for you, that is counter productive. But if it were not painful, there would be reason to not let baby nurse again or nurse a long time.

It is great your husband is using the paced bottle feeding techniques, but I am still not sure that your baby really needed 4 ounces in one feeding, especially a feeding that comes on top of nursing. I may be mistaken but my understanding is weight gain and output have been very good (?)
As long as baby is gaining well, I wonder if a pacifier at such a time (baby has nursed a long time and it is painful) would be better than supplementing, assuming baby will take it. I am just afraid the bottles keep undermining any progress you are making in improving latch and milk production. Of course you do want to be sure baby is getting enough.

[@llli*acover4422]

As long as baby is gaining well, I wonder if a pacifier at such a time (baby has nursed a long time and it is painful) would be better than supplementing, assuming baby will take it. I am just afraid the bottles keep undermining any progress you are making in improving latch and milk production. Of course you do want to be sure baby is getting enough.

I worry about that, too, but when this happened she would not take a pacifier or her thumb. When DH tried to rock her to sleep she turned her head to his chest and rooted. Whenever he took the bottle away, she screamed, and didn't stop until she had it back. These are all signs that she's still hungry (as opposed to wanting to suck for comfort), right....?

Unless I'm in too much pain to continue, I feed LO until she stops; I watch the clock so I know what's 'normal' but I don't go by it; I don't stop her after a certain time frame because 'that's enough'. But is there a limit? Is there a point where I should stop?

[@llli*mommal]

I don't stop her after a certain time frame because 'that's enough'. But is there a limit? Is there a point where I should stop?

It depends. (Great answer, right? ) If the baby is nursing well and gaining plenty of weight on breastmilk alone, then sometimes a mom can limit the amount of comfort nursing by occasionally offering a paci after the baby has fed enough- and mom has to be pretty tuned in to know when the baby has fed "enough". If the baby is not nursing well and mom is in significant pain, she's in a tough position. Nurse more and the baby will get more- but the mom might be in too much pain to allow this. If the baby is particularly poor at transferring milk, then mom may have to limit the baby's time at the breast for the baby's own good, topping up with the bottle rather than allowing baby to take infinite time to transfer not enough milk.

For most women, the more they nurse the better things go for milk supply and for baby's weight gain. But when there's a lot of pain in the picture, it may not be possible to allow the baby to spend endless hours nursing.