HELP!!! Very fussy 5 days old baby

[@llli*nikolcia]

My 5 days old baby is very fussy when I put him to the breast. He is fighting it and pulling away from it crying. It's a huge struggle for me to feed him. His latch is great, I have milk and can produce 2oz from both breasts every 2-3 hours. Can you please help me and give me some advice on what could I do to help him enjoy and not fight the breast?

Thank you so much

[@llli*punky]

There could be a few issues at hand. Is he being bottle fed some of the time? If so, it could be that he's liking the idea of not having to work for his food. When does he seem to fuss? Does he latch and nurse, then start to fuss? Does he seem to get upset during a let down?

[@llli*maddieb]

5 days is really little, remember you and baby are just learning, and your breasts may be changing as milk production gets more abundant, so that takes adjustment sometimes.

Sometimes what looks like baby stuggling or fighting trying to push off the breast is actually normal rooting and breast kneading behavior that is kind of 'misdirected.'

Changing positioning may help. There is no one right way to nurse, but I do suggest trying laid back positioning esp. in these early days. This is a very comfortable and adjustable position, where mom cam be anywhere from slightly reclined on a couch, for example, to pretty far back, like on a bed propped slightly with pillows. The key is for mom to feel comfortable and supported. Baby can be in ANY position that brings his face to the breast, but is basically more or less lying on his tummy on mom. This may feel awkward at first but just keep adjusting as needed.

Also offering the breast at the earliest cues or just not even waiting for a cue may help. You cannot nurse too often! Baby typically wants to be nursing pretty much constantly at this age and that is good, healthy and normal! encourage baby to nurse lots. if baby is very sleepy, you may have to wake baby to nurse. Baby would typically be nursing a minimum of 10 times a day at this age. More often is normal and fine.

I suggest, read/watch the following and see if any of the ideas help. If not, please get back to us!

feeding cues http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...eding_cues.pdf

laid back nursing http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...astfeeding.pdf

this short video is a nice demonstration of both laid back and early cues - http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/video/bn3clip.html

this simple little pictorial 'latch help' may help. skip the tongue tie the latch help one is at the bottom. This mom is in what I would call a semi-reclined position-so, also, 'laid back.' http://cwgenna.com/quickhelp.html

[@llli*mommal]

Sometimes what looks like baby stuggling or fighting trying to push off the breast is actually normal rooting and breast kneading behavior that is kind of 'misdirected'

A lot of moms seem to take the push-off as an indication that baby "doesn't like breastfeeding" or is "fighting" the breast, but I think it's just an expression of the very uncoordinated nature of a newborn baby. Swaddling the baby when it's time to nurse may help.