in January 2025 Babies 🇬🇧

Fussy on the breast

Hi everyone. My little one 11 weeks olds and is Ebf, never had an issue with latching until she had her first vaccinations 3 weeks ago and then shortly followed by my first period. I think it might have tanked my supply as my little one became immensely fussy and crying. My supply’s back but she is beyond fussy when feeding, she keeps crying when on the breast and popping on and off the boob constantly, which is stressing me out. It’s not everytime I’m feeding but seems to be more often in the daytime now. It’s become that bad that she’s now having to have an expressed bottle when she won’t feed. Has anyone been through this? Any ideas what I could do? I’ve tried changing positions, feeding in different places, I’ve even resorted to putting sensory videos on whilst feeding to try and distract her. I don’t want to give up breastfeeding 😔

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I’m going through something similar. 15 weeks and have been EFB! She’s doing the same, will latch for a minute then pull away, then back on.. and repeat. I don’t want to quit either but it’s like my supply has just gone… not completely but my boobs are not getting harder closer to feed time. Just suddenly from nowhere it seems! I do have a fair bit of stress in my life which definitely won’t be helping. I’ve ended up introducing 1x bottle of formula a day but always offering her first. I’ve been told hydration, keep going with letting her tell your boobs she needs more, supplements on the way, too! It’s hard but I’m right here with you. No advice-just solidarity. X

My little one completely refused breast during the day, she would just cry at the sight of my boob, it was utterly heartbreaking. I had to just keep trying to offer her the breast and then ultimately give up,(have a breakdown) express and give her a bottle but I found she would dream fed or take boob when she was just woke up plus I would have to put a dummy in and then quickly switch out. She still not perfect, dealing with shallow latch and everything but we are persisting! Also when giving a bottle try and pace feed, I laid my little one down on her side, like she typically does breastfeeding and then held the bottle horizontal so it wasn’t coming out too fast. It’s hard but you got this, just remember you have to do what is best for you 🤍

Fussing can be normal- it can be their way of stimulating your milk supply especially for a growth spurt. Periods can drop supply slightly. You could try swapping boobs during a feed. And you could try breast compressions whilst she’s on the boob to try a trigger a let down faster. Do you express at all? Or give a bottle at all?

Thank you it’s just so stressful when everything was perfectly fine and now she’s almost refusing to latch from me. I do express but it’s mostly using the hakaa in the morning and then a manual pump through the day just to make sure I have a bottle in the fridge in case she refuses to feed from me. She has reverted back to waking twice in the night where as she was sleeping all through for a few weeks. She’s just woken up and started being fussy on my boob and hasn’t really fed and fell asleep. It makes me feel awful that she’s not getting what she needs. I’m going to call a lactation consultant tomorrow to see what they suggest but I’m just not sure if our breastfeeding journey is coming to an end 🥺

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