8 days old and discomfort after feeding

[CW-J]

Hi there, I am a first time mum to an 8 day old baby. He has started getting very uncomfortable after feeding, constantly has the hiccups for two days, and today even cried and pumped his legs during feeding. He is breastfed and took to it brilliantly - the midwife thinks the position, latch etc is good. He now wants feeding every hour and is so anxious for it he races and coughs and splutters whilst feeding, where a few days before he had a nice steady rhythm. Could this be the start of colic? He takes a long time to settle after feeds especially at night when he is cluster feeding, so it feels like by the time he is fed and settled he is ready for another feed almost immediately. His crying is increasing, and he leg pumps when laid down after a long time attempting to wind him. Any advice greatly appreciated - even if it is just to be expected at this age and I need to get on with it. Feeling like I am not getting any sleep, he is sleeping less, feeding more and crying a lot more, and that I don't know what to do to make him more comfortable. Thanks.

[roxannacar]

Do you manage to wind him? Sounds very much like colic. There are things like gripe water and infacol that can help ... not sure what age you can start using them so if the label or with pharmacist.

Feeding ever 1-2 hours is quite common to start off with tho and hiccups are very common too, but I would expect baby to settle bit better once asleep.

[xvanillaskyx]

Firstly a big congratulations on the birth of your baby 🎉🎈💙

In the early days frequent nursing is to be expected, this is for a number of reasons such as babies tummy is very small and the milk is digested quite quickly, he is working to establish the quality and quantity of milk for your body to produce or it could be that he is going through a bit of a growth spurt.

You might like to read this link kellymom.com/hot-topics/new...

Secondly with regard to his discomfort this could just be due to how immature his system is at the moment as he is only 8 days old and is just getting use to digesting milk. It may also be trapped wind (look for a very faint greyish/blue colouration between his top lip and nose) or it could be reflux.

You might like to read this link on frequent nursing kellymom.com/hot-topics/fre...

You mentioned that your midwife as already confirmed that there is no problem with latch but basically you can also check as when your baby is off the breast your nipple should be round a bit like a cherry on the top of a bun ☺️ If it’s not then you might want to speak to a lactation consultant.

I hope this helps as it is such hard work being a new mummy, especially in the early days when you are also having to cope with being sleep deprived, thinking of you x

[sugar_vee]

Hi congratulations on the birth of your baby!

This sounds very much like what I went through with my now 13 week old baby. He began spluttering his milk and drawing up his legs and started to get upset as though he was in pain. I went to the a&e as his spluttering became throwing up became larger volumes and i felt like he was in so much discomfort. Turned out to be reflux. We're now on medication which is helping. Doesn't completely get rid of the issue but he definitely keeps more down and the crying has gone! Which is the dr explained happens due to the acidity that builds up with reflux. Hopefully it's nothing but this just reminds me of my little one. I find feeding then sitting him up for a burp when he wriggles but not forcing up the burp by patting or rubbing helps, i was advised to let him burp naturally. Then re latching on to continue feeding. I hope it's nothing.

The only other thing that comes to mind is thrush. Check his tongue, this can often cause discomfort when feeding.

Hope he gets better soon. I know babies are a worry I would make a visit to the Drs. All the best.

[Mum-of-three-to-be]

Congratulations to you.

Those who say we should feed them every 3-4 hours aren't from planrt earth. It is cery demanding and constant. I kept a precise diary of the feeds. Some days she had 24 breastfeeds in 24 hours. This is before3 months of age. I had too much milk so she struggled to latch on too.

I managed to breastfeed for 7 months exclusively breastmilk and then started weaning which progressed faster and was easier than if she was 6 months and 4 years in total of breastfeeding.

It takes a lot of perseverance and you will think wheather to give up os not along the way. Just when you think that things can start to get better.

Good luck xx

[vee20]

This sounds a lot like my son, when he was 1.5mths old he went through a growth spurt and he was just not satisfied, he constantly wanted feeding and would make himself choke he was trying to drink that fast, we found because he was gulping so quickly he was getting a lot of air and would have a lot of trapped wind and would have be hiccups more! My son also has reflux so when he is feeding he will bring his knees up to his chest and arch his back a lot, he also vomits a fair amount after feeds, and will bring his knees up to his chest and just scream when he has the hiccups as anyone whos had heartburn knows its super uncomfortable! Since putting him on gaviscon he is a completely different baby! He is going through another growth spurt now he is almost 3mths old but this time we know to expect the feeds every hour and just have to wait it out, we did find topping him up with hungry baby formula milk before bed for his last couple feeds of the day helped him sleep for 3hr stints during the night, but i do appreciate this isnt for everyone especially when excuslivly breastfeeding!

I hope this helps xx