She's going mental!!

[Skyelee]

Hi all, hoping someone can put my mind at ease. I took Shannyn for her 3 month MCHN visit last week, and she'd only put on 130g for the month. She is fully BF, but until then had only been taking one breast a feed, for about 20 - 30 mins. The MCHN said that it is not enough, and that after a short break should be giving her the other side. We have tried that, but I think she took too much as she was screaming with what I assume to be stomach pains.
Another problem was that I have had some blocked ducts in both breasts of late :banghead: and don't know whether this screaming (which has been going on at feed times only for the last week) is due to now overfeeding or her not getting enough. The blockages have cleared in the last few days, but she still screams after she comes off the first breast and refuses the other one.
I have never heard her carry on like this before the MCHN got me all in a bother about her not putting on enough weight (she is 3 months and 9lb 5oz / 4.3 kg)
Should I just go back to the 'old' way of feeding her or see if she settles into a new routine. Sorry for the long question, hoping to get some advice. :D
Cheers, Skye

[Tam-I-Am]

Okay,

1) blocked ducts (or early mastitis) can make your milk taste a bit salty, which can sometimes be the reason that babies seem to go "off" the breast a bit when you have problems in this respect

2) The growth charts that the CMHNs use to chart growth are based on formula fed babies, and breastfed babies very very commonly put on weight more slowly than ff babies - if you are worried about her weight gains, get a referral to a paediatrician, but you are probably better to go off the other indicators that your baby is giving out as to whether or not she is healthy, such as - is she having 5-8 quite wet nappies a day, is she feeding for 20+ minutes in any one go, is she having at least 6 and up to 12 breastfeeds a day, is she happy within herself, does she seem to sleep okay, is she bright and alert when she should be.

3) Its really up to you whether you want to keep going with the current feeding or revert back to your old way - I personally would try to keep going, most babies are wanting both sides at 3 months old, unless you have a massive oversupply - which you shouldn't have. If she wasn't hungry, she would just completely refuse the other side altogether. If you offer her the other side and she takes it, I would say she is hungry, so let her feed.

Good luck with it all, I hope it works out for you.

[the_queen]

I have nothing to add, having read Tami's post, she has given you some FABULOUS advice there Skye!! :yelclap:

[munchkin05]

i have nothing else to add except

ben was a very slow weight gainer and still is

when he was on booby alone he would sometimes only put 100g on every month sometimes a bit more but not much heath nurse kept telling me it was my milk so we started ben on solids at 3 1/2 mths we went back 1mth later and he still had only put 150g on for that month and with what he was eating the health nurse wasnt concerned ( he was eating breakfast lunch dinner and sometimes inbetween meals) she said that he was just going to be s slim person ( dont know who he gets that from lol ) so i had those months of stressing over nothing

even now ben is nearly 1 and only weighs 9.5 kg he is heathy and happy so no one is concerned
that is one thing hn always said to me was that he is healthy and happy and that if he looked unwell and got sick all of the time then she would be worried

just do what you think is right she is your child and you know whats best for her

if i had listened to everyone i would have given up bf when he was only a few weeks old im proud to say he is nearly 1 and still bf :smiliedance:

good luck

[mamachops]

Oh it's sounds so familiar.

My DD is 13 weeks and we have just been in a very similar situation to yourself.

I'm no expert, but having had similar troubles I have a few suggestions.

Try sitting up between breasts and burping her. If she won't take the 2nd breast you just can't force it, but do try at each feed as sometimes she may want a bigger feed than other times.

How often are you feeding DD? It is possible that your supply has dropped off a bit for some reason? The best way to increase your supply is to increase the frequency of your feeds. I did this for a few days by feeding every 2 hours (yes, waking her from sleep if necessary! except at night). My DD had the required number of wet nappies, has a tall, skinny Dad etc and many comforting things, but in retrospect I think I boosted my supply and she went from putting on 100g in 3 weeks to 115g in 5 days!

Try some longer feeds if she'll allow. My DD will sometimes suckle for over an hour, while I was increasing the number of feeds I also let her go for as long as she liked. Admittedly whe was on the boob seemingly non-stop for days, but hey.

Most of all, smile, and remind yourself that you are a great mum. I know that in your situation I felt really inadequate....please don't!:hugs:

[abbynmonique]

1 cup of epsom salts in thebath are great to help draw out the blocked ducts too,