I'm having this issue and my health visitor suggested feeding lo really tucked into you like when they were little..the idea is to minimse the distraction....could he be teething? this can also cause them to fuss....

Everything you've mentioned sounds to me like your little one may be getting frustrated with a slow letdown, especially if you have only recently stopped giving regular bottle feeds. This would also explain his 'manhandling' (lol) your boobs, as I'm sure from my experience with ds1 that they know that by massaging them they help the letdown process. I seem to recall ds going through a phase of being just how you're describing, and I decided it must be slow letdown, because once he started the obvious v big gulping etc to indicate milk had letdown, he stopped fussing and was fine. I remember having to consciously think myself into a relaxed enough state to enable an easy letdown - is it maybe possible that the more this is happening, the more anxious you are getting before each feed, so the worse its becoming?

I'd suggest just before a feed to try massaging your boobs, putting hot flannels on them, having hot bath etc etc and making sure you are in a relaxed environment, and see if things improve. And with the increased number of feeds, maybe little one is giving up before managing to drain your breasts at each feed, so needing more sooner, or maybe it is simply another growth spurt.

I've never posted on this forum before but I'm having the same problem.  My dd is 6 weeks old and this has been a hell of a week.  I have checked on the internet and everything points to it being thrush so I have started treating her with daktarin oral gel and my nipples with canestan cream. 

dd seems to be feeding alot better today, after 2 days of treatment.

It is poss to have thrush without either of you having any symptoms.

Just a quick update and some further questions. I decided to knock the bottle in the head, and he hasnt had any formula for nearly 2 weeks. Was surprised, he didnt seem bothered at all, still slept same length of time etc, so made no difference really. However he is still fussing at breast, pulling off crying etc and moaning so cant have been related to bottle. But to add to that,  in the last couple of days he has been feeding near enough every hour during the day, and still fussing only now when he is fussing, which seems to be all the time, he has started pulling my nipple with his mouth and when he latches on it seems to be really forcefully, so this combined with the extra feeding its causing me to have really sore nipples. And he also seems to have discovered that he can touch my boobs so when feeding constantly grabs and manhandles my boobs, ive tried cutting his nails as low as I can but he still scratches me to bits, oh the joy.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why the fussing is still going on? I guess there is nothing I can do about his latching on, altho if he stops pulling on and off constantly my nipples may stay in one piece. I wondered if he is feeding so much cos he is ready for some solids, he is nearly 20 weeks.

Thanks

When you want to keep the bottle in, make sure that it is one with a slow flow teat and the smallest teat hole possible (even when you baby gets bigger and wants quicker!!!). Also it is important to do so in a sitting-up position so that the bottle is held at as much parallel to the floor as possible. In this way, the milk will not flow too quickly and will more closely approximate the flow from the breast. It also affords more control for the baby, just like he has during breastfeeding.Many mothers also find that pacing the feeding by stopping and gently withdrawing and replacing the bottle every 4-5 sucks helps their babies retain control of the feeding, allowing them to stop when they are full.

But you have to question yourself if baby needs a bottle. It's not for nothing that there are other feeding methods suggested like  cup-feeding, spoon-feeding, an eyedropper or feeding syringe. Your baby is around 4 months now and by the time it is Christmas he between 7 and 8 months and probably on solids and able to drink from a cup. By that time three or four good nursings during a 24 hour period plus a variety of solid foods gives the baby all he needs nutritionally, and thus he does not need any other type of milk when you are at your outside job. Of course, solid foods can be mixed with expressed milk or other milk, but this is not necessary.The time you're at work he might even  prefer to wait for you to come back in order to drink something. This is fine; many babies sleep 12 hours at night without drinking or eating at all. I hear from enough women who feed baby before and straight after work and the another feed before bed and when you are able to squeeze another feed in that would be great

Jack Newman wrote some interesting thoughts about wahat to feed the baby when mom's at work, see here;

http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/17pdf.pdf

More about alternative feeding methods;

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T026000.asp#

I think you could be right, its prob come from him having the bottle. So what do I do now, I could quite easily knock the formula feed he has on the head as he sleeps through but he did this before we introduced that, so im sure it would be fine to do it. I only introduced it on hv recommendation as he wasnt gaining enough weight, but it doesnt seem to make that much difference. But my worry is if I stop giving it him he might go the other way and refuse a bottle, and as im going back to work after xmas, I need him to take a bottle for when im at work!

Any suggestions

Hi Millwalk,

You write your lo has a botlle since birth, so you're sure he's not confused with that. Yet your whole story made me think at nipple preference I'm afraid....the fussiness, pulling away, latching problems. Saying that, the same type of problems might occur with an oversupply or forcefull let-down, but also a slow let-down can cause fussiness. Of course distraction can cick in as well and this makes it probably less easy

Some babies exhibit nipple preference from one exposure to a bottle. Some babies will exhibit it after several exposures. Some babies will go back and forth without any difficulty. Some go for a while without difficulty and then suddenly show nipple preference !

Nipple preference, or nipple confusion (confusion is not such a good term, since the baby is obviously not confused about it at all, but quite clear on their "preference", is a serious risk when any artificial nipple is used. This includes any bottle nipple, regardless of "how like breastfeeding" it is considered to be by the individuals in charge of marketing for that company.

A bottle nipple drips milk out, and with very little effort, a baby can get a steady flow of milk going. There is no need to wait for a letdown upon initial "latch." It begins pouring out immediately. THIS is why the nipple preference is exhibited. Our babies are very intelligent and even one exposure to a bottle can be enough for them to figure out that the bottle is faster. This is also the reason why nipple preference can happen at any age.

More about this; http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/supppit.asp

Also it might help to read some more about fussiness and it's causes on kellymom, it does have some good info and tips;

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/fussy-while-nursing.html

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussybaby.html

Hope you can find out what's causing this fussing behaviour, so that you can act on that ! Take care !

l used to have this problem too - I don't think there is really a solution... perhaps if your lo keeps messing about just leave him for 10 mins then try again and don't force it. I used to find that when I was trying to force it I would tense up etc and lo ends up not being comfortable. Just relax your body and be patient.. see if it helps I think it's just a phase though xx

Hi there, I agree entirely with pp, it's a normal stage.  I try to cover my son's head with a muslin when out & about though sometimes he has a wrestling match with that!!  He was terribly nosey & distractable at that age but is better now at 25w.  Hopefully things will settle down for you xx

Hi,

My LO has been doing this aswell, I find it sometimes helps if I lie down and feed him on the bed. I think its a combination of me blocking his view completely so he can't nose about because he is facing me, and he is completely supported on the bed so he can latch on easier. HTH

Hi hun....welcome to the nosybaby stage in bfing!!, .Its all normal as he is just starting to take more interest in everyone and everything around him .My dd loves to pop on and off so she can keep up with whats going on around her. I would sometimes take her somewhere quite to feed if to much was going on around her.xxx

My 17 week old little boy has become very fussy at the breast. It started about 2 weeks ago on the last feed of the night, he would latch on suck once or twice then pull off and cry, before repeating it again many times, initially I thought it could be wind, but I know it def isnt. He is topped up with formula last feed of night and has been for ages, so if he did it on the last feed I would just do what I could then give him his usual feed, as he only seemed to do it last feed of the night. I began to think my milk might be low during the evening but some nights he would be fine, plus when I squeezed, loads would come out. He has now started doing it more often during the day too, and I dont know what to do. He also seems to sometimes, have problems latching on, its like he forgets what to do, and wont allow me to get him into the correct position. He has had a bottle since birth so hes not confused with that. We have also had difficulty feeding out and about for a while too, if we are out and about he does the same but constantly breaks off to look around, and nosey, and if im talking to someone at home or out he does the same, so if we have people round or are out, I have problem getting him to feed. Its starting to get me down now!