Gulping air and fussing at breast

[babycrazy26]

Hi ladies, I am new to this board but am not a new breastfeeder. I breastfeed my daughter until she was 1yr old, and now have a 2 month old who I am currently breastfeeding. The problem is that since she's been about 2-3 weeks old she has been having problems with gulping air during her nursing sessions and seeming overall uncomfortable for some of them at least for the first part. I did contact the LC at my local hospital and she told me that I probably have an over-active letdown and how to help that. I did what she told me and it seemed to get alittle better, but not much. Therefore I made her a pediatrician appt and they watched her eat and suggested she maybe has reflux, a milk allergy, and/or slight latching issue. She has now been on reflux medication for 2 1/2 weeks, and I did eliminate all milk from my diet for about 1 week, but started adding it back in and didn't notice much difference in her. So that leaves me with her latch. She seems to easily "loose her suction" and milk with leak out of her mouth, she does make a smacking noise while she eats too. I've tried over and over to make sure her latch is correct and when she goes on, it looks good most the time and i try to correct it if she doesn't seem to have enought of my areola in her mouth. Does anyone have any other suggestions for me, if she is sucking on her tongue or something like that how can I tell and correct it? If anyone has any ideas/suggestions for my situation it would be greatly appreciated. sorry for the long post, I am just searching for answers. TIA! Oh P.S. she doesn't have any problems in the middle of the night with gulping air, for some strange reason.

[still_me]

I don't have much to say. What I do know is that it takes about 2 weeks for dairy to be completly out of your system.

The boards can be kind of slow so don't get discouraged if you don't get responses right away.

There is a live lactation schedule on the top of this page that tells you when one will be on if you want to ask her questions too.

[Nipple_nectar]

How is her weight gain? She may indeed have a sloppy latch but if it isn't effecting her ability to gain or causing you discomfort then I wouldn't worry.

I would try block nursing to get your OAL under control, are you familiar with that? Too much milk (http://breastfeeding.hypermart.net/toomuchmilk.html) may be the cause.

[babycrazy26]

thanks for the replies, to answer previous posters question..yes she is gaining weight very well. We go for her two month check up tomorrow, but when I took her in about the eating issue she was up to 10lbs11oz from her birth weight of 7-4. Is block nursing where you nurse off one side twice in a row, then the other side twice in row? If it is, I did try that by the advice of the LC I spoke with a few weeks ago, though she told me to only do it for one day, then after that only feed her off one side at a time. I will say that she does have more problems on the breast that seems to have a faster let down and make more milk, in fact tonight when she ate off the "slower side" she did really well, hardly any gulping air at all, and showed no distress. However earlier when I feed her off the "faster let-down side" she sputtered and gulped air and was a little distressed during the feeding. I guess I can look up info on the "lopesided" thing to see if there is any way to slow the flow of the faster breast down. Does anyone have any ideas for me? Thanks again for the advice.

[babycrazy26]

P.S. Thanks Nipple Nectar for the link to too much milk, after reading that it really sounds like the problem. How can I slow the flow/milk production from one breast with out affecting the other?

[RedheadbyChoice]

You could also try some of the other suggestions, like nursing lying down or babe on your stomach, to help with the faster flow.

[Nipple_nectar]

P.S. Thanks Nipple Nectar for the link to too much milk, after reading that it really sounds like the problem. How can I slow the flow/milk production from one breast with out affecting the other?


Your welcome:hugegrin: You can make a habit of offering the lesser producer first always, this will get the most vigorous sucking to help improve production, on that side. You can also pump past letdown on the over~producer, to help baby cope.


Hang in there, you are doing great, nursin momma!:p

[babycrazy26]

thanks again for the replies, she has been doing really well nursing on the "slower side" first. And about the lying down to nurse suggestion...now it all makes sense why she always nurses without problems in the middle of the night, because I always nurse her lying down at night so that was obviously helping the fast flow. Thanks again ladies for all the help, I feel like now we can work on a more enjoyable nursing experience for both of us since we know the problem now.

[threefunboys]

I had this problem with my DS. He would lose his suction, get air in his mouth, then swallow it, which was uncomfortable and make him cry. He's 7 months now, and it has gone away by now. I think it lasted for like 3 or 4 months (I don't remember. It got better slowly, so it wasn't like one day it stopped). This may not be too helpful, but I never found a very good solution, other than to burp him more often during feedings. Also, holding her so she is angled upward a little (so she's not horizontal) might ease the discomfort from the extra air in her tummy.

One thing you might try (if she doesn't protest too much) is to nurse her until your milk lets down, take her off and let the milk come out into a towel or cloth, then nurse her again after the flow has subsided. That might help.

[babycrazy26]

thanks for the suggestions threefunboys. I have tried letting my milk let down into a cloth until I notice the spray subside but then she still seems fussy after latching back on. We do burp frequently too, it just pains me to see her in such discomfort when I hear her gulp down a big air bubble. I will try the angled feeding to see if that helps. I'm hoping things continue to get better because today she's done really well, I mainly feed her off the "slower side" and pumped the other just enough not to be engorged then when I did nurse her on the "fast side" she did good. I hope we are on the right track now of helping the problem. Thanks for you story, I'm sorry you had this experience also and it lasted 3-4 months. I imagine we'll still have issues until she gets a little older and can handle the fast let-down better, but the suggestions do seem to be helping so far.

[Toshasmom]

Hello! My 6 wk old daughter has the exact same problems!! She fusses and cries at almost every feeeding, constantly pulls away but still seems hungry... It's like a battle to keep putting her on, until I give up then she goes back to sleep. She also nurses fine at night. I never understood why either. I am gonna try the one side feedings today, but I wonder how long do I keep that up? two days? So far the only thing that SOMETIMES helps is I feed her in the football hold position and she does fine. But that doesn't always work. She also only nurses about 10 minutes each side per feeding, how long do u nurse? The article makes me believe that she is not getting enuf hindmilk either, although I think she is gaining weight just fine. But ya I totally know how u feel, it's so frustrating! I keep telling my husband, if only she would just nurse "regular", nursing would be easy!

[babycrazy26]

hello toshasmom, so sorry to hear you are having the same problem. My daughter nurses about 10-20 min usually. I will tell you that the LC I spoke with that first told me about block feeding said only do it for one day, and also only nurse off one side from now on. I've also been trying the laying back in a recliner when I let down and she seems to be handling it alot better. Good luck to you and hang in there, even the pediatrician told me it will get better as she gets older and can handle the fast let-down.

[RedheadbyChoice]

Just FYI, but block feeding can be done for more than a day. :)

[babycrazy26]

ok thanks, I didn't know since I'd only spoke with one LC and she was the one that told me only do it for one day. Thanks for the info.

[RedheadbyChoice]

A lot of moms block nurse for months or weeks. :)