"Snacking" newborn - advice?

[TxCat]

Why does it feel like with BFing that I get through one hurdle just to be confronted with a new one??

So, I thought that DD2 and I had successfully worked through my oversupply/over active letdown issues and nursing was going pretty well the last few weeks. Additionally, DD2 had been sleeping well (by my standards) since about 3-4 weeks old - she would usually have at least one long sleep stretch 4-5 nights/ week of 3 1/2 hrs or more - recently 4-5 hrs on average. During the day she usually would nurse every 2-2 1/2 hours (on demand, but that was her default spacing).

But, last 3 nights have been dismal. She's snacking a lot - nursing for 5 minutes or less on a side (average before used to be 8 minutes), and her sleep pattern is worse - generally just sleeping in 1 1/2 hr-2 1/2 hr stretches at night.

I'm thinking the snacking is related to the worse sleep pattern. She's not necessarily falling asleep while nursing - just more like she's not interested suddenly. It doesn't feel like a growth spurt to me. I'm still feeding on demand but I'm wondering if that's starting to make the snacking/grazing pattern worse.

Any advice? I go back to work in two weeks so I'd love to see some improvement between now and then!

[ArizonaGirl]

I'm no expert, however, maybe it would be beneficial to try to to stretch the feeding in the middle of the night to at least 2 hours so she gets a decent amount in her tummy, leading to better sleep.

However, again I am no expert so maybe someone else will have a better suggestion.

[Green_Tea]

Will she take a paci? I was so worried about nipple confusion with DD1, I didn't introduce one until she was 6+ weeks, and it was too late. With DD2 and DS1 we used pacifiers right way, and both were WAY better sleepers. Neither was a snacker, nor had any nipple confusion.

Hope things get easier soon!

[mikala]

How does she react if dad comforts her when she wakes? Does she calm if he gives her a finger or pacifier to suck? Both of my boys were generally cruddy sleepers but DH could sometimes buy me a longer stretch of sleep by taking a wakeup less than 2 hours after the last. Sometimes he still had to wake me to nurse but baby's response to him helped us figure out whether baby was actually hungry.

Eta :how many weeks old is she? There is a sleep regression around 8.
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

[BunnyBee]

Is she showing any signs of reflux?

[SnuggleBuggles]

Could it be a growth spurt? We had some doozies with ds2!

[goldenpig]

I think you said she was refusing bottles as well as refusing to nurse? Could it be reflux? Does she do any arching or waking up suddenly screaming? My daughter had silent reflux and around 2-3 months it started getting really bad, she would refuse bottles, only drink 1/2-1 oz at a time, refuse to nurse and pull off after a couple minutes, preferred to nurse on only one side (the weaker-producing side), wake up a lot at night and take short naps (basically would wake up screaming and arching 1/2 hr to 1 hr after she fell asleep), frequent hiccups, falling % on the growth curve, etc. She wasn't a spitter/vomiter so it was hard to figure out. She was on medication for reflux until age 2. Now after having DS1 & DS2 who are both allergic to dairy (milk protein intolerant), I realize that DD was probably allergic to dairy too. I wish I had figured this out back then--she had so many eating and growth problems as a baby and toddler. She's fine now but still very petite.

Have you tried cutting out all dairy to see if that might help?

[hellokitty]

My first thought is that she may be going through another growth spurt. How many wks old is she?

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[TxCat]

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions - it helps my tired brain to focus more!


My first thought is that she may be going through another growth spurt. How many wks old is she?

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She started the "snacking" at 10 weeks, so maybe a little early for the 3 month growth spurt? Also, with her earlier growth spurts, she nursed a lot, and would get fussy but would still try to nurse. This change - it's almost like she's disinterested after a couple of minutes.



I think you said she was refusing bottles as well as refusing to nurse? Could it be reflux? Does she do any arching or waking up suddenly screaming? My daughter had silent reflux and around 2-3 months it started getting really bad, she would refuse bottles, only drink 1/2-1 oz at a time, refuse to nurse and pull off after a couple minutes, preferred to nurse on only one side (the weaker-producing side), wake up a lot at night and take short naps (basically would wake up screaming and arching 1/2 hr to 1 hr after she fell asleep), frequent hiccups, falling % on the growth curve, etc. She wasn't a spitter/vomiter so it was hard to figure out. She was on medication for reflux until age 2. Now after having DS1 & DS2 who are both allergic to dairy (milk protein intolerant), I realize that DD was probably allergic to dairy too. I wish I had figured this out back then--she had so many eating and growth problems as a baby and toddler. She's fine now but still very petite.

Have you tried cutting out all dairy to see if that might help?

She doesn't arch, but she is a spitter - pretty large volume at times and occasionally even projectile vomiting here and there (but pedi was not worried about pyloric stenosis since the projectile vomiting is pretty infrequent). I've tried to minimize dairy, but I still have been getting some every day at breakfast in my oatmeal so I guess I'll cut that out and see if it helps.

[goldenpig]

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions - it helps my tired brain to focus more!



She started the "snacking" at 10 weeks, so maybe a little early for the 3 month growth spurt? Also, with her earlier growth spurts, she nursed a lot, and would get fussy but would still try to nurse. This change - it's almost like she's disinterested after a couple of minutes.




She doesn't arch, but she is a spitter - pretty large volume at times and occasionally even projectile vomiting here and there (but pedi was not worried about pyloric stenosis since the projectile vomiting is pretty infrequent). I've tried to minimize dairy, but I still have been getting some every day at breakfast in my oatmeal so I guess I'll cut that out and see if it helps.

Good luck, I hope that cutting out dairy helps! With DS1, I noticed some improvement when I minimized dairy, but he was still having symptoms. I had to really cut out everything--no yogurt, no ice cream, no chocolate, no butter, and even read the packages and avoid anything with casein or whey or anything that said "contains milk". I definitely noticed when I cheated or had dairy by accident, he would develop a rash and stop nursing and wake up fussing all night. DS2 is the same but worse--dairy, soy and eggs. I just found out about the eggs recently because we went away for the weekend and I ate egg drop soup on Friday and scrambled eggs on Saturday/Sunday (I usually don't eat eggs). He was so fussy all weekend and kept spitting up (which he never does) and not wanting to nurse. Then he got a rash. I went back to his skin test results and realized that he had had a mild reaction to eggs, soy and dairy. They didn't call it because it was under the threshold for a positive result. But I think it's because his reaction is a delayed response (it usually takes 6-24 hours to see a reaction), not a immediate hypersensitivity/anaphylactic type reaction. DS1 didn't test positive on his skin/blood tests but clinically he had a reaction every time I had even a small amount of dairy, like a tiny piece of chocolate.

Good luck with cutting out dairy. It may take a couple of days to see an effect. I hope it helps though!