Hi ladies,

My lo is 9 weeks old and for the past 4 nights has been very VERY upset, he's clearly starving hungry (sucking his whole fist) but when i try to latch him on he gets hysterical-he's dropped a feed in the afternoon so is going from 1pm until i finally manage to get him fed around 7pm. Im getting worried as he only put on half an ounze over the last 2 weeks!! Im going to get him weighed again on Wednesday but i don't see how he could possibly have gained any weight. Ive resorted to squirting milk into his mouth when he's crying just to get something into him!!

He feeds fine the rest of the day/night. I don't think it's colic although i have been giving him infacol as a back up! Any ideas? Is it ok for his weight to have hit a plateau (this happened before the upset this week), he was piling the weight on before this. Im worried because he won't take a bottle, what if my milk's drying up?!! His poo's also gone green (ive read the other post so i wonder if he's not getting the hind milk which is stopping him gaining weight).

Anyway, im rambling now, thanks for reading xx
xx

Hi pixiebob

I am so sorry you and lo are having such a tough time at the moment.

From everything you have described it sounds like your lo is having trouble with wind and/or colic.

My lo used to scream on an evening from trapped wind and I just used to lay him on his tummy over my knee and gently pat and rub him, or I used to lay him on his tummy in the crook of my arm and do the same thing, it took some time but it eventually worked and settled him.

When I tried to feed him he would also just scream and would not latch on, he's 4 1/2 months and still does this now sometimes, although not quite as bad, now he'll just suck a bit and pull off and cry, then latch back on and do the same thing. I usually just wind him over my shoulder for as long as it takes to bring the wind up and then try again to feed him.

The green poo can also be a sign of wind, I was advised this by my MW and in my case I think she was right.

Does your lo have a dummy? I wonder if the fist in his mouth could be him trying to comfort himself, not actually doing it out of hunger?

The fact that he's feeding well the rest of the time makes me think that maybe there's not an issue with your supply. When you lo needs you to make more milk he'll feed more often to increase the supply, I think it's unlikely that you milk will just dry up if you're BF him for evey feed. Maybe you could try expressing once or twice a day so that you can increase your supply? You could always freeze this mik and save it in case your lo ever will take a bottle.

I'm not sure about the weight plateau issue, all I can say is that BF babies put on weight differently fo FF babies. I'm sure your HV will discuss it with you on Wednesday if she thinks there's an issue. Just don't feel bullied into anything you don't want to do if they suggest there is a problem with his weight gain.

I am not sure if any of this will have helped and hope I haven't rambled.

Kelly x