1 Month Appointment
We have a healthy, growing girl. She’s now 8lb 8oz and 19.75 inches long. The length thing is kind of weird because in the hospital at birth she was measured at 20 inches, but at the pediatrician appointment 3 days later she was measured at 19 inches. So by their measurement she’s grown.
Last two times we had an appointment with the pediatrician Kate screamed pretty much from getting stripped for the weight check until the end when I could nurse her. This time we expected a repeat and instead she was wide awake and staring around, staring at the doctor. He turned her onto her tummy and she lifted her head a little and mouthed the paper sheet completely calmly – and that was right after we told him she utterly hates tummy time.
The pediatrician listened to our descriptions of Kate’s behavior and crying and said it’s not colic and doesn’t sound like reflux. I agree, but I wanted to check just in case. Personally we think it’s a combination of some episodes of gas, her personality, and some fleeting dissatisfaction with my boobs. The gas cries happen after she eats, but not all the time – the mylicon seems to help.
The awake time fussiness seems to just be her wanting something that we can’t always figure out. It’s kind of funny really. It’s not crying or screaming, just her scrunching up her face, looking around, and saying “Wah!” I won’t lie – we laugh. Now if we don’t do anything she’ll escalate into crying, and sometimes it’s frustrating trying to figure out where she wants to be – it can take a few position changes and moves. Or, failing that, the boob or pacifier can fix it.
The fussiness at the boob is new and I’m trying to figure it out… Though today she’s been pretty good with eating. I get the distinct impression that she’s not getting what she wants. It happens a few minutes into feeding, and it was worst yesterday and the day before when she was feeding frequently. I know I have plenty of milk, I am leaking everywhere. She also tends to gulp and cough when eating, which are signs of a strong let-down. I thought maybe she was used getting mad when the milk flow slowed down a few minutes into feeding. But today the one time she started fussing during a feeding she popped herself off the boob and then started rooting, same as she has been doing. I though the rooting meant she was still hungry. When she pulled off milk leaked all down my front – yikes! So today at least the problem is not a lack of flow! On a hunch I offered her a pacifier and bingo, she was happy. It appears she was done eating and just wanted to comfort nurse. I’ll see how this goes over the next few days.
I’m starting to think about doing baby signs with her. I’ve always considered it, but trying to figure out what she wants is reminding me what a good idea it is. Obviously it wouldn’t help now or for a while, but giving her a way to communicate before she can talk sounds like a great idea to me.
I’m glad she’s doing so well!
Yeah, measurements are always off, especially lengths. The other day, our pedi weighed my daughter to be 16 lbs, and the next day our family doc weighed her at 15.5 lbs. So in 1 day, she lost 1/2 lb? No, just their machines measure slightly differently.
I thought about doing signing with my daughter as well, but decided against it. I’ve read a lot of studies that show that signing results in delayed verbal development. Just a thought.
Also, when Kate cries, do you think she might be overtired? How long is she awake between naps / before bedtime? Here’s a guideline that helped us a TON.
Guideline for Awake time for babies
Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months 1 hour and 15 – 20 mins
3 months 1 hour and 20 – 30 mins
4 months 1 hour and 45 – 2 hours
5 months 2 hours – 2.25 hours
Late 5 months/early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours
6.5 – 7 months 2.75-3 hours. Some are getting more.
8 – 10 months 3 – 4 hours. Some are getting more.
11 – 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap
Our little one (3.5 months) is often fussy at the breast when he needs to poop. We figured he was still learning how to do it for the first few months — it’s hard relaxing some parts while tightening others! Anyway, he feeds to help him with the relaxation part, but tightens at the same time, and thus wants to eat but is squirming and fussing all over. Possibly Kate could be going through the same thing?
The guidelines for awake times for babies mentioned by Alyssa also helped us tremendously, as we didn’t feel pressure to have him be awake and happy for long stretches.
Hello. I know that advice will be pouring in…just thought I would add. My son started doing the same thing (pulling off the boob) right around this time too. It took me awhile to figure it out. I was using nipple cream to help with the dried out and soreness of BF and he didn’t like the taste. The lanoslin (sp? Sorry) says safe while breast feeding…and I didn’t have gobs on my nipples but he really did not like the smell taste and would be hungry and want the boob….but not with the cream. I had to totally stop using it.
Maybe the fussiness at the boob has something to do with your diet? My Maddie was very picky about what I used to eat. Certain things would make her act just like Kate is acting. She would eat, but fuss all the way through the feeding.
I remember this fussiness, too, and never found a specific way to help my baby feel less fussy. But I read somewhere that this pulling off the boob thing is sometimes a baby’s way of stimulating your body to produce more breastmilk. This idea, whether it’s true or not, helped me feel less like it was something I should worry about and more like it was part of a natural process within breastfeeding. Wyatt, my 6-month old, just went through another little phase of it and after he finished that phase, he grew a bit (so this behavior might be linked to growth spurts?).
Anyway, I’ve been there and know what you mean. It kinda sucks, but it really will pass soon.
baby signs are wonderful. WONDERFUL. Evie did them and it was great. Helped so much.
You know, I hate to be the town crier always saying “That sounds like oversupply!” but, well, it has some common symptoms of oversupply :p
What color are her poos? How often does she eat? Does she ever arch when she gets fussy?
Personally I feel that oversupply is an epidemic because we are all taught the incorrect way to breastfeed (switch sides at every feeding, so we do, but usually do it much too early into a feeding session) and that a lot of the babies who are diagnosed as having reflux really are reacting to the over abundance of foremilk in their diet.
Let me know if you have any questions on it, otherwise the kellymom site has a great section about oversupply!
i had really rapid let down at first too, to the point where my l.o. would be choking. i finally figured out to sort of let gravity work for us and get my boobs tilted upwards with her on top of them basically… does that make sense? if she was bigger i would say lay on your back and have kate face down on you nursing. the milk will come out slower and not be pouring into her mouth. hope that makes sense.
Jaci, now oversupply is something I could easily believe. I have a ton of milk, and she nursed for comfort so frequently it could easily lead to oversupply. Her poops are the normal seedy spicy mustard color. She does arch sometimes, when she gets really angry. She eats… well, that changes. Some days it’s frequently (every half-hour for a few hours), some days it’s not.
I have been trying to block feed some, keep her on one side until it feels really empty… but I might not be doing it enough. I very recently stopped having her switch sides during a feeding, as I’ve been worrying she’s not getting sufficient hindmilk.
Hi Nat,
I fed our babies for a long time so although I’m not an expert, I am experienced – here in Australia I was taught to only feed from one side at a time. I had to put a clean breast pad in the non-feeding side everytime as let down was really messy.
I also had tonnes of milk and found that supporting the baby on a pillow brought them up high enough that they were level with my boob and reduced the problem. Another thing that worked was lying on my side in bed feeding with the low boob resting on the bed – again, no gravity effort and it definitely reduced the choking for our babies.
As for Kate’s crankiness – if it is an over supply issue… imagine having your coffee squirted forcefully into the back of your throat. I know I am at risk of tmi but I could shoot a couple of feet if I was late to start a feed and let down was particularly ferocious. Amused hubby no end, until he had to clean up the squirts because I was being the good cow.
Everything you’re going through sounds very normal and although that is no real help when you’re frustrated and Kate is unhappy, we got through it eventually. Amazing considering how much trial and error there is as you get to know each other.
Good luck.
Bridg
I had oversupply and forceful let down and it made my baby MISERABLE. What you are describing sounds like what we experienced – especially because she is pulling off and gulping and coughing. Oversupply is a real issue! It can cause horrible tummy pain and gas. Keep an eye out for green poop – that is a sign too. Also lots of spitting up (which is why we thought he had reflux too).
I ended up block feeding too and that helped SO much (if only I had started it sooner…we all would have been so much happier). And sometimes if I was really full or leaking, I would pump a little off first. The pumping was a pain, but it really helped until my supply regulated from the block feeding. And I was willing to do ANYTHING to make him feel better because the crying and little sleep was AWFUL.
And Jaci is right, we ARE taught to switch sides too early! Especially when they are small and not efficient nursers yet. My son couldn’t empty a side in 10 minutes until he was over 4 months old.
Sounds like you are doing a great job! The beginning is the hardest…..
I work at a state funded preschool and once took a workshop on signing to infants and toddlers. It was great. They used the “Hop to Signaroo”course. This method uses actual American Sign Language signing (I’ve heard that “Baby Signs” doesn’t? Not %100 sure, couldn’t really tell from the website ) Anywho, some say we might as well teach our babies something we can build upon later w/ more Amer sign lang.
On the fussiness, My daughter had a fussy period every night. She would cry for about an hour. It was frustrating at first, but later when I figured out approx how long it would last, I knew this was her thing and when she got it out of her system the rest of the night would go fairly smooth. I did a lot of floorwalking but it was a phase that passed within a few months. Good thing babies are so stinkin’ cute!
Both of my girls were pretty fussy around that age but it didn’t last more than a few weeks. I agree that kellymom.com is a fantastic resource for breastfeeding info. I’ve learned tons from it.
Baby signing is wonderful! I did it some with dd1 and lots with dd2 and there are definitely no verbal delays. We took a class locally with this company http://www.signingsmart.com/ and also ordered many Signing Times videos. I can’t say enough good things about the videos. Even my six yr old likes them. She might have learned even more signs than the baby. To me learning signs is just another language skill. So now my dd speaks english, french and at least 100 signs.
Hi Nat. I haven’t read through all of the comments so I don’t know if someone else has suggested this but wanted to comment on the oversupply. One thing that helped me out a lot when my kids were getting too much at once was to lay back in the recliner so they had to suck/swallow upwards. They don’t get that “I’m gonna drown” look on their face that way. And especially in the early bits, feeding on one side at a time seems to work well too.
Good luck!
Delurking finally.
Just wanted to say that the signing has changed our lives! I can’t say enough good things about it. And there is no proof that it delays any spoken language, most studies say it actually helps encourange more language skills because the kid knows how to relate words to objects/actions. We’re big fans of Baby Signing Time dvd’s, which uses American Sign Language. We started at 9 mo, by 12 mo the kid was signing, and now at 18 months she knows (and uses!) over 50 signs and over 20 words.