Expert: ruth kraft - 12/28/2008

Question
We have a 3.5 month old baby, he has never been a good eater, though he is developmentally and weight wise doing well.  The first month we had problems getting him to latch on; we resolved that issue and he ate well for about a month.  For the past month he has been very fussy while eating.  He will latch and eat for about 1-2 min. then pull off and try to get back on but will pull himself back off again.  He then gets mad and starts to cry, I then have to calm him down and eventually after he is calm (anywhere from 15 -45 min.) he will eat well and almost always will nurse himself to sleep.  Changing breasts doesn't seem to help, if I try putting him down he screams and cries upsetting himself terribly.  I have tried different positions, burping him when he gets fussy and changing his wet diapers.  This routine happens mostly during the day, not at every feeding during the day and never at the middle of the night feedings.  We have tried giving him bottles, but he fights those as well.  No medical problems seem to exist, he has seen the doctor, not for this problem, but for others (vaccines and an URV), i.e. no thrush or other mouth issues.  Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hm......this is a good question. I am trying to think of what it could be that makes him sometimes fuss while he is nursing right at the start... It could be a few things but I am not entirely sure I can give an accurate diagnosis and not be able to see him and how he is actually behaving... it could be gas or a position... it could be the angle on his neck , maybe he strained his neck muscles while being born. esp if he was born by cesarean or had the doctor pull his head while being born or if it turned one way too much... I would suggest to rule out anything like that , take him to see a chiropractor who specializes in children. this might make the whole problem go away right away. It might be a little reflux of him being  impatient to get a let down. If developmentally hes ok and his weight gain is good then theres no need to worry about not enough nutrition... I would suggest two things, seek a chiropractor and see if that doesn't help, and then seek a La leche  league group who can then assess the physical positions, latch and see exactly when hes rejecting the nursing as its more precise than I can check over the net... they give free counseling as well.

I hope that helped!
Ruth Kraft
www.Honoringwomen.com