I found out a few weeks ago that my son was gaining weight way to quickly for a newborn and he was getting too much milk. He is now 7 weeks and 10 1/2 lbs. So by suggestion from a lactation consultant I only fed him on one side at a feeding. This seemed to help, because he had been in pain but we didn't know if it was the reflux or too much milk. Anyways it helped to cut back and he slept better at night without so much grunting and groaning. But lately he acted hungry after only one side so I started feeding him on both sides and the last 2 nights he has been in terrible pain, almost like he is trying to poop but can't get anything out. Not sure if the constipation is the Prevacid or if he is in pain from too much milk. I am really getting frustrated because he should be sleeping longer stretches at night but he can't because of the discomfort. Has anyone experienced this or does anyone have some suggestions or thoughts? Kari

My son’s problems started out like that. At about two weeks he would wake up at night and grunt like he was trying to poop and seemed really uncomfortable. I know it is normal for little ones to do that to a certain degree. It has to do with them being able to co-ordinate the muscles to go poop. I am not sure if 7 weeks is too old for it to be that or not.

With Sebastian he just kept getting worse and showing discomfort in other ways until we figured out he had reflux.

Since your son is already on Prevacid it is hard to say what the problem is. I know it is normal for bf babies to not poop very often, so I am sure it is hard to know if he is constipated or not. He may be having gas pain or like you said he may just be too full. Perhaps he is still in pain from reflux and eating a lot for comfort.

Sorry I guess I don’t really have an answer for you. I would talk to your ped or GI and see what they think. You may need to adjust the meds or try something different with feeding . Good luck. I hope you will be able to figure it out and get him feeling and sleeping better.

IMO there's no such thing as a bf baby who gains too fast. How retarded. I wish my baby was 10#, shoot I'd take 9#. lol We just took Ilana off her prevacid b/c it really caused problems w/ her tummy. It helped her reflux, but she would cry instead about her tummy.

I was going to say the same thing, your body can't produce that much milk for him to be significantly overweight, I think he sounds like he is doing fine, and would keep up the both sides if he wants it.

With the irritability, do you think that it is reflux or do you think that it is gas kind of pain?

If it is reflux you could try feeding an hour before bed and keeping him upright, you could also offer 2ml mylanta if he is still uncomfortable. and hopefully that will make him squirm less.

With gas or colic I would recommend the same things, (except the mylanta) but I would try to burp him really well between each breast. What may be happenning is the increased flow from the second breast, may make him gulp it down more and get more air, so this could make him uncomfortable. Very important to get a burp up, even if it takes a while before offerring the second breast, if he is crying, let him feed and get the bulk of the fast flow out and then try and burp him, so that when he latches on after this, he won't be gulping as much.

If he is having a problem with overeating, what you should do instead of more frequent feeds is try and stretch him out to 4 hours between feeds, but on that feed give him a really good one.

Hope that helps.

I would time each side and do half on each side, and alternate sides for each feed. He will be going through a growth spurt shortly and will need the nutrition from both breasts I think.

The reason the lactation consultant might have suggested feeding on only one side is for overactive letdown which can cause the baby to get too much foremilk. This can cause symptoms that mimic reflux - fussiness etc. Feeding on one breast per feeding insures that the baby gets the fatty hindmilk. If he still seems hungry you might want to try giving him the same breast again to get more hindmilk rather than switching.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

My 4 month old had the same problems since birth and a lactation consultant told me I had an overabundance of milk and an overactive letdown, which caused him to fuss and pull off the breast a lot, as well as tummy pain, straining, gassiness, fussiness, and explosive/green/mucuosy stools in our newborn. I ended up pumping a little bit before each feeding (unless baby was crying too hard to wait) and then fed on only one side. If baby acted hungry, I put him back on the same side. It made for a long nursing session, but it did help relieve some of Roman's symptoms. Finally at about 13 weeks, either my milk slowed down or baby mastered the fast flow because nursing has been much better lately. However, he still seems to suffer from tummy pain, fussiness and bowel problems, so he's been diagonsed with reflux and put on Axid. So now I don't know if we ever really had milk problems, or if it was reflux all along. The medicine isn't helping yet (we're only on day 3) but I'll let you know if it does. I know how frustrating it can be to not get a clear answer, especially when you're so worn out from not sleeping and watching your child suffer all day. If it really is an overabundance of milk, try pumping before a feeding to get rid of some foremilk. You can also take certain herbs to lessen your supply - and I've heard putting cabbage leaves on your breast will do the same. Hopefully in another month you will see the same improvements that we did! Good luck!

We sound so similar in our situation. I cluster fed Evan last night at 5, 7 and 9 hoping he would sleep longer. But it only made matters worse with the discomfort. Please keep in touch!

i have HUGE amounts of milk, ferris has a hard time keeping up wit it, i have tried pumping some off once he makes the milk let down, but that just makes him MAD!

im bemused at the "too much weight thing," ferris is 7 weeks and was 11lbs 7 oz on wednesday, so Im sure he is well over 12 by now.

He has had a difficult few days BF of late, not wanting to stay latched on, not feeding for as long as normal etc, but I figure as long as he is having wet diapers he is doing ok and i will monitor his weight on tue and see whats what.

BF babies tend to gain weight very quickly in the beginning, supposedly faster than formula babies, then they slow wayyyyy down, and it all evens out. Quinn -- my 2 yr old -- gained weight like this, and now weighs 29 lbs at 2 yrs old.