A question for all you moms!

jenmgo

Cathlete
Hi Ladies, I figured this wuold be an excellent place to ask a question.
As many of you know I had my baby girl in Feb and she is my whole world. I never let her cry for long and when i cant get to her (like in the car) and she cries a lot it BREAKS MY HEART. It is very difficult for me to see her cry and then end up screaming, red and tears running out of her big brown eyes :(...

anyhoo, my question is this : The last two nites I dont think she has been her usual self. She is very happy to suckle at my breast or eat. She will fall asleep while nursing. I will gently place her on the couch on her boppy when she is pretty sound asleep. I walk away to *try* to get some dinner after not eating most of the day and she wakes up SCREAMING. Usually she will fuss and you know she wants you to come get her. But the past two nites she just breaks out screaming and crying without warning. I can rock her, sing to her, walk her around, bounce her etc and that used to fix the problem. But the last two nites nothing helps...except putting her at the breast.

she doesnt have a temperature and everything else feels normal. so..what gives? Is she testing me? Is she just not feeling well? ANyone else have this issue?

I dont mind nursing her at all. I love bonding with her. But i have to go back to wokr in 6 weeks :'( :( :( :( :( and she still wont take a bottle with breastmilk in it. My breasts wont always be there to fix the problem..


So thats question 1.

Question 2 - i did my first workout today since the nite i went into labor - an amy bento cardio hi/lo workout. i did great, did not lose any cardio capacity at all. yeah! Weights i have not tried yet i'll do them next time. im sure i lost strength.
My question is, does working out affect breast feeding as far as milk production goes?

thanks ladies!
 
Last edited:
She might be going through a growth spurt and needing to nurse more so your breast can create more milk for her. If she is going through a spurt, she will eat like this for 2 days or so, which will tell your body to create more milk. Babies hit hurt growth spurts around 6wks, 8wks, 12wks...you get it? VERY OFTEN!!

Love that sweet baby...they grow so fast!

jessica-mom of 3!
 
Thanks Jessica :) I do love her, to peices. I dont mind nursing at all, in fact we enjoy our times together.
Im just concerned about her becuase she is acting different than she usually does. I mean just now she did it again. She fell asleep at my breast - so i waited about 15 min then imoved her next to me so i could get some cereal for dinner. She slept about half an hour and i just went to wash a dish and she woke up and started screaming and crying. Usually when she wakes, she will fuss and stretch and just stare wide eyed and grunt. Is it normal to just start screaming and crying like that if she doesnt usually do that?
It may be a dumb question but its not what she usually does and its been happening the past 2 nites..

and i have to ad, she isnt really eating per se ... i think its more of she likes having something to suck on, she will suckle and maybe eat a little but usually drifts off to sleep. i just dont get where the screaming is coming from all of a sudden!
 
Last edited:
gosh its been a while for me.. but could be growth spurt.. maybe colic? have you tried rubbing her belly to get gas out? mylecon drops? I really like gripe water. Otherwise have you tried swaddling her? maybe she gets startled somehow and wakes up. I really dunno. I may have to ask questions soon and this is my third. ;) I hope she does better soon.
I guess it'll have to be a take the bottle or don't eat thing when you go back to work. I'm sure she'll just have to give in then. May help if your not around too I heard they can smell you if your nearby?

I don't think working out would hurt your milk supply but I hear it makes it taste a bit different right after a workout ha. But I don't think it will hurt anything. Just keep hydrated I'd think.
 
I agree it might be a growth spurt. She might also have gas.

Working out shouldn't decrease your milk supply. Some say it does, but it doesn't have to. But, the fact you aren't eating much might. Try to get some healthy fats in your diet and some good proteins. Cereal is great, but you might need something more substantial, especially since you didn't gain a lot of fat reserves during pregnancy (I think I remember you saying you didn't...I could be wrong).

I wouldn't say its colic since putting her to the breast calms her down. Hope she works it out of her system soon!
 
Well, babies usually develop colic around 6-8wks...so that might be it. Or, could be gas....sounds like gas to me!

Mylecon works good...Gripe water works 10000% better! You can massage her belly some and that might help. I recommend swaddling her too.

Jessica
 
Hi Jen! I think it might be gas too. Emily does the same thing sometimes after nursing. I'll burp her in the middle, but after she has fallen asleep I usually just let her sleep if she's been burped once. Sometimes though she'll wake up after I've moved her and cry like she's in pain (or really ticked off). Last night we were up until 4am with her not getting settled. All she wanted to do was breastfeed (I guess to soothe her), but I think it was only adding to the problem. She was letting out some big "toots" so that's what made me think she was having gas pains. We gave her Mylicon and within an hour she was asleep (for the night).

Sounds like DS has just woke up. Gotta go.

Tana
 
Hi Jen,
Just to echo the others, she's about the age where colic or gas issues really set in, which might be her problem. I used Colic Calm on my son, which is 100% natural. Mylicon never worked on him at all. But the charcoal in Colic Calm did. It's a little disconcerting to see black stuff (the charcoal) running out of their mouths when you give it, but it worked every single time!

She's also probably going through a growth spurt, too, which could be the change in behavior. if there's one thing that I've learned with my little guy - it's that every single time you think you understand their behavior patterns, they will change them! :)

And as heart breaking as it is to hear her cry - believe me, I COMPLETELY understand! - just remember, she's fine. She's just letting you know that she's mad right then. She won't be emotionally damaged in anyway by letting her cry. That does get easier as they get older. I still struggle with it, but I have reached the point where sometimes, my guy HAS to cry in order to nap, or learn not to do something, etc... (he's 9.5 mos now).

You're doing great!

And just a recommendation to other moms. A great resource for questions is www.mamasource.com. It's a forum for other moms just like us, where you can post your own questions or research issues that others have had. It's saved my life more than once!
 
I agree with the gas or perhaps a growth spurt, but if her cries sound like she's in pain, it could possibly be an ear infection. Usually they don't eat as well with ear infections, but every child is different. If she's laying down and the pressure starts to hurt, that could jolt her awake in pain. If she doesn't seem better in a day or two, I'd let my pediatrician check her ears. Make sure that they check them good, though. Last time I took Charlie because I suspected an ear infection, the doc didn't clean out the wax in his ear before examining him and said his ears were OK. Two days later I had to take him back because he still seemed in pain and after cleaning out his ears, they noticed he had a DOUBLE ear infection.
 

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top