what is he doing???

[kennedydp5]

sometimes while i'm breastfeeding nolan he acts weird!  he makes a grunting noise and his face gets real red and he pushes my breast away but is pulling w/ his mouth at the same time.  then he just starts crying!  what is he doing?  does anyone else's baby do this while breastfeeding?  sometimes i still worry he's not getting enough but i can tell that he's gaining weight though.  but then sometimes he does this once he's made the milk start coming out...  like he's mad its coming out!  idk, shoudl i ask the doc about it or is this normal?

[Tanker Chic]

I think that is pretty normal. Jacob used to make lots of grunting noises also and push his face into my breast.  

[spade22]

Jazmine does that too and I think sometimes its caused by a bad latch or the milk letting down too quickly.

[kennedydp5]

spade-  when he does it, i try to get him to re-latch...  maybe the milk is coming down too fast...  i'm wondering if when he does it, is he really even hungry?  breastfeeding can be really frustrating sometimes!!!

[AndiJ78]

Sometimes they get an air bubble, sometimes they just need to readjust. My boys all made this funny little noise and I referred to them as "little snorkers" because it resembled the noise they made in my mind.

I will give this one bit of advice...don't over-think breastfeeding. I think that is the biggest problem on here. We need to let go, stop finding the "why" answers, and just trust in our body and our baby to do the right thing.

[spade22]

kennedy:

Ive found that Jazmine exhibits this behavior the most (wanting to be feed but pulling away and then trying to relatch then pulling away etc.) when she hasn't been feed for awhile and I am engorged.  When she pulls away my nipple spontaneously squirts her all over her face, lol, so I think sometimes the initial forceful milk let down can definitely cause some "initial" problems.  It can also be harder for baby to get a good latch if you are too engorged because the breast is a lot harder.  You might try expressing a small amount of milk and then trying again if its a big problem.  However, I have found, with Jazmine, that if I let her take her time and allow her to latch/unlatch for awhile (sometimes it takes a good 5 mins) she will eventually get a good latch and feed well w/out any other problems.  

[kennedydp5]

thank you andi and spade!

spade- i've actually not been engorged yet!  my breasts feel really full at times but not to the point of engorgement when it hurts.

he did this again this morning when i was feeding him and after a minute or 2 i laid him down for a couple minutes and changed his diaper ane let him calm down and then tried again after a few minutes and he did ok (just didn't eat for too long though).

[nermineagain]

my son does that too, he scared me coule times, but when his face turns real red, i know that he is trying to poop. it is normal, i think that this is because the milk flow is to heavy they can't swallow it all at once.

[kennedydp5]

for those who said their babies did this too...  i've noticed that he only does it when wide awake and nursing.  so maybe it is that its coming out too fast!  when he's half asleep still he eats great though!  does anyone know if this will change?  b/c i know as he gets bigger he'll be awake more often...  like will he just get acustomed to how quickly the milk comes out?

[BabyHardiman]

Ava does this too.  But I find that she does it for many different reasons.  She gets conjested in the mornings (we run a fan in our room) so she needs her nose sucked before she nurses IF I am not engorged, which I usually am.. so by her second feeding I have to suction her nose.  She also does that when she has gas, naturally, or when she needs to poopie.  She also pulls away at night when she is really tired but wants one last nurse before she goes to sleep.  Originally I worried that she wasn't getting enough.  It is alot easier, and a lot less stressful if we do as Andi suggested, and just trust in our bodies and babies to do the right thing.

I fed Ava from a bottle July 4th (my milk) and she ate 5 ounces, but wasn't very excited about eating from the bottle, but once I took my breast out to top her off she dove on it... she made her mama proud.  :)

[BabyHardiman]

I just wanted to add that Ava does not cry everytime she pulls away.. I missed that part in the original message.