Do I "force" him to take the second boob?

How long are you waitign before offering the second boob? I knwo my little munching would only have the other side after about 10min and sometimes not at all.

Maybe try (i you havent already) to remove everythign in sight of him so there are no stimulants when he shoudl sleep. We had to do that with DS2 as he would not sleep if he could see anythign even remotely interesting.

To me, offer doesn't mean force

I suspect my girl has reflux too, and she does the scream and pull off thing, but she is clearly hungry when she does it and goes back on herself only to scream and pull off again soon after. If she doesn't settle after pulling off maybe 5 times, I put the boob away and take her for a walk and then offer again later and she'll often take it better then. If she still cries and objects, I just leave it. She's growing ok and so is your boy, so there is no need to force it as far as I can see?

Oh, just read that you are talking about the second boob - then no, if he doesn't want it, he doesn't need it I wouldn't think. My DD usually only has one boob per feed, and she's often screaming before she's halfway through that If you are getting one full boob into him, I'd be happy with that.

The lack of sleep could well be due to overtired. It's annoying, but the tireder my girl is, the sooner she wakes up after I put her down. When she's really overtired, I sleep her in the sling, or if its too hot for the sling, I spend all day in the chair with her asleep on me, so that she goes back to sleep every time she stirs and wakes.

Hugs to you, I know how hard it is dealing with the baby you were so looking forward to, and all s/he does is cry and cry and even feeding them becomes so difficult, let alone the sleeping. You are doing a good job and it will get better eventually. I got 7 hours of sleep last night, for the first time since I was about 7 months pregnant Just focus on the little achievements. For me it began with... today she had 1 whole feed without screaming, or today I got 10 whole minutes of smiles. And the little things get bigger and bigger. I've just cut dairy out of my diet to see if that helps, and yesterday I got LAUGHS from my little screamer

PM me if you wanna chat.

This sounds sooooo familiar!
Don't force him to take the boob - he seems to be fairly clear about being upset.
We tried Gav - but it was really hard getting that volume into him - we ended up mixing it with at least 30mls of EBM (to cover up the awful taste) and feeding it from a bottle. Ended up stopping the Gav as he got so bunged up it caused more problems than it fixed IMO. We're on losec now and its much better (and easier)
What works for us, is to have as big a gap as possible between sides. Do nappy change, play time, tummy time etc. Then offer the 2nd side. Also I find Ryan won't take the second side cradle hold - has to be football hold. I think the slightly more elevated hold works better for him.
Keep trying out different ideas until you find the ones that work for you - go with your gut, you are the expert in your bub's happiness so don't worry if what you go with isn't 'textbook'

I'm still flying blind but I'm learning to trust my instincts - there is so much (conflicting) advise being thrown constantly at you, it becomes so overwhelming.
I found the plunket family centre handy early on - they have lac consultant there on some days so if you were worried about feeding its a great way to get in person advise.

Jude usually only fed off one side at each feed when he was younger and still at most feeds now. Only feeds off both sides if he is super hungry or there are times when I don't seem to have as much milk as I usually would (like having expressed not too long ago). You don't have to force your baby to feed or sleep longer. Jude woke and fed every 2 hours until he was 5 weeks old, went through a growth spurt and started sleeping longer himself - by 10weeks he was sleeping 9-10hrs at night. (And then started waking again a couple of months ago ). Of course, more sleep would be wonderful but not sure you can force your baby to eat more and sleep more at that age. I'm definitely no expert on sleep though! Jude keeps on changing what he's up to

Thank you for this thread, I am going through the same thing with DS2 7weeks old. he is spilly, but so was DS1 who didn't have reflux, at about 5 weeks he started fussing during a night feed which I thought it was due to him being overtired, its only gotten worse, and now its every second feed, so I was doing feed/play/sleep routine but he wouldn't sleep without an extra feed but now that second feed is where he is really fussy. We have used colic powder/spray coz he seems to have lots of wind too. But I know he is hungry for that second feed (and will take EBM) but obviously in some sort of pain so today I tried BF him with him sorta sitting (wasn't very comfy for me) but he seemed much less fussy.

So was thinking of trying Osteopath - anyone done this??

Carin did eliminating dairy work for you? I've just taken it out as of this weekend. Did you reintroduce it again to see if it made him worse again?

DS had/has silent reflux and BF was always tough. (BF till 4 mths). The Gaviscon was easier to give in FF, but we did try it a bit after BF's in the beginning.
Have you tried giving it via a medicine syringe?
I tried to get DS to BF it was always such a struggle even though I knew he was starving. I went to plunket, and had a LC visit, those days he was on his best behaviour. I don't have any good suggestions, just you're not alone.

I have cut dairy out as of Sunday, so its only been 3 days, but I am a fan of chocolate, however I have found a dairy/egg free chocolate cake if anyone is interested in the recipe??

2ndBabyG wrote: And calcium tablets? wasn't aware we had to take them if cut out dairy?

There is plenty of calcium in things like brocoli so I'm not gonna worry about it during the trial phase. If it turns out I should stay off dairy for good I'll look into it, I guess.

Also, whittakers dark choc is dairy free