Overfeeding triggers reflux

Another possible cause

 

Video Transcript:

 

So this is in the reflux section and it’s about overfeeding your baby. So this is my particular approach to this. I’m not a breastfeeding consultant, lactation consultant, consultant. I don’t really set up a structured feeding plan for the mums that see me, but I can tell you this.

 

Some babies and their mums have this really nice feeding pattern. The baby feeds every 2 hours or every 3 hours or 4 hours, depending on how old they are, and they have this kind of nice structure. Then you have another baby who is feeding all the time and the mum is feeding on demand, but the baby wants to feed all the time.

 

So a little Meerkat baby, for example, or a boob shark baby, for example, have a look at my baby birth types. So they’re feeding all the time and the mum is feeding them to calm down, but really the baby just wants to suck. So the three things an upset baby does usually cries, wanting to be held and wanting to suck all things. 

 

The mum has to look after hints while you have this baby. That’s really hard work. It all depends on you. So let’s take that. Then they want to suck, not feed because they’re unhappy in some way. They’ve got a tummy ache, they’ve got constipation, they’re having ten poos a day. 

 

They’ve had forceps or ventouse, some sort of traumatic delivery or stressful delivery. Okay, so you’ve got a baby like that, like that. So they’ll cry, they want to be held and they want to suck. So you’re taking their cues as they’re needing to feed.

 

So you’re feeding them all the time because it’s the only thing you got to calm them down, then they overfeed, then they throw it all back up. So the tummy is tiny, isn’t it? It doesn’t take so much milk and if you’re breastfeeding, you don’t know how much they’re getting.

 

If you’re formula feeding, then you can judge that. But then even you then may know that they’re feeding a lot and they’re overfeeding. So they’re sucking, sucking, sucking. You’re feeding, feeding, feeding.

 

So my question is, are you maybe overfeeding them? So that’s more what this video is about. Just be aware that these sucky babies could be taken on board too much and then throwing them up and you just get in this massive cycle of being stressed and then feeding more, them being stressed, then feeding more and it just goes around and around and around.

 

And another video I talked about the stress of the mum actually triggering more reflux of the baby, which is amazing. So think about this. Can you create some more space between the feeds? So your baby feeds, then digest it correctly and goes through, and then you put another feed in, not on top of the other feeds.

 

So is there a way of creating a bit more space between the feeds? If this is ring bells, then this video is for you and you’ll kind of understand and you might be able to say okay yeah I can see that this is happening with me and my baby and then you start to stretch out. Now dummies help you stretch that out because they’ll suck on the dummy, not on you.

 

So if you’re on the fence about a dummy you don’t like them for any reason. This could be a great time for a dummy because the dummy is going to save your breastfeeding because you might be sore and struggling yourself and also the baby might be throwing up all over the place which is super hard work but also follow all the rest of the advice in this course about calming your baby down because if your baby is calmer, more relaxed, fewer winds, less trapped winds easier to win either end like you’ve helped constipation or if they’re going ten times a day you’ve calmed that down to once or twice a day. 

 

If you’ve done all of that and calmed them down they will want to suck less because they’re sucking to calm themselves down. So if you can call them they will suck less they will overfeed less and then there’s less reflux. Okay, this is one approach to reflux but keep that in mind. 

 

I’ve seen it work amazingly well and as with all of this advice, it may not apply to you at all. It may hugely apply to you or it may apply to you a little bit and then you put in the other factors and then you get the complete picture. Okay, I hope this helps. So it’s about are you overfeeding your baby because they are sucking for comfort, not for hunger.