If your baby's kicking legs and flailing arms are accompanied by crying, or they seem agitated, it could be that they are gassy. Try winding them after a feed. If this is not a one-off occurrence, your baby could have symptoms of colic. Speak to your doctor or health visitor for advice.
Just as breastfeeding and bottle-feeding are getting easier and everyone is getting into a groove, your little one starts getting fidgety and distracted during feedings. As frustrating as this can be for you, it's a pretty normal stage for babies as they get older and become more aware of their surroundings.
The most likely reason for the kicking is a fast letdown—there's too much milk for him to take in. By feeding reclined or expressing milk beforehand, you can slow down the flow. Another reason is a slow letdown, especially in the middle of the feed when the milk doesn't come out as quickly.
A: If nursing is not the blissful bonding you were expecting, don't worry. Some squirming is normal, but if your baby is especially thrashy, she could be frustrated. One possibility is that your milk is coming out like gangbusters, making it hard for her to keep up.
Sandifer syndrome is a condition that causes your baby to have uncontrollable muscle spasms after they eat. This happens because your baby has acid reflux and moves their body in different ways to ease the discomfort that they feel.
Blood or mucus in your baby's stool. The baby often pulls her legs up toward her belly because of pain. Difficulty with weight gain or noticeable weight loss. Constant crying and signs of discomfort.
When your baby has persistent spitting up, colic, constipation, or reflux, you should consider trying a different formula. Cow's milk allergy often has more severe symptoms which include: Blood in stool. Abdominal pain.
Overview. Overfeeding a baby often causes the baby discomfort because he or she can't digest all of the breast milk or formula properly. When fed too much, a baby may also swallow air. This can produce gas, increase discomfort in the belly, and lead to crying.
Don't worry if your baby won't settle
There is really one thing that is most important and that is to make sure your baby is fed well at every feed. A hungry or slightly hungry baby will usually not settle to sleep easily and if he does drop off to sleep will wake soon after his feed and be unsettled.
With a baby that vomits or spits up a lot, it's relatively easy to understand that the baby may have reflux, where as a baby that might just have excessive bouts of crying but is rarely sick and still gains weight would often be deemed to just have 'colic'.
Bottle feeding your baby in an upright position can help reduce the symptoms of reflux.
Nursing caries, or tooth decay, can be caused when your child sleeps with a bottle. This condition is also called baby bottle tooth decay. It is caused when a child goes to bed with a bottle filled with milk or juice — anything except water.
And flutter sucking is a natural part of the sequence of feeding and falling asleep contentedly at the breast. It is only if your baby is not gaining much or any weight, that it is important to be aware that when sucking slows right down to “flutter sucks” a baby is not swallowing much milk.
Sandifer syndrome (SS) is a type of movement disorder that constitutes paroxysmal spasms of head, neck, and back arching but spares the limbs. SS is often associated with gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) in children.
Jitters or trembling of the arms and legs during crying is normal in newborns. It should stop by 1 to 2 months of age. If your baby is jittery when not crying, it could be abnormal. Give her something to suck on.
A baby may be more active about an hour after the mother eats. This is because of the increase in sugar (glucose) in the mother's blood. Fetal movement normally increases during the day with peak activity late at night.
If your baby moves their legs up toward the belly, it could be a sign of abdominal pain caused by gas. Your little one is trying to relieve the the discomfort with this motion. Reduced appetite. Another common symptom of baby gas is a reduced appetite.
Gas pains can be very distressing to both parents and babies. If you notice your little one is extra cranky, squirmy, or pulling their legs up to their chest in discomfort, these are all telltale signs that they probably need to pass gas…and they'll feel so much better when they do.
Babies who have digestive disorders will generally show symptoms in the form of fussiness, flatulence, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, to dehydration. Entering the age of 6 months and over, baby's nutrition is not limited by only breast milk.