Breastfeeding

Does Your Baby Fuss at the Breast During Breastfeeding? Pulling off, Squirming? Plucking at the nipple? It can be Quite Distracting, Flustering and Even Worrisome. Consider this:

Perhaps they Need to Pee or Poo.

It is very common for babies to fuss during a breastfeed if they need to go 'to the toilet' on the baby potty - they don't want to 'eat' and 'go' in a diaper at the same time.

Ask This Question the Next Time Your Baby is Fussing at the Breast: Does Your Baby Need to Pee or Poop?

Many Mums find EC and Breastfeeding are symbiotically related ways of caring for a baby - both parts of a holistic 'baby care' package. When baby is pulling off the breast, popping on and off, they offer baby a 'pee break' or a 'potty break' to see if they just need to empty their bladder before continuing...

Your first step is to not worry that your baby's milk intake is low.* Instead, consider that they don't like to eat and poop at the same time. Hardly surprising, right? Roll your baby away for a few moments, have them nice and horizontal, let them pee and change their diaper. Being flat allows them to release pee more easily. Cooing relaxing sounds, breathing on their face gently can also help them to relax.

(*but if you do, ask a National Breastfeeding Association for advice - they are the highly trained lactation experts who want to help other Moms to breastfeed their babies)

Does Your Baby Need to Burp?

Second, consider a burp or a bubble. Give your baby a 'tick tock' - hold them under their armpits and gently tick-tock them back to front and side to side (and SMILE at them) This is a great trick for getting up a bubble that is uncomfortable and stopping them from feeding. I often find this is a reason for fluffing around at the nipple!

Babies on Potties? What About this 'Baby Pottying' Idea?

Elimination Communication is about Elimination COMFORT for your Baby!

Keep learning about Elimination Communication - your baby has strong instincts and you can begin your EC journey in this way - offering a 'pee break' during these pauses in nursing. You'll probably find (as I did) that your baby will breastfeed in a more relaxed way after their uncomfortably full bladder (or bowels or both) have been relieved.

This page shares my personal insights and observations about the link between breastfeeding and EC - see if considering any of them help your own situation...

Breastfeeding is Inextricably Linked with Our Practice of EC.

Our 'elimination communication' began with breastfeeding.

The first sign I learnt was him pulling off and on the breast during a feed - (a pretty common feeding behavior) - which may at times signal a need to tinkle. I find it was 'pretty often' and it was a great boon to have this insight as we learnt how to breastfeed together - or rather he helped me to meet his needs.

It makes sense that babies have a desire not to 'eat' and 'go' at the same time. Some babies (like mine) simply refused to breastfeed if a full bladder was distracting him. EC grew from there to become an integral part of our lifestyle, day and night, just as breastfeeding is. He breastfeeds, he pees, every time. It is an awareness that has carried on as long as he continues to breastfeed.

Similarities of Practicing EC with learning to breastfeed with your baby:

Like breastfeeding, the early days of EC takes practice, commitment; time spent learning signs and cues, doubting my confidence, asking questions and gaining the courage to persevere. Like breastfeeding, the benefits are many - there are daily rewards, it gets easier, yet there are always ongoing challenges and fun times as my baby (and my confidence) grows. We're both constantly learning, changing, adapting as we work in concert together.

What Goes In And What Comes Out Are Related - How?

Breastfeeding and eliminating - intertwined activities:

I found the strong link between breastfeeding behaviors and elimination very inter-related. One helped the other. Having a wee helped him to relax to feed, and the way he fed told me if he need to go to the toilet. I often thought that it is INSANE this awareness isn't taught to new mums, just as something to consider - even if they don't practice EC, knowing a fussing might be due to a full bladder or need to poo can reassure Mums. Letting them know that laying baby down flat can help them to relieve their bladder more easily, too.

Be aware of the gastrocolic reflex:

When something goes in, something comes out! Feeding sets their digestion in motion, and often something comes out at a regular timing - sometimes during, sometimes at intervals after a feed. Maven often went during a feed, and as older, goes after a feed. I've found relaxed feeding, like nap-nursing, is particularly helpful when my baby sometimes gets really sad before a poo. I offer a 'toilet break' as the squat position helps them to get out gas that can be quite painful, then hold him upright for a burp in case of a painful 'bubble', then feed him to sleep - quite often this (or repeating this) does the trick. The relaxing hormones in the booju aid in relaxing their digestion. Gentle rubbing of their lower back also helps to ease the nerves to their bottom half, helping relieve the tense cycle of spasmming they can get into due to the pain, you know? Once that poop is out, I have my happy relaxed baby back, and I am very relieved as well...and say "Thank goodness I learnt about EC!" to myself as I smile and sigh at that relaxed baby face...

Breastfeeding as a way of helping relaxing your baby to wee:

Breastfeeding is a key aid to helping the baby relax - a quick dose of hormones from milk - gets into their system fast - means they can then relax to go more easily - hence I often did a 'boob test' - offer a feed, and notice the type of sucking to tell me his needs. - soothing - breastfeeding was always my 'first solution' to an upset baby - a pee break as the first consideration to a fussing baby - just in case. VERY often it was a need to wee causing the fussing. Over time you learn to interpret these signs more clearly.

Breastfeeding, Elimination Communication and Regularity:

- relates to baby's comfort generally when older. For EVER Maven would be flippety in the early morning towards dawn - due to the fact that he usually did a poop first thing, he fed frequently to initiate the gastrocolic reflex and thus get his business done first thing in the day, when Mum was there most easily able to manage it. A simple evolutionary solution, I feel.

Mid feed nipping.

An insight I'd like to share on the mid-feed biting. Just the awareness of it might shed light on why it happens. A very, very common sign that the baby needs to go is that they pull off and on the boob during a feed, as the full bladder is really uncomfortable and distracting. Once teeth came, this means that if I wasn't paying attention to his pull on and off sign, Maven would nip me to get my attention.

At around 14 months, a lovely stage of biting occurred, ONE of the reasons was he picked it up again as a signal. Argh. But it passed. I got to be really good at timing awareness and other signals it was a pee -related nip rather than the molars-come-this makes mummy jump fun.

Nipple discussions - interpreting feeding behaviors

Over the months I have slowly learnt "boob language" - the signs baby gives via his feeding style at the boob. It is a funny language, a difficult one to learn and then to remember to listen to. Plus, I get it wrong quite often. It is still something fun to practice though. What does that particular flutter mean? Ah- a burp.

It is a non-verbal language to be sure, likely individualized to each mother-infant pair to a certain extent, I know some are certainly instinctual. It is interesting to learn, I find it an ongoing challenge to interpret what he is attempting to communicate to me; after all, we practice these 'nipple discussions' every day and night. (Night is often a good time to focus in and learn, as baby's behavior is so instinctive at night.)

Here are some of the 'phrases' that I understand bubs is speaking by the way he feeds from me:

Easy suck feeding means "I'm having a quick drink" (while I'm looking around at the same time).

Strong suck feeding means, "I'm hungry foody, may then go to sleep, ahhhh"

Flutter-pause, flutter-pause feeding usually follows strong feeding, and means "I'm winding down now, but still want more."

Fluttery Butterfly feeding means "I'm making my next meal" (stimulating supply)

Gentle but continuous Fluttery Butterfly feeding means "I'm fighting a bug" (exchanging antibodies- clear as he'll not allow this to end before he is ready, on occasions he'll do it for a couple of HOURS, then I know he's been exposed to something. I encourage this after he has the jabs, or if one of us is feeling low.)

Fine-tune Your Breastfeeding Awareness to Use Fewer Diapers... Join Tribal Baby today to receive my 7 Secrets to Developing Diaper Free Confidence, to learn more about how EC complements other aspects of your relationship with your baby. You'll gain many more insights into this ancient way mothers - whole families - assisted their babies to be clean and dry until they gradually took over their own toileting needs. They might just change the way you use diapers from now on... They are complimentary (that is, free) and exclusive to subscribers of Tribal Baby. Simply Click Here to Begin Receiving This Free Guide About Baby Pottying I will not share your details.

Learning More About Elimination Communication:

Read about how having knowledge of EC will make the transition to family or table foods easier, read Introducing Baby Foods and EC