My baby screams after feeding

Why Is Baby Crying After Feeding?

The question of “why does my baby cry after feeding” is a question that can typically drive mothers and parents crazy.

Oftentimes, it can be hard to know why your baby is crying after feedings. Not knowing how to identify the problem and not having a solution can have a significant effect on the physical and mental health of both your baby and the entire family. This can include increased stress, lower quality sleep, and the physical health of your baby. However, if you identify the cause and solve the problem, you will be able to significantly improve the parenting and breastfeeding experience for you and your child.

That’s why we decided to write an article on this topic – Why does my baby cry after feeding? This is an important topic and should be known by all mothers so that you can get the best results when feeding your baby.

This article will cover the following topics:

Why Babies Cry After Feeding
Should You Breastfeed Every Time Your Baby Cries?
How Do I Comfort A Newborn?

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Why Your Baby Cries After Feeding

Acid Reflux

The first major reason babies cry after feeding is known as acid reflux. Acid reflux happens when the content in the stomach gets pushed back into the esophagus.

It’s estimated that more than half of infants experience acid reflux at some point. The condition usually peaks at 4 months and goes away on its own between 12 and 18 months of age.

Some symptoms of acid reflux include:

Spitting up and/or Vomiting
Refusal to eat and difficulty eating or swallowing
Irritability during feeding
Wet burp / hiccups
Failure to gain weight
Abnormal arching
Frequent coughing
Gagging or choking
Chest pain or heartburn
Disturbed sleep

If acid reflux symptoms persist past 24 months, it may be a sign of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) when combined with weight gain.

Food Sensitivity / Allergies

In addition to acid reflux, some breastfed babies may be allergic to certain food particles that their mothers are eating. According to the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, some of the most common foods that lead to food sensitivities and allergies in babies is cow’s milk protein in the mother’s milk, egg, corn, and soy.

Some symptoms of food sensitivities in your baby include the following:

Extreme irritability after feedings
Bloody stools (poop)

If your baby has the following symptoms, you should speak with your healthcare provider about getting them tested for allergies.

Additionally, you can also follow a restricted diet that removes common allergen foods such as eggs, dairy, corn, caffeine, and seeded fruit. Be sure to speak with your doctor before changing your diet significantly.

Start by eliminating one food at a time and analyze the effects of removing certain foods on your baby’s behavior. That way you can really see what effect each individual food has so you can isolate the diet problem.

Gas

The next reason your baby may be crying is gas. Gas can also be known as a buildup of air swallowed while eating. In particular, bottle feeding can lead to your baby swallowing a lot of air during feeding. This will cause gas to be trapped in the stomach and will potentially lead to baby hiccups and discomfort for the baby.

In order to help prevent gassing in your baby, you may try to change or improve your breastfeeding position. Try to keep your baby upright after feeding. Also, allow your baby to burp gently from the bottom of their back and up through the shoulders to work the gas bubbles up and out of the body. Burping your baby can significantly reduce the chances of gassiness.

Formula

Not every baby gets fed directly from breast milk. For formula-fed babies, a change or switch of the formula you use may be your solution to your baby crying after feeding.

Every formula brand may affect each child differently, so trying a different formula for your baby may be a good solution to solving your babies crying problem. It is important to talk to your own baby’s pediatrician about whether some other formula options can be better for your child.

If you see no change or improvement by switching your baby’s formula, it is unlikely to help for any other brands.

Colic

Colic is also another reason why babies cry after feeding. Essentially, colic means persistent and excessive crying for a baby under 3 months old. More specifically, your baby is doing the following:

Is crying a lot, for at least three hours a day
The baby is crying at least three days per week or more
Is under 3 months old

If all 3 of those boxes are checked, then your baby is likely colic.

Should You Breastfeed Every Time Your Baby Cries?

This is a question that is very popular among moms in regards to their baby and crying. For that reason, we wanted to address this directly because it seems to be a topic that is debated out there.

In short, no. You do not want to breastfeed your baby every time he or she cries. Contrary to some beliefs out there, some babies cry because of a bloated stomach, gas, or some of the other reasons we talked about already in this article.

Ultimately, the best solution is to let your baby decide when she’s had enough milk. When your baby has had enough milk, it will give you signs to let you know it will be done feeding. Including stopping feeding or turning your head away.

How Do I Comfort a Crying Newborn?

Now that you know that you shouldn’t breastfeed every time your baby cries after feeding, I’m sure you’re also wondering how to comfort your crying newborn. With that being said, there are multiple ways to comfort a crying newborn when he or she cries.

Some of these ways include:

Offer a pacifier for sucking – this can help your baby relieve stress without crying.
Try gently rocking your baby – this can calm your baby down and relax them.
Quietly singing to your baby – like rocking, singing may calm your baby and get them to stop crying. You can also put on a rhythmic song or music to have the same effect.
Cuddle and hold your baby close – Touching, holding, and cuddling your baby makes your baby feel safe and secure. You can also put your baby in a blanket to get a similar effect.
Try walking or taking your child out for a walk – this can result in a positive change in your child’s mood.

These are some of the main ways that you can comfort your baby when crying. As mentioned above, breastfeeding is not always the answer when your baby is crying. If your baby is crying and it has had enough feeding, try the things that we’ve listed above and see if it helps and improves your baby’s mood.

Why does My Baby Cry After Feeding – Key Takeaways

If you’re thinking, “Why does my baby cry after feeding?” hopefully this article is helpful for you. Knowing why your baby cries after feeding is extremely important for the health of your child. Some reasons why your fed baby cries after feeding can include acid reflux, food sensitivity/allergy, gas, formula, or colic.

You should not breastfeed every time your baby cries. Instead, it’s best to let the baby tell you when it’s had enough flow of milk.

It’s also important to comfort your crying newborn when he/she cries.

Knowing how to answer the question “why does my baby cry after feeding” can help your breastfeeding experience and the health of your baby. Whether it is with bottle feeding, direct breastfed babies, your baby will be better off if you understand these basics.

If you’re looking to get the best high-quality breast pump, you can order our breast pump here. We offer a wide range of pumps with a ton of different insurances. Some insurances we cover include UPMC, Tricare, Aetna, and many others.

Baby Cries After Feeding: What Should I Do?

Medically reviewed by Karen Gill, M. D. — By Chaunie Brusie on October 3, 2018

My daughter, the “crier”

My second daughter was what my oldest fondly referred to as a “crier.” Or, in other words, she cried. A lot. The crying with my baby girl seemed to intensify after every single feeding and particularly at night.

It was those hellish hours between darkness and dawn when my husband and I would take turns walking around the house with her in our arms, praying and, mostly in my case, sobbing because we couldn’t console our baby.

I didn’t know it then in my sleep-deprived state, but my daughter’s crying after feedings wasn’t that uncommon. In combination with her frequent spitting up, it was pretty much a classic textbook case of colic.

Colic

Colic, in technical terms, simply means a “crying, fussy baby that doctors can’t figure out.”

OK, so that’s not really the definition, but in essence, that’s what it boils down to. The British Medical Journal (BMJ) lists one criterion for colic: A baby that cries for at least three hours a day, three or more days a week, and is under 3 months old. Check, check, and check.

There isn’t one single known cause of colic. Even the actual clinical incidence of colic, estimated by BMJ to be around 20 percent of all babies, can be tricky.

Acid reflux

One of those causes of crying after feeding and spitting up in babies is actually acid reflux. This condition is known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) if it also causes significant symptoms such as poor weight gain.

When my “crier” daughter was 5, she frequently complained of her stomach hurting and as a result, had to undergo a series of testing with a gastroenterologist, a doctor that specializes in the GI system.

At our first appointment, the very first question he asked me was if she had colic as a baby and if she spit up a lot, to both of which I practically shouted, “Yes! How did you know?!”

He explained that acid reflux or GERD can manifest as symptoms similar to colic in babies, stomach pain in school-aged children, and later as actual heartburn pain in adolescents.

While many infants spit up, fewer have actual GERD, which can be caused by an underdeveloped flap between the esophagus and stomach or a higher-than-normal production of stomach acid.

In most cases, a diagnosis of infant reflux is simply based on your baby’s symptoms. If your doctor suspects a severe case however, there are several different tests that actually diagnose infant reflux.

Testing can involve taking a biopsy of your baby’s intestine or using a special type of X-ray to visualize any affected areas of obstruction.

Food sensitivities and allergies

Some babies, especially breastfed babies, may be allergic to certain food particles that their mothers are eating.

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine notes that the most common offender is cow’s milk protein in the mother’s milk, but even a true allergy is very rare. Only about 0.5 to 1 percent of exclusively breastfed babies are thought to be allergic to cow’s milk protein.

The other most common culprits, according to the ABM, are egg, corn, and soy, in that order.

If your baby is displaying symptoms of extreme irritability after feedings and has other symptoms, such as bloody stools (poop), you should speak with your healthcare provider about getting them tested for allergies.

Aside from a true allergy, there’s also been some evidence that following a low allergen diet while breastfeeding (essentially avoiding those top allergy foods, such as dairy, eggs, and corn) may be beneficial for infants with colic.

Strict elimination diets can have their own risks, so speak with your doctor before significantly changing your diet.

In our situation, I found that dairy, caffeine, and certain seeded fruit exacerbated my daughter’s crying and spitting up. By eliminating those foods and substances from my diet, I was able to help lessen her discomfort.

If you have a baby with colic, you might want to try anything at all to help ease your baby’s crying. If you’re curious to see if your diet has any effect, you can start by logging your food in a food journal and writing down your baby’s reactions after each meal.

Next, you can eliminate one food at a time and see if reducing your intake of certain foods seems to make a difference in your baby’s behavior. If you hit on one you feel helps your baby to cry less, this does not mean they will not be able to eat that food in the future.

Just be sure to keep in mind that a true allergy is rare. Also, be sure to monitor for any additional symptoms, such as blood in your baby’s poop.

Gas

If your baby is crying a lot after every feeding, it may simply be a buildup of air swallowed while eating. It’s thought that bottle-fed babes in particular may be more prone to swallowing a lot of air during a feeding. This can trap gas in their stomachs and be uncomfortable.

In general, breastfed babies swallow less air while eating simply due to the way they eat. But every baby is different and even breastfed babies may need to be burped after a feeding.

Trying keeping your baby upright after a feeding and burping gently from the bottom of their back and up through the shoulders to work the gas bubbles up and out. Also check out this illustrated guide to burping a sleeping baby.

Formula

If your baby is formula-fed, swapping out the formula you use may be a simple solution to a crying baby after feedings. Every formula is a little bit different and certain brands make formulas for more sensitive baby tummies.

If you decide to try this, talk to your baby’s pediatrician about whether an elemental formula would be a good choice to try for a week. If you try one different brand and you see no change in your baby’s fussiness, continuing to try different brands is unlikely to help.

Takeaway

Colic, along with a few other common conditions, might be the culprit if you too have a “crier” on your hands.

If your baby doesn’t find relief after dietary changes or additional burping, then make an appointment to see their doctor.

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Chaunie Brusie, BSN, is a registered nurse with experience in labor and delivery, critical care, and long-term care nursing. She lives in Michigan with her husband and four young children, and is the author of the book “Tiny Blue Lines.”

Last medically reviewed on October 3, 2018

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How we reviewed this article:

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ABM clinical protocol #24: Allergic proctocolitis in the exclusively breastfed infant. (2011). DOI:
10.1089/bfm.2011.9977
Harrel MC, et al. (2015). Is there a correlation between maternal diet in breastfeeding mothers and infantile colic? DOI:
10.1097/01.EBP.0000541032.94135.ca
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2018). Infant reflux.
mayoclinic. org/diseases-conditions/infant-acid-reflux/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351412
Rosen LD, et al. (2007). Complementary, holistic, and integrative medicine.
pedsinreview.aappublications.org/content/28/10/381
Saavedra MA, et al. (2003). Infantile colic incidence and associated risk factors: A cohort study. .
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14502331
Sung V, et al. (2014). Treating infant colic with the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri: Double blind, placebo controlled randomised trial. DOI:
10.1136/bmj.g2107
Symptoms & causes of GER and GERD in infants. (2015).
niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/acid-reflux-ger-gerd-infants/symptoms-causes

Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

Current Version

Oct 3, 2018

Written By

Chaunie Brusie

Edited By

Nizam Khan (TechSpace)

Medically Reviewed By

Karen Richardson Gill, MD

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Why does the baby cry during breastfeeding

Yakovleva Ekaterina Andreevna

pediatrician, breastfeeding consultant

Why does baby cry while breastfeeding? The answer may lie on the surface and depend on the situation. Some mothers themselves begin to put forward theories that are often incorrect - “I don’t have milk”, “I ate something wrong”, “The milk became tasteless and bitter”, “I shouldn’t have bought silicone pads” ... Consider the most frequent causes of crying at the breast and options for helping the baby together with Ekaterina Andreevna Yakovleva, pediatrician, breastfeeding consultant and mother of two babies. She knows about the tears of babies not only from professional, but also from maternal experience.

WHY A CHILD CRYS DURING FOOD

— Ekaterina Andreevna, is crying during feeding dangerous?

— Crying during feeding is a normal way for a baby to communicate with the outside world. So he calls his mother, shows that he wants to eat or something bothers him. The only thing that crying can affect is that the baby will come off the chest and take in air. This will lead to more abundant regurgitation, increased pain in the tummy.

Table. Newborn cries during feeding - 9 reasons0018

— Can a change in priorities of a child affect his behavior at the breast?

- Up to three months, babies have one priority - they need to either eat and sleep or change a wet diaper. After the children become more active, they are already interested in the world around them. Therefore, when feeding in public places, and also when the mother combines the process with talking on the phone or watching TV, the child can be distracted: suck - turn away - suck, ask for different breasts in turn, indulge.

After three or four months, the baby should not be on the breast very often, but mothers find it difficult to readjust and continue to breastfeed constantly to soothe him. But in fact, the child’s needs are already different - he wants to be vilified on the handles, paid attention to him, played with him, showed him toys.

- Let's discuss misattachment in more detail. What can a mother do wrong if the child does not eat well and cries?

- A very common symptom of improper attachment or refusal of the breast is trouble-free feeding only in sleep. When the child sleeps, he eats calmly, and when he is awake, he begins to twist at the chest, cry. Mom can get tired of this, and in order to calm and feed the baby, during the day she gives him a bottle. In such a situation, it makes sense to talk about breastfeeding and work to restore normal feeding.

Problems may arise from awkward or repetitive posture during feeding. By trial and error, the mother should choose the position that will be most convenient for her and the child. However, if a baby is fed only lying down from birth, at an older age he may refuse to eat in his arms, break out and cry.

A CHILD CRYING WHEN FEEDING - HOW TO HELP

- Ekaterina Andreevna, everything is very individual for small children. How to understand why a child eats and cries?

— If the baby cries during feeding, the mother should examine the possible reasons for this behavior step by step and:

Eliminate the reasons related to the child's well-being, which she can deal with herself.
Work on breastfeeding techniques.
Seek medical attention if all else fails - child continues to cry and has additional questionable symptoms.

A triad of symptoms that are always alarming

You should also consult a doctor if, during feeding, the child wriggles and cries from constant acute pain, cannot calm down, vomiting, blood and mucus in the stool, rashes in the mouth, stuffy nose are observed. Fever is an acute condition that is not associated with constant (for example, for a month) baby crying during feeding.

— What should I do if my baby refuses to breastfeed?

— The main thing for a mother is to remain calm and adequate. For a breastfed baby, one break can last an hour, and another five to six hours if the baby has slept long and well. Taking long breaks during the day, the child will still finish his daily allowance in order to develop normally. For example, if he has not eaten for six hours during the daytime, he will breastfeed more often at night. Therefore, in feeding children in the first half of life during the day, it is better not to take breaks for more than 3-3.5 hours. With the introduction of complementary foods, the intervals may be slightly longer.

Night breaks are individual and depend only on the child - some children are born with a 6-8 hour interval, and some sleep at night for eight to twelve hours or eat every hour.

Read also

About the reasons why a child refuses breast milk and whether it is necessary to switch to mixed or artificial feeding in such cases.

— Is it necessary to stop feeding if the baby is naughty?

- Depends on age. Mom should feel what exactly the child needs at this moment. If a newborn cries and refuses to breastfeed, you can calm him down, vilify him with a column, shake him, and then attach him to the breast again. If, having calmed down, the child turns away from the chest, then he has eaten.

An older child is distracted from the breast, becoming interested in something else. Do not force feed him. We must try to remove all irritants - feed in isolation in a separate room, not be distracted by gadgets, sounds, or give the child the opportunity to satisfy his interests, and then offer the breast again.

— What else can help calm the baby?

- Since most causes of crying are not related to medical problems, medication is not needed. It is necessary to relax, set up the baby, pump him, try to competently organize breastfeeding - apply correctly, do not give a dummy, nipple, supplement from a cup or syringe without a needle. As a rule, this is how most feeding problems go away.

— In what situations can a breast be replaced with a bottle?

— It is not worth replacing breastfeeding with formula feeding without acute vital signs. When a baby is not breastfeeding well, it is worth removing all bottles, continuing to supplement with “non-sucking” items, and contacting a breastfeeding specialist to try to establish attachment and breastfeeding. This is done by a lot of people.

- Does changing the feeding regimen help to get rid of crying?

- Rather, these are unrelated things. It is not worth forcibly adjusting the feeding regimen, you need to listen to the child - in the first three months, the children constantly hang on their chest, after they begin to form a regimen and the intervals between meals increase. It is important to feel the needs of the child, because not only hunger, but also other things can disturb him, and if he constantly poke his breast, he will not be very pleased.

Table. Mistakes during breastfeeding

The baby cries during breastfeeding for many reasons. It can be improper attachment to the breast, "tangled nipples", inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity, runny nose, colic, teething, lactase deficiency, or a very nervous state of the mother. It is possible to understand what the problem is only by eliminating the organic and psychological causes of crying. With prolonged ongoing anxiety, the child should be shown to a specialist.

* Breast milk is the best food for babies. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a child's life and continued breastfeeding after complementary foods are introduced until the age of 2 years. Before introducing new products into the baby's diet, you should consult with a specialist. The material is for informational purposes and cannot replace the advice of a healthcare professional. For feeding children from birth. The product is certified.

#advice for mom #breastfeeding

Why does the baby cry - articles from the specialists of the clinic "Mother and Child"

Bondarenko Margarita Gennadievna

Otorhinolaryngologist (ENT)

Clinic "Mother and Child" Kuntsevo,

I want to eat!

Most often the baby cries because he wants to eat. And to understand that he is hungry is the easiest way. At first, the baby shows concern, smacks his lips, turns his head to his mother's hand, stroking his cheek, tries to put his own fist in his mouth. All this means that there is very little time left before the hungry cry. Noticing such signs, you should not wait: feed the baby on demand. Otherwise, starting to cry, he will have to spend a lot of energy trying to calm down, and therefore, he will eat less and the next time he will get hungry again too soon. In general, for children who are breastfed, during the first month of life there is no clear feeding regimen. A newborn can be applied to the breast up to 10-12 times a day.

I want to sleep!

The next reason for screaming is, oddly enough, the desire to sleep. Many parents think that a baby can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, and even in almost any position. No, it's not like that - he needs help. How do you know if your baby wants to sleep? It's easy to guess. At first, he will behave restlessly, cry, push out the pacifier, rub his eyes, yawn. And then he starts crying. Here, too, it is necessary to try to calm the child as quickly as possible so that he does not disperse in crying, otherwise it will be more difficult for him to fall asleep. Rituals will help: you can shake the baby, sing a song, put it in the usual sleeping place.

I'm wet!

Crying can be a signal that the baby is uncomfortable: for example, his diaper is wet. Cold and wet, they irritate the skin, so he screams: “Mom, dad, change me quickly!” Crying about this is whimpering, incessant, although it sounds either stronger or weaker, it may be accompanied by hiccups, as the child freezes in wet diapers. If the diaper is changed, and the baby is warmer to cover, he will calm down. If the child is not in diapers, but in reusable diapers, you should not relax either: they can leak or get wet inside. So, the baby is also wet and cold. If the child sleeps in one diaper all night, then he may be disturbed by a greatly increased diaper volume. And of course, children do not like to be in dirty diapers (diapers): feces quickly irritate delicate skin.

I'm hot!

If the baby is hot, he will also cry about it. He will begin to whimper, scatter his arms and legs, his skin will turn red, a small red rash (prickly heat) may appear under his clothes. At the same time, the temperature of the baby sometimes even rises to 37.5 ° C. This is what saves here: the child must be undressed (and removed diapers, especially disposable ones), wiped with a towel moistened with water at room temperature, and allowed to lie in the air for several minutes. Then you need to dress the baby, but in other, clean clothes. In the fight against overheating and prickly heat, a reasonable amount of clothing and a comfortable room temperature - no higher than 24-25 ° C will help, first of all.

I'm uncomfortable!

The reason for the inconvenience can be any: the child may cry when the temperature changes, when changing clothes, changing the diaper or wiping his bottom with a damp cloth. Newborns feel more comfortable when they are dressed or wrapped in diapers, because the touch of air on the skin is not always pleasant for them. In addition, children often do not like to be changed, especially if it is winter and you have to wear a lot of clothes. There is only one way out: learn to act as quickly as possible, causing the crumbs a minimum of inconvenience.

A few words about clothes. It is better not to buy clothes with fasteners on the back and coarse seams inside - the baby may not like it. And sometimes even the slightest thread or hair caught between the clothes and the skin of the baby causes him great inconvenience.

I want attention!

Attention and tactile sensations are very important for a child. He loves to see the faces of his mom and dad, hear their voices, communicate with them. But so far, the baby cannot ask his parents to take him in his arms, read him a fairy tale, sing a song, play - but this does not mean at all that he does not need it. Therefore, crying, the baby wants to be paid attention to, requires communication. Do not worry that the baby will get used to the hands too much. While he is so small, he needs to feel a sense of security - it is this that will later help him gain confidence in his abilities. Well, different cradles, deck chairs, playpens, child seats will only help mom and dad free their hands and at the same time place their beloved child next to them.

Once you learn to understand your baby's "language", you will see that the reasons for crying vary from case to case. A little time and patience - and very soon you will understand what the child wants, already from the first seconds of his discontent.

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