Crying Right Before Eating

LOL! Oh, yeah! Your little guy has decided that he LIKES to eat! Get used to it :) He just gets impatient to get to that food and then he latches on and he's ok. My son did that too. I nursed exclusively until he was six months old. It's really nothing to be concerned about, but if it makes you feel better, just ask his pediatrician about it next time you take him in. Enjoy your sweet baby!

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Babies learn pretty quick if you do things the same way over and over. It sounds like your baby is just anticipating the feed. MAybe even saying "hey mom would you hurry things up here" =) My daughter still does it. Also, it is the same position that I rock her to sleep with. She fights sleep since she is afraid she will miss something =) So until she realizes that it is eating time and not feeding time she fusses. Just a thought. Good luck!

My daughter did the same thing.

I think it is the anxiousness to eat. My assumption is they are starting to identify the bottle or breast with eating.

Do not worry.

Sounds pretty normal, but, I would try to make sure that his belly is touching your belly, so that his stomach is not twisting at all. As they get bigger, they get harder to hold, and, without realizing it we tend to let their bellies twist a little. (upper body turned toward you while lower body is sitting on your lap). This is uncomfortable for some babies.

I used to call that panic mode- hurry mommy hurry mommy! It is just a phase-keep at it he will stop! Good job mommy!

My son is 6 months old and he does this too. He rarely fusses but as I put him on my lap and pull up my shirt, he starts whining a bit then stops as soon as he latches on. Its almost like he's saying "hurry hurry!" I don't know why he does it but I've gotten used to it!

Hi, I breast fed all 3 of my kids and seem to remember that 3 months was about the age when they all first started teething. They would fuss before nursing and sometimes would stop and fuss a little. The Hyland teething tables http://www.hylands.com/products/teething.php (HEB & Walgreens both carry these, you place the soft tabs on babies tongue and they melt instantly) really worked well for my little ones. A really cold wash cloth works too.
I hope your little guy is a happy nurser soon!
Best of luck to you.
-L.

I don't think I ever worried about a little crying if there was no obvious reason for it and if it stopped abruptly as you describe. Your little one is just letting you know he's hungry and ready to eat. He has no words to tell you that.

God bless you. Enjoy each moment; the years pass so quickly.

Could he have an ear infection? Is he sleeping at night? Putting him in position might put pressure on his ears, nursing relieves it. But more likely- he likes to eat and he's impatient, just like the earlier poster suggested.

It's possible that he is just conditioned to cry to let you know that's what he wants? Or, he really doesn't want to lie down and then he realizes what you're doing and is ok with that. But, in the beginning, he doesn't like it thinking you're stopping him from seeing things, etc. It doesn't sound like anything serious. Do you say the same thing each time right before, like it's time to eat? If that became the condition, then he might not be so surprised by the fact that he has to lie down.

It's probably impatience. He knows what is just about to happen and he's impatient for it to start! Mine is also 3 months old, and he starts moving his entire little head in anticipation, getting ready to latch. It's cute to watch.

If he is happy the rest of the time, this would be my guess!

Hi Alyssa, your little one may have reflux,he may associate the position with being uncomfortable. Just a thought. Good luck!!!!

It's probably anticipation......

It could be nothing but anxiousness to eat or it could be something else. I don't want to scare you, this could be totally off base, but I have some friends of mine that their baby would do the same thing (cry and fuss on a certain side before being fed). When their baby was around 2 or 3 months old she got RSV and got VERY sick. They found out she had a heart problem. The lung infection along with the heart problem put her in serious trouble. She had heart surgery and made it through just fine. Her mom said she would always fuss when she was positioned on a certain side (I can't remember if it was right or left). Their little girl is now 10 years old and doing great! Does your baby fuss only when positioned a certain way?

My son definitely definitely just got over this very same thing!!! It started shortly after his 2 mo old shots and like I said Just ended (last week) we are approaching 4 months. He would fuss when I put him to the breast and act like he didn't want to eat even though I knew he was hungry. Then if I was persistent enough he would latch on and eat fussing would stop and life would go on until the next feeding. Like you, the screaming never happened during the night feedings. The worst for me was that BF became harder to do in public, because the latch on was such a loud process...

Some babies at this age like to be upright, not wanting to lie down unless its their idea. This might be part of it. At the point he realizes that something good is coming from it, he forgets to cry and settles down to eat. He should get over it soon.

Sounds like either reflux or ears. If you have the ears checked and they are clear, I would work on holding him as upright as possible while he feeds. Later there is medicine to help with this, but if you can manage it, that's obviously always best. Good luck.