Breastfeeding Woes

Kristin

Why is something that is supposed to be so natural so hard?! I am really starting to get frustrated with breastfeeding. It’s been pretty rough for my little one and myself from the get go. Right around 3 weeks we started to get the hang of it because I overproduce milk and my let down was so forceful so that was a challenge in itself. Then at 4 weeks him and I both get told we have thrush 😩 that takes 4 weeks to clear up...and I was never fully convinced it was gone but the nurse practitioner said he was fine after 2 rounds of that Nystatin nasty stuff. Fast forward to now, he’s 10 weeks and used to eat for 10/12 minutes off of me (just one side since I produce so much). Now I can barely make it to 5 minutes with him before he pulls off. Sometimes he cries and other times he doesn’t. Then he spits up. I try to put him back on after holding him upright and burping him but he just screams. I am getting so frustrated that he won’t eat off of me. He latches perfectly and will suck and swallow perfectly but then right around the 5/6 minute mark he just pushes off abruptly. Everything I’ve read says he’s supposed to eat for 20 minutes! We are not even CLOSE! And he’s never drained a boob...EVER! I’ve tried it all, block feeding, pumping before feeding to reduce my forceful let down , pumping after feeding to help drain the boob for next feeding, football hold, cross cradle hold, koala hold, nothing seems to be working! He takes a bottle just fine (and rarely spits up after that) but I’d like to go to places without having to worry about taking a bazillion bottles with me and exclusively pumping SUCKS! Anyone have any insight as to what might be going on or have a similar experience? I’m starting to lose it! 😭