hunger cues and an easy going baby

[Teddy'sMom]

I feel embarased to say this, but I don't think I know my 6 month old's hunger cues! It is such a contrast to his older brother! My first nursed at least every 30 minutes during the day and almost that at night. DS2 has no interest in comfort nursing! If I try to offer him the breast when he is not hungary he will arch his back and shreak! He does not nurse to sleep, but will use a paci to get to sleep. Sometimes I will realize that it has been 3 or 4 hours since he nursed so even though he doesn't seem to be asking me to nurse I will offer and he will nurse like crazy! Am I missing something? I want to nurse him on demand, but I feel like I more often offer without being asked. I feel kind of sad that nursing=food to him...I want it to be so much more than that... He does nurse about every 2 or 3 hours during the night, so he gets more then....

he is a big boy (20 lbs at 6 months) and has lots of wet and dirty diapers so I know he is getting enough.

any thoughts mamas?

[aet.tea]

My 4mo DD is like this too - she only lets me know she's hungry if she's REALLY hungry, and I don't usually let her get to that point. I just feed her before and after every nap. She is a SLOW nurser too, so sometimes we end up spending most of her awake time nursing. She doesn't complain if I offer it to her and she's not hungry; usually she will take some and then come off and start cooing at me.

She is a tiny girl (9 lbs at 4 months) so I do sometimes have concern that she is getting enough, but she is growing consistently if not rapidly. I have been to the LC every two weeks since she was born, and she reassures me to just keep doing what I'm doing.

Seems like you should keep doing what you're doing too - at 20lbs DS must be thriving!

[KangaTwo]

This is how my youngest is. He's 7 months now, and about 15.5lbs. He's also a major thumb sucker, which also blurs the lines a bit. There has been at least once when he has stopped in the middle of nursing to suck his thumb! He's also been known to grab my thumb and pull it towards his mouth while he's nursing.

With DS, I've noticed that one of his cues is the intensity of his thumb sucking. If he's sucking for the fun of it and I pull his thumb out, he'll pause before going back to it. If he's hungry, his thumb shoots right back into his mouth. If I tease him, he gives me a nasty look and whines at me.

That's really about the only cue he gives me. He's very different than his next oldest brother was - DS2 nursed every 2 hours, if not more frequently, and was a major comfort nurser.