question...

[azhie]

Hello,

My little 2-week old daughter has been breastfeeding from the start. She usually feeds every 3 hours (nurses for 10 mins, sleeps, wakes up again, and so on for an hour), and then sleeps deeply for 3 hours. However, since a couple days ago, she stopped going to sleep for longer stretches, and when she's awake, she wants to nurse. I've been nursing her so often, almost every hour, that my nipples are sore. I don't even know whether she's hungry or not, but the nursing is the only thing that stops her crying. I'm not sure what the problem is? This is going on into the night as well. 

[mamaofthree]

it could be that she is getting ready for a growth spurt so she is eating more often. she is trying to increase your milk supply would be my guess. just make she is latched on well so you don't get really sore nipples. 

((hug)) and welcome to your new little bundle. :)

h

[PatioGardener]

It sounds like a growth spurt to me too!

How is her weight gain and her poops and pees? At that age I had to be careful to make sure I had a good latch, and I used Lansioh after feeds to help with the soreness.

Congratulations, and enjoy your babymoon!

[azhie]

Thanks ladies! :)

How often do these growth spurts happen? A few days ago, she was acting similarly, and I thought it was something in my diet and stopped it (long story)... and she stopped fussing.

This time it's different though. I feel the let-down much more often than before. 

She pees and poops a lot. Not sure about her weight gain, she began gaining weight at day 7 but haven't checked since then. She seems chubbier though!

Is there no way to avoid soreness? When she was nursing every 3 hours, my nipples were fine, I don't feel anything at all when she's nursing (the first few days, it hurt whenever she latched on). 

[mamaofthree]

i believe it is something like 3 weeks, 6 week, 3 months, 6 months. of course they are growing the whole time, lol, just they seems to get hungry at those times.

as for the soreness make sure she is latched on good each time, even once or twice can cause issue for awhile. i would even suggest getting in touch with the local LLL leader and see when they have meetings, then you can talk to some real live women and they can watch her latch on and also give you alot of great support. :)

h

[Virginia884]

I found this article really helpful when I was looking for info about growth spurts. Sounds like she is hungry, growing, and/or looking for comfort. Just keep offering her the breast! You are doing great!

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/growth-spurt.html

[azhie]

Thanks!! That site was very helpful :)

[willowq]

i felt the way when my daughter was going through a spurt.  My nipples were so sore .  What helped me was expressing a little milk first to wet the nipple.  After shewas done eatiing i wouldput a small amount of lanolin on the nipple.  good luck!