[Camellia]

nak

now, I know bfed babies won't overeat, but my baby doesn;t stop (shes almost 7 weeks old)! I don't mind and I feed her whenever she wants. The only problem is - I have to take the occasional shower, lol. she doesn't get to the point of screaming or anything, but before my shower is over she is fussing and wants to nurse. I only take 10 minute showers. She does take short naps during the day, but the second she wakes up, even is shes only been asleep for 10, 20, 30 minutes she is immediately in search of the boob.

I know shes gaining weight. between 5 and 6 weeks of age she gained 15ozs. She very rarely spits up, but actually vomited last night. She pees and poops normal amounts. She has always eaten this way with an occasional day here and there where she doesn't nurse quite as much.

Should i be concerned?

 

[mountain mom]

Sounds like my dd at that age...she loooooved being at the boob. It was that way for a 3 - 4 months!

Is she napping? Is she sleeping for a few hours at night?

You said she is gaining weight...and the latch is great?

Are you getting a few minutes to yourself each day? Thats important...even 10 minutes just to get some perspective.

I think if it feels okay its okay!

How do you feel about it?

 

[mountain mom]

Wanted to add that my dd slowly slowed down on the amount of time at the boob but always has feed alot! Even now at 31 months she is nursing at least 4 times at day and once at 4am.

It is such a rewarding relationship!

Just make sure you do get some breaks each day!

 

[Camellia]

man, I just typed a nice reply and lost it some how

Thank-you for your reply. It feels better to know that other babies have been this fond of the boob! lol.

I do take 15 minutes to myself each day, but I usually feel bad that she is missing her boobs. Maybe I will have to get over that guilt so I can enjoy the time more. I have to recharge if I'm to care for her

It seems like she sleeps pretty well at night. She does nurse a lot, but it seems like she will go at least 2 hours at a stretch. Either way, I sleep pretty well. During the day she will usually not nap for more than an hour. I think this is because I will try to pass her to dh and get some time alone. That doesn't work to well because she prefers to nap - you guessed it - *on my boobs* lol.

I feel ok about it, but I do hope she gets to nursing less fairly soon so that we can be out and about easier. I have no problem nip, but I haven' t mastered nursing in a sling yet so I have to find some where to sit

I'm just glad this isn't a sign of something being wrong!

Thanks again!

 

[mountain mom]

I hear ya about the napping on the boob thing. My dd was and is still like that. She would nap peacefully on the comfy nursing pillow on my lap but if I tried to move her...she would forsure wake.

Sometimes I would nurse her when I knew she would nap in our bed and then sneak out after she fell asleep. But she never sleept as long

Eventually I would use that time to take a break. I would get all set up with a book, tea, the phone and the remote for the tv and when she fell asleep I would read, watch oprah if it was a good one, call my friends and family, drink tea and relax.

It got to a point that this time would happen each day after we returned from our daily walk and errand run. It was a nice rythym!

Such a special time!

 

[loving-my-babies]

my baby was the same way, he nursed so much that at 6 weeks he weighed almost 12 lbs (and was only 7 lbs at birth) and now at 3.5 months he's 18 lbs!
It's amazing how much they want to nurse when they are that young.. I know the shower thing is frustrating... although I must say my little guy was pretty good about letting me take showers... but anyway, my advice is just drop everything that you can (housework, cooking elaborate meals, etc...) and just do what's most important, so you can be with your babe as much as possible. I don't think you should be concerned... to me, the more he nurses the better!

 

[DaryLLL]

Nursing all the time is so subjective. If a baby that age wants to nurse for 45 mins, take 15 min break, then nurse more, this can be normal, if baby is gaining at least 4 oz a week and peeing and pooping enough (6-8 cloth dipes, pooping a few times a day, soft poop).

If baby wasn't gaining or eliminating well, we would worry the latch wasn't good, or the mom's milk supply wasn't adequate. But it sounds like you are OK in that dept.

My ds wouldn't sleep alone until he was a yr old!

My dds both would however. For naps that is. We co-slept at night.

With ds we wore out a sling by one yr and had to buy another. And all my kids nursed every hour until they were about 2 yrs old. Longer stretch at night. Of course, older nurslings can sometimes only nurse 5-10 mins and get several oz. A newborn is not as efficient.

Go to a LLL mtg to learn how to nurse in yr sling.

 

[okinok]

My baby nursed all the time and also went through evening fussies of several hours duration where he would nurse then kick and thrash while nursing, pull off, start hollering and then start nursing again. Lactation consultants, etc. kept telling me that this was normal that it was cluster feeding or a growth spurt. However, it was driving me somewhat around the bend. My mother seemed to think the baby was in pain (gassy, colicky) so I talked to the pediatrician who said that this sounded like acid reflux - babies with reflux like to nurse more because it settles their stomachs. She prescribed him Zantac and also suggested I try an elimination diet of "fuss foods" starting with dairy. I also gave up peanuts at the same time and have found that my baby does not tolerate spicy foods or even beans. This is very hard because I am a vegetarian but it does seem to have helped with spacing feedings. Now at 10 weeks, there are many days we go 2 hours (even occasionally 3) between the start of one feeding and another. My baby also fusses a lot when he is tired and usually the only way I can get him to sleep is to nurse him though I am working on that using the "No Cry Sleep Solution".

Some people nurse very frequently and are quite happy with it. For me, it was very hard. It was made harder by the fact that my baby had a bad latch which wasn't resolved for awhile until after I had cuts in my nipples and then got very painful thrush. I have always nursed him on demand, but between working on his reflux issues and also learning how to distract him (which was impossible prior to treating the reflux), I have been able to space the feedings more. If you are content with the frequency with which your baby feeds than it is perfectly fine, but I wanted to be able to occasionally have a 1/2 hour (or even longer) where I could let my husband take care of the baby and get a small break. It makes me enjoy nursing much more.

So anyway, I wanted to let you know that there are options and that even if it is "normal" for a baby to nurse this often, there are things you can do to deal with it. Also, if it is frustrating to nurse this often, you should not feel like you are a bad mother.

Sandra

 

[okinok]

Oh - the other thing I wanted to mention is that some babies suffer from what I have heard called "oversupply colic" "hyperlactation syndrome" or "foremilk/hindmilk imbalance" where they get too much of the foremilk (skim milk) and not enough of the cream (hindmilk) and therefore want to nurse all the time. I have read that this can be related to excessive weight gain. As I understand it, the solution to this is to nurse from one breast over a 2 hour period (some people go even longer) so that you know the baby gets the hindmilk. You might discuss this with a lactation consultant.

The other thing I will say even though this is very politically incorrect is that it is not child abuse to try the occasional pacifier. My son is not keen on it (neither am I) but it can be a great help at times. I also let him suck on my finger if I know it is clean or I am some place I can wash it.

Anyway, your baby sounds much like mine and I know how exhausting it can be. I have been lucky that we have had visitors (family, friends) and that my husband has been able to work at home and take care of me while I take care of the baby. The sling nursing has only started to work for me and still doesn't give me two free hands to do anything else. Computer nursing does seem to work. Also I got a lot of reading done and phone calls to friends. In a way, it was a good excuse to sit on the couch all day - now that I think about it, I kind of miss it.

One more thing - as my baby gets older and wants to interact more, he nurses less as well.

Anyway - sorry for the long post - good luck. Gotta go get the baby from my husband so my husband can eat his lunch!

Sandra