[The4OfUs]

Hi ladies....so, I have a 6-week-old, and from the get go she's had a REALLY strong suck, and I have a really active letdown and a pretty fast flow. That's the background.

More background: She is voiding a ton, both urine and bowels and she is steadily gaining on the scale and clothing gets snugger and snugger...she's almost into the 3-6 month clothes at 6 weeks.

So what's the problem, you ask?

She often only nurses on each side for 5-7 minutes, then pops off on her own and doesn't want to go back on, or will go back on and just "pick" for a couple minutes and then come off again...sometimes she nurses longer and falls asleep at the breast, but I'd say that's maybe only 50% of the time.

Can she be getting good hindmilk in that short an amount of time already at her age? When you consider her suck and my flow and letdown? All signs point to yes - she's content for 2-3 hours after each feeding, she's alert and active while awake, cooing and tracking objects and smiling, etc, she's gaining and voiding well, my breasts feel considerably softer after about 5 minutes on each side...I guess I'm asking because my DS used to nurse for at least15-20 minutes a side at this age, then when he got to around 6-9 months he dropped down to about 5 min a side, and then it was a battle from 12 months to get more than 5 or 10 sucks out of him at a time - but he was thriving, and I followed his cues, I didn't force him - I offred, he took what he wanted and that was it....

Basing it on DS's trend, if DD is starting out at 6 weeks at 5 min a side, I worry what might happen when she's distractable months down the road....but I also know I can't force her on the breast...

Soooooo....anyone else have a VERY efficient nursing newborn??? Since she's clearly voiding and gaining well should I just not worry about it and go with the flow (no pun intended), and if there's a problem in the future take it from there?...it seems that now both my kiddos are all business when it comes to nursing, and aren't big comfort nursers at all...

I'm obviously really glad that she's doing so well and that things seem to be relatively easy for her; we had some latch problems and some thrush in the first 3 weeks, but all that is cleared up now. I'm just a worrywart, I suppose.

Thanks for any input, commiseration, or advice that you can give!

 

[aja-belly]

i'll share some commiseration. i had an overactive letdown from the beginning and my boy would never nurse for 10 minutes. we decided he was getting plenty of milk, but not any hindmilk (i could pump up to 20 ounces in the morning and not see any hindmilk). i started doing the block feeding (nurse on one side a few times in a row) and it helped us. i think the recommendation is not to do it for more than 4 hours on each side (maybe it was longer than that - a search on kellymom.org for 'block feeding' would probably help). for us it helped change his poops from the bright green ones to those healthy breastfed poops you see when they are getting good hindmilk. he also stopped getting upset tummies after eating.

do you ever feel a second letdown? i was told that was hindmilk letting down. i have never read that, so it may not be true, but it seems to go along with what i noticed in his poops.

 

[The4OfUs]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Kellymom...I've never noticed a secodn letdown, no....and now that you mention poops, even her poop color is good, that nice mustardy-yellow, never frothy or green...so I guess she is getting hindmilk, huh? I just wish I could *tell*, you know?

Edited to add:

OK, I read Kellymom and a couple links off that page too, and some of it seems to apply, but only a couple things, and only some of the time - Hmm.....:

Quote:

Does your baby do any of these things? Gag, choke, strangle, gulp, gasp, cough while nursing as though the milk is coming too fast - sometimes Pull off the breast often while nursing - no Clamp down on the nipple at let-down to slow the flow of milk - no Make a clicking sound when nursing - sometimes Spit up very often and/or tend to be very gassy - no spit up, but gassy Periodically refuse to nurse - no Dislike comfort nursing in general - yes

Also read a couple other articles...she's not thrashing or angry at the breast or anything, it's very peaceful...and she seems to just unlatch on her own...but I will give some of the oversupply suggestions a try and see if it makes a difference....thanks for the kellymom reference!!

Anyone else anectdotally have an early efficient nurser?

 

[alegna]

Sounds great to me. After the OP I was going to ask about poop color, but you mentioned it in your next post.

Sounds super!

-Angela

 

[SabbathD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The4OfUs Anyone else anectdotally have an early efficient nurser?

(nak) I do!! Our babies are very close in age (mine is 4.5 weeks), and she maybe hits the 8 minute mark. We are block feeding right now, and are having several other issues (gas, GERD, having to use nipple shields for flat nipples, overactive letdown, and some latching issues......geez it sounds so much worse when you write it all out...), but she does the same exact thing. 5-8 minutes on a side, and seems content for the 2 hours, sometimes 2.5 sometimes 1.5, but usually 2 hours.

So if anyone else has anything to say.....

:

I originally was quite worried that she wasn't getting hindmilk too, hence the block feeding, but her poo's are yellowy and bountiful, and so are her voids. Babies that aren't getting hindmilk tend to be gassy and hungry a lot. On another thread about this, one Mom likened it to your baby eating salad all day. It would give you a gassy stomach that would empty really fast. So yeah! Any other thoughts on this would be great for me too!

 

[kezoo]

Me, me! My second baby was a 5-minute eater, which was a shock after my first, a 45 minute eater!! I was also worried about her not getting any hindmilk, although I did not have an overactive let-down or oversupply. She seemed to know what she was doing, because she went from 7lbs12 at birth, to 7lbs14 at day 5, to 10lbs at 1 month! I also asked about it at LLL, and everyone seemed to concur that it was just the way she eats. Oh, I also had an LC check out her latch (she has a very small mouth) before we left the hospital, and the LC said her latch was fine, but that she had a VERY strong suck! So she obviously was just a very efficient eater.

 

[SabbathD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksl1026 but that she had a VERY strong suck! So she obviously was just a very efficient eater.

ditto with my kiddo....he he he that rhymed!!

 

[The4OfUs]

OK, so with gaining weight well, satiety for hours, voiding well and the right color poop

, and other developmental stuff happening, I'm just gonna believe she's getting hindmilk in her brief nursing periods because she's a super sucker and not worry too much.

I do think I'll try block nursing for a little while to see if maybe that helps with the occasional sputtering, clicking, and gas.

Thanks for the advice, and the 'show of hands' of others who have fast nursers early on!!

 

[The4OfUs]

Hi - remember me? I really do feel like such a newbie, even though this is my second babe and second time aroudn nursing - she's just so different from DS and I want to be sure I'm not setting myself up for an unwanted early wean...

So there is clearly no foremilk/hindmilk issue, as DD is 14+ pounds at 2 months (from 7 pounds 8 ounces at birth), has many saturated wet diapers during the day and still has the "right" color poop. Is smiley, alert when awake (though the girl does like her sleep, that's for sure)...I know, I should stop complaining, and I do sort of feel guilty even posting this question as I know so many mamas do not have easy BF relationships.

My question now is that she's sleeping a 7-8-hour block at night, and if it were up to her she'd go 4 hours during the day between feedings sometimes(though does nurse 2-3 times between 7-9 PM alone to tank up before that 7-8-hour night sleep), ....so that's only, like, 6 "real" nursings a day - she does drain both breasts well now at each feeding, and still does it very quickly...but 6 times a day isn't enough, right? I can't force her to nurse if she really doesn't want to though, I've tried - it just turns into a wrestling match and we both get really aggravated and she ends up hysterical.

I mean, she's clearly thriving, so do I seriously just need to chill and allow my 2-month-old to set the pace, even if that pace is wildly different from most of the mamas here at MDC who have babes much older than her who nurse 12+ times a day? I guess I should mention that DS, at around 6 months, was nursing about 5 times a day and also thriving (and would refuse if I tried to "force" him), so maybe it's just the way my boobs and my kids work? Maybe I'm just not used ot the idea of not being perpetually attached at the boob with an infant, as DS did like to nurse every 2-3 hours around the clock for the first 6 months or so.

Really, if I need to just chill, someone please say it. I feel like I'm going a little nutty here. I do have a keen ability to get obsessed over things, so I might just need a few people here to tell me to trust her and just keep an eye on her output and development and stop watching the clock - I just don't want it to turn into her going 6 hours during the day between feedings, and having a "don't offer" type weaning before she's even a year old - I REALLY don't want that.

So - ideas? Suggestions? Information?

Thanks much, as always!!

 

[quirkylayne]

.

 

[wendy1221]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The4OfUs Really, if I need to just chill, someone please say it. I feel like I'm going a little nutty here. I do have a keen ability to get obsessed over things, so I might just need a few people here to tell me to trust her and just keep an eye on her output and development and stop watching the clock - I just don't want it to turn into her going 6 hours during the day between feedings, and having a "don't offer" type weaning before she's even a year old - I REALLY don't want that. So - ideas? Suggestions? Information? Thanks much, as always!!

Chill.

But don't expect it to last!!! Sounds exactly like my ds2! He was EXACTLY the same! Nursed for only a few minutes at a time, slept 8 hours at night by 3 mos, only nursed every 3-4 hours then as well... And he was a SUPER CHUNK! 22lbs by 5 mos!

ANd then the teeth started coming in... Bye bye sleeping baby! Hello cranky all night nurser! So, enjoy it while it lasts and don't be surprised if your babe starts nursing a lot at night again! Good news is that ds was back to sleeping through the night by about 20mos old.

Bad news was that AF started visiting me again at 6 mos, just in time for the teeth! ANd I got pg w/ ds3 WAY before we were ready (I'm tandem nursing my 2nd and 3rd ds's. They are 6 days shy of exactly 2 years apart. Baby's first birthday is next month. *sniff* My big boy will be 3!)

In contrast, ds1 and ds3 are/were a lot alike. Where ds2 has always been very laid back, (he'd actually cry to be put down sometimes!) ds1 and 3 have always been super clingy, super high needs, nurse constantly babies. I had ds1 in his OTSBH constantly when he was a baby, and now w/ ds3, he practically lives in his mei tai on my back (wow, what an improvement over that OTSBH!) ds1 and 3 both had a lot of allergies (ds1 outgrew all of them, ds3 is outgrowing some already, really hope he takes after his big bro!) Just all in all fussy babies who nursed constantly before they started solids, and after starting solids went down to "only" every 1-2 hours during the day. 2-3 at night. Yes, my 11 month old nurses every 2 hours at night. Sometimes he gives me a 4 hour stretch. But b/c my ds2 was so different, I have the confidence to know it's not anything *I* am doing wrong, it's just personality and my oldest and youngest babies just needed to nurse more, for whatever reason.

 

[Wolfcat]

I read somewhere (no I don't remember where) that foremilk was the stuff the breast stored up - an instant gratification for baby when s/he starts to nurse. The hindmilk is the stuff that the boob makes during the nursing session. So, I figured that what comes out immediately when I pump is foremilk, then there's a pause in "letdown", then it starts up again with hindmilk.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

 

[The4OfUs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendy1221 Chill. <snip> ANd then the teeth started coming in... Bye bye sleeping baby! Hello cranky all night nurser! So, enjoy it while it lasts and don't be surprised if your babe starts nursing a lot at night again! Good news is that ds was back to sleeping through the night by about 20mos old. Bad news was that AF started visiting me again at 6 mos, just in time for the teeth!

Thanks, I needed that.

You know, I had 2 or so months of bliss where DS slept 6 hours after being a 2-3 hour round the clock nurser; then he started teething too and it all went down the crapper and he was back awake all the time again...so I'm totally prepared for this to not last; I think my main concern was if it was "OK" for her to do this for as long as she wants, so long as she seems healthy, you know? I don't want to sabotage anything in the future by going too long in between feedings now since she's so efficient this early on already. I'm totally OK with her pattern changing whenever it needs to. I'll just bask in the glory of longer repites for me, and a solid chunk of sleep at night, and enjoy it while it lasts, and make sure she's on track for diapers, weight, and development.

Thanks a million! I had a couple other responses that eased my mind on my mamas' DDC chat thread in addition to the ones here, so I'm feeling much better now. She fell asleep at 8:30pm after bein glatched on pretty much constantly since 6:30, so we'll see how long she goes tonight until she wakes up. DH is hanging out with her in bed right now.

 

[BundleFishMama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfcat I read somewhere (no I don't remember where) that foremilk was the stuff the breast stored up - an instant gratification for baby when s/he starts to nurse. The hindmilk is the stuff that the boob makes during the nursing session. So, I figured that what comes out immediately when I pump is foremilk, then there's a pause in "letdown", then it starts up again with hindmilk. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Sarah, see my post here:
Foremilk and Hindmilk
for a little more info about that question. HTH!

 

[CalebsMama05]

ds#1 was EXACTLY that way! he did self wean (with help

at 4mos to formula.

ds#2 eats quick too...and he's also chunky.

foremilk is watery/low cal and hindmilk is rich and high cal. thats why with a formilk/hindmilk imbalance the baby will eat a LOT and be overweight b/cuz they aren't getting enough hindmilk so they feel hungry all the time and all that *low cal* foremilk adds up.

also on the poo...its not the COLOR that matters (ds#2 has had consistently green poo) its the consistency. regular bf'ed poop is seedy. with a f/h imbalance it would be foamy.