Newborn wants to nurse ALL the time

[Anonymous]

My 1-week old DD wants to nurse all the time. She eats maybe 15-20 minutes, falls asleep and then wants to nurse again in 30-45 minutes. This goes on throughout the day. Maybe once a day and twice a night she sleeps a longer strech, 2-3 hours. Is this normal? Or could it be a sign that she is not getting enough milk from me? My milk came in on day 3.

[Anonymous]

Totally normal. As long as your baby has sufficient diaper output (wet and BM) and is gaining weight, you should be producing enough milk. Newborns want and need to nurse. Sometimes it's for comfort too. I felt like I was constantly nursing DS when he was a newborn and at times felt like a human pacifier for weeks.

[Anonymous]

This is pretty typical--there were days when I felt like all we did was nurse (and it was). She is "setting your supply" now and it should level off soon...although their little marble sized stomachs mean she'll be doing more frequent feedings for awhile.

Enjoy the bonding and use your Lansinoh!

[Anonymous]

Welcome to motherhood. It's exhausting as hell.

[Anonymous]

Totally normal. First of all their stomachs are really tiny, so they can't hold much. Second, not every time they nurse are they actually getting a ton of milk (your supply, plus they control their sucking). they are so little and its also a comfort. its hard to tell which is happening until they get older though.

[Anonymous]

Mine was the same way! I thought I was going to lose my mind (and my nipples), but then it definitely died down by about 3 weeks. They're not very efficient eaters in the beginning Your baby is learning how to eat just as much as you're learning how to nurse. Give her a chance to figure it out. By four weeks we were into a good routine and life was much easier. Hang in there and don't give up - it gets better.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely normal! But I really wish someone had told me. I kept assuming she'd had enough after I nursed for 2hrs. Then we realized the reason she was crying every evening--she was really hungry--poor girl! She would fall asleep intermittently as she nursed. Just be sure you have a good chair. My DD slowed down by 3-4 wks, but I was still nursing for 4-6hrs a day for another month or so.

[Anonymous]

It should start to change around week 3, although its still pretty frequent until maybe 6-8 weeks, when you can go maybe 3 hours between feedingsm they get more efficientm you produce more milk, etc. . It also depends on the size/weight of your baby. I had a big boy and he needed a lot of calories from the start. On the other hand his stomach capacity grew pretty fast, so by 6 weeks we had gone from 12 f eedings a day to about 7/8.
hang in there--I really didn't do anything but nurse, eat, drink water and nap the first 3 weeks . I was lucky in that DH took 3 weeks off, so he could take care of the rest of life.

[Anonymous]

My DD was the same way. I think it was a combination of her small size (5 1/2 pounds) and her not wanting a pacifier. She would nurse for 20 minutes per side every 1-2 hours so I really was nursing her ALL the freaking time. When she was fussy, the only thing that comforted her was by boob in her mouth. There wasn't a single pacifier she would take and I knew she wasn't hungry b/c she would accept a bottle if she actually wanted food. Anyway, I just nursed on demand around the clock (no small feat with a 2 year-old to chase) and accepted that my baby like to nurse. She eventually grew out of it once she gained a decent amount of weight. Like some PP said, as long as she is having nice wet diapers and is pooping, she is getting enough to eat. If you are really worried, you can do a pre and post nurse weight to check her intake.

[Anonymous]

If you're not already doing so, it might help your sanity and physical comfort to switch up nursing positions for some variety.

I also had both the "Brest Friend" (I hate how they spell that!) and the Bobby nursing pillows. The "Brest Friend" is great because you can move around and fidget a little more without disturbing the baby since it is strapped to you. But using every time you feel like a buckled in piece of furniture!

I never tried the Moby wrap, but you might like trying feeding with a wrap or carrier for a change too and so that when you're ready to get out of the house you're comfortable feeding your frequent eater on the go!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah, totally normal, and nobody tells you. "ever 2-3 hours" my left foot! DS nursed for an hour on, then 20 minutes off, then back on, almost around the clock. it's very, very hard; harder still if you are not prepared for it. I made it harder on myself by telling myself I had to be staring into his eyes for all of this time, when really he was sleep nursing half the time. When they're very little, you can watch teevee, read, or if you can master feeding in a sling (I never could until DS got head control) move around while they're nursing. I think babies need to be close and cuddled, but you don't necessarily have to interact 24/7 early on while they're nursing. If you try to, it may drive you crazy. Of course, sometimes you'll still want to just cuddle, stare at that baby, and zone out, but it's okay to watch some teevee and do other things while nursing.

Sorry it's hard right now. People say it will pass (and it does) but I remember clearly how freaking hard it was back then. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I remember those days. I was pretty surprised becaues NO ONE prepares you for the non-stop nursing. People told me that in the beginning it *felt* like that's all you did. But it pretty much WAS all I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember those days. I was pretty surprised because NO ONE prepares you for the non-stop nursing. People told me that in the beginning it *felt* like that's all you did. But it pretty much WAS all I did.

Yeah, me too! It was a REAL (bad) surprise. It almost made me stop breastfeeding altogether. And because I thought it was all because I had done breast reduction and was not producing enough milk, I went down the supplementation road as for the pediatrician orders and now I am STUCK with it. The lactation consultant at the breastfeeding center was not helpful at all regarding this issue. She should have told me that even when you don't have a breast reduction, cluster feeding in the first month is the norm - and she should also have suggested I used a SNS while supplementing to still get my breast stimulation from all the sucking and increasing my milk supply.

The only thing I was told to do was to freaking pump after every feeding - but if baby is on the breast all the time, WHEN was I supposed to pump exactly?

Anyhow OP, hang in there And if you need to supplement, do so using a SNS - it is harder than using a bottle or BF itself (so you won't get "used" to the commodity of a bottle in those early days when you are so tired all the time AND it stimulates your breasts, what is important for establishing milk supply).

[Anonymous]

I'm 9 months pregnant and haven't breastfed yet (obviously) but aren't you supposed to try to put your newborn on a schedule and not let them nurse on demand? My DH is a pediatrician and says that you shouldn't just let them "graze" whenever they want, but put them on a feeding schedule. I know nothing about this sort of thing so I just assumed he was right. My sister had a baby a month ago (5 lb 5 oz) and the baby wanted to feed constantly in the first few weeks, but my sister (who is very regimented) put the baby on an every 2-3 hr schedule even though the baby wanted to feed every hour (or even less). I was appalled when I heard that she wasn't feeding her baby on demand and asked DH, and he said she was absolutely doing the right thing. Does anyone here have opinions about this??

[Anonymous]

Totally normal. If you think of your job as nursing and sleeping, it will be easier for you. Seriously.