Baby won’t nurse for long but will take bottle

[Anonymous]

DS is three weeks old. His latch seems fine and I do hear some gulps while he’s nursing, but it only lasts for about 5-10 minutes and he’s drowsing off to sleep. I’ll let him sleep, but then he’s up in about 10-15 minutes wanting to eat again. Meanwhile, if I give a bottle of expressed milk, he’ll drink 2-3 oz and sleep well. This isn’t my first child, but first time breastfeeding. Is this normal? Does nursing just make babies sleepy? Anything I can do to get him to nurse longer or is this just cluster feeding? TIA!

[Anonymous]

Try keeping him awake while he's nursing to make sure he's taking a full feed. Tug (lightly) on his ears, tickle his feet, pause to burp him. It's tough to keep them awake when they're really young, but they'll eventually get more efficient at nursing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try keeping him awake while he's nursing to make sure he's taking a full feed. Tug (lightly) on his ears, tickle his feet, pause to burp him. It's tough to keep them awake when they're really young, but they'll eventually get more efficient at nursing.

+1. Undress him and change his diaper. Bottles are easier for them and always will be. So if you want to keep breastfeeding at the breast, give a bottle only as a last resort.

[Anonymous]

+1 to keeping him awake at this age - I think for at least 20 mins? Or maybe keep track of the time and feed him when he's more awake and not when he's really sleepy?

Also, maybe look into paced bottle feeding. You might have a slow flow and he prefers the fast flow of the bottle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is three weeks old. His latch seems fine and I do hear some gulps while he’s nursing, but it only lasts for about 5-10 minutes and he’s drowsing off to sleep. I’ll let him sleep, but then he’s up in about 10-15 minutes wanting to eat again. Meanwhile, if I give a bottle of expressed milk, he’ll drink 2-3 oz and sleep well. This isn’t my first child, but first time breastfeeding. Is this normal? Does nursing just make babies sleepy? Anything I can do to get him to nurse longer or is this just cluster feeding? TIA!

Common sense says give him the bottle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is three weeks old. His latch seems fine and I do hear some gulps while he’s nursing, but it only lasts for about 5-10 minutes and he’s drowsing off to sleep. I’ll let him sleep, but then he’s up in about 10-15 minutes wanting to eat again. Meanwhile, if I give a bottle of expressed milk, he’ll drink 2-3 oz and sleep well. This isn’t my first child, but first time breastfeeding. Is this normal? Does nursing just make babies sleepy? Anything I can do to get him to nurse longer or is this just cluster feeding? TIA!

Common sense says give him the bottle.

Neither common nor sense, PP.