Baby at boob forever

justinsbabymama

Hello moms! I'm from the Nov 13 board. I didn't do much posting, just an occasional question here & there.
My baby girl will be 7 weeks in a couple of days. My question is how long does a typical 7 wk old breast feed? She will sometimes eat for almost 2 hours, that's from both sides. I honestly can't tell if she is actually getting milk or comfort sucking. All I know is she is continuously sucking like she is getting milk. Also I use a nipple shield and have not been able to wean her from it yet. She was 3 weeks early that is why the LC gave me one. TIA for any helpful responses!!

benmichele

The 6wk growth spurt was the worst for us, nursing constantly it seemed from 6 to 7 weeks. I bet you're almost through it, hang in there. I would look into weaning from the nipple shield though, might be why she's working so hard to boost your supply. I don't have experience, but my friend's LC had her stop cold turkey. Wish I knew some pointers.

taraleanne

She's probably comfort sucking and like PP said, boosting your supply for the growth spurt! This shouldn't last too long... but 2 hours I think is quite long and I wouldn't expect it to be like that for the long term. 

ncbelle

It's not out of the range of normal but I'd be willing to bet the nipple shield is part of the problem - I would try to wean off of it as it makes for less efficient milk transfer - which can cause supply issues.

this decaf life

DD ate constantly for the first few months. I don't think we had a nursing session that lasted less than 45 minutes until she was about 4 months old. If you can, and don't really have anywhere to be just let her do her thing, especially if you have longterm goals to BF.

taraleanne

To add: I think we were usually 45-1hour in the beginning, then it went down to 30minutes or so. I loved those 30 minutes of quiet time for both of us  Snuggles after. Then it was like one day like a light switch he got so efficient they only last 10-15 minutes now!   I think that was sometime between 4-5 months old. 

kkmlafferty

We used a nipple shield for the first 3 months and I wish I worked harder on weaning from it earlier. My LO was having a hard time transferring milk with it. She would be at the breast almost constantly and I was just thinking it was normal newborn behavior until she kept dropping in percentiles. I went to a local support group and the LC helped me to latch her without the shield and within 2 days I had her off of it completely then I had supply issues due to her poor transfer with the shield. Now we are over 5 months and EBF and her feedings are about 20 minutes, longer if she is comfort nursing which I let her do to keep up supply. Good luck.

justinsbabymama

Thanks everyone! I plan on seeing a LC next week so we can work on getting her off the shield. I pray that helps with feedings!

onenewmama

My LO had latch issues too and a nipple shield is the only way we were able to nurse at all for the past 3 weeks. He would nurse for an hour or so and still be hungry about an hour later. When the LC first had me use it, she told me to pump after each feeding to build supply. After I left the hospital, she told me to wean him off and to reduce and then stop pumping since I had started to get an oversupply. I wasn't able to get him off the shield (he just gets frustrated and gets no milk without it) but I cut pumping to 2x/day to deal with the oversupply. Unfortunately, at the two-week weight check, LO had not gained any weight and was still below birth weight, so I have started having to pump again. Cutting back the pumping hurt my supply, though, so I am now trying to catch back up with LO's needs. So, my advice is to pump regularly if you think there may be milk transfer issues with your shield. If you get to the point your LO isn't gaining weight and you have to supplement or EP, it's not fun trying to re-establish a good supply!