gahhhhh

=Lee=B

Is there a 10month growth spurt?

My little one is just getting over a brutal cold, she barely ate/nursed for 2 days.  It was rough...but now she is nursing NON-STOP.  I assume it's just to make up for the 2 days of not eating much.  But wanted to check if there is a growth spurt as well.  She is also teething...she popped her first top tooth in the middle of the cold and has 2 more about to cut.  The poor kid is just having a hell of a week.

Anyways, I am going bonkers...didn't sleep for days due to her cold.  Now she is up feeding every 45min.  I don't mind feeding on demand, always have, but she is a fierce eater and my milk has always been fast (8-10min feeds in first few months, then 4-6min feeds, now down to 3min) with an instant let down.  BUT, at the frequency she is trying to nurse the milk has slowed and she actually has to suck for a whole 15sec before the milk will come...but she just screams, and wails, and attacks my boob because it isn't instant...it drags the process along as she won't suck more than twice before unlatching to complain to relatch to suck twice, to unlatch to complain...  Seriously going bonkers. 

I haven't slept more than 45min in a row in a week, most nights I've been up every 15-20min due to her coughing, moaning, groaning, crying etc.  Howw much longer?  This is worse than the newborn stage!

 

jesuisfatiguee

Aww, it is so hard parenting a nursing baby with a bad cold! And she's teething, which is a double-whammy. You get all my sympathy for that. That's rough.

I don't know about a growth spurt at this age, but it makes perfect sense she would be nursing non-stop after going a couple days without eating much. DS eats less when he has a cold (daycare baby, so he gets them frequently), I assume because he can't breathe and nurse at the same time, and he always nurses extra the following days, as well as throughout the night. We bedshare, so I just let him stay latched on pretty much all night. I'd get 0 sleep otherwise.

For the letdown issue, maybe try stimulating the opposite nipple while she nurses to trigger a letdown faster. 

Hang in there, mama! She won't be sick/teething and waking up constantly forever!