How long does your LO nurse for?

LouRN09

So my milk finally came in yesterday....whoo hoo! With DS1, I remember that he would seriously nurse for 45 minutes or so. However, it seems with DS2 he can be done and start to comfort suck in 10-15 minutes. I know a part of it is  him falling asleep at the breast, so I do all I can to keep him awake. It is hard to tell if my boobs are emptied all the way when he is done since the milk is newly in and I seem to be always full. Hope that makes sense? And do you nurse from both sides with every feeding?

anonsouthernbell

I had the same experience w my kids too.  DD is just a more efficient nurser than ds was at her age.  I have oversupply so we only nurse from one side.  I was always taught that you should offer the other side, but no biggie if they don't take it.

ibekatieg

Around the 5-6 day mark for DS2 I found the same thing - nursed for 10 min then fell asleep, seemingly satisfied.  I recommend that you try to nurse from both sides and keep baby awake as best as possible until baby is 3-4 weeks and a more proficient nurser.  I did not and I had a case of mastitis.  Then, after his 2 week growth spurt, I found that he wanted to continue to nurse every 1-1.5 hours since he was only eating 10 min during each session and it wasn't enough.  It made for a very long week until I started to force both sides during each feeding.  GL.

Stephorse

My LO feeds for at least 15-20 mins on each side. There have been a few times that he has fed for about an hour in total which the doctor said is not good as he is probably then just comforting himself at that point and to take him off. It's usually rare for that to happen though. I usually do both sides each feeding and sometimes I need to do one side again because he did not latch properly on that side or wasn't there long enough to feel full. I hope this helps.

nataliekristin

10-30 mins on each boob & 50% of the time nurses both boobs.