normal nursing patterns?

welshgirl · April 2011

I have no recollection of what is normal. I think, before M started getting so many colds, that she was doing some 30-40min feeds, every 2-4 hours, and a few cluster feeds a day (constant nursing for 1-2 hours - not including bedsharing for a significant part of the ngiht, but not feeding constantly).

Now, on the other side of the illnesses (hopefully!), she can go a while between feeds, but eats a lot during her sleep (we've been encouraged to bedshare as much as possible), and I cannot for the life of me get her to eat more than 5-10min at a time, usually about 5min. She will normally eat 510 min every hour or so, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less.

A typical day would be her snacking all night in bed (a few nibbles every 30-60min), then cluster feeding in bed between 4-7am. She won't want a 'feed' straight away, and will more or less snack until nap time, which will either be in the stroller (if we're going out), in the bjorn or on me (BFing) if we're not, and then snack the day away until dinner, when DH tries the bottle, she gets upset (but I pump) nad then after bath when she has a bit more of a feed (20min?) and comfort nurses to sleep (an hour or so).

As we're having trouble with her gaining weight, I'm so obsessed with her nursing patterns. I'm aware this ins't great, but can't for the life of me get her to have longer feeds. She's pulling off happy, switching breasts makes little difference...Is anyone else's LO feeding like this at the mo?

jillybean800 · April 2011

I admittedly have not been nursing for about three weeks now (besides the right before bed feeding) BUT if you are really curious as to how much she is getting on those short feeds, perhaps you can invest in a baby scale? I got one for a very reasonable 65 dollars on amazon, then used a coupon. You can weigh LO right before, then right after a feeding. You can even compare long feedings to short ones and see how it's working. As a caveat, this could make you slightly obsessive BUT you kind of are already, because of the weight issue KWIM?

FWIW, my baby started to do 10 minute feeds when he was one month old, and I think he just got much better and more efficient at sucking. If she is pulling off happy, maybe this is what's happening? The scale would answer that question.

chipperchicken · April 2011

Elsa has been doing something similar...she used to nurse each side for 15 minutes, sometimes a bit more, for a total of 30-40 minutes at every feed. For about a week, she's been nursing about 10 minutes on each side. My pedi said that at this age they are more aware of what's going on around them, and they get distracted easily, so you have to really encourage them to keep eating. However, she also said that they get much more efficient at getting milk out, so they may not take as long to feed. She told me that if Elsa seems content and satisfied after each feeding, dont worry about the length of time at the breast. I hope that helps!

welshgirl · April 2011

Thanks girls!

I may try to weigh her before and after a feed at the doc's office to see.

curlydoglover · April 2011

There's a couple things going on at this stage that might explain what's happening.

1) They become more efficient at getting milk out of the boob. B used to nurse anywhere from 15-20 minute a side. Now he only nurses about 10 minutes per side.

2) Their social awareness is off the charts. Some days I can't even talk while feeding B. Otherwise he pops off the boob and grins, looks around, etc. The only way I can combat this when he's really distracted is to nurse him in his room with the door shut. That eliminates a number of distractions.

B is not a snacker unless he's going thru a growth spurt or a major development change. When he does get into snacking mode, I worry he's not getting enough hind milk, so I'm constantly shoving the boob back in his face when he pops off.

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