Hour long feeding sessions

Mailmans Baby Momma · February 2014

For the past two weeks my LO has been taking up to an hour to breastfeed each time. At first I attributed it to a growth spurt, and then I thought it might be supply issues, but that's not it either. I called my LC and she says some babies just take that long to eat (gee thanks).

After researching Dr. Google I *think* he might have a lip tie. I'm calling my pedi Monday when they open, but thought I'd check here to see if anyone has any experience with this.

Or, do you have any other ideas that can explain why he eats for soooo long? He's 13 weeks today.

XP to my BMB as well.

BootsOrHearts · February 2014

Are you sure he's actually eating the whole time and not just comfort nursing?

Mailmans Baby Momma · February 2014

Only a little bit of it is comfort nursing. I don't let down for a second time until around the 20 minute mark on each side.

KK0916 · February 2014

Sorry to tell you this, but this is exactly why I EP. My daughter sucks for over 45 minutes without stopping and 30 minutes later is crying due to hunger. I started EPing and I love it. I pump for 12 minutes every 3 hours and im done. Good luck though!

imrachellea · February 2014

My LO started at 1.5-2 hours sometime to nurse in the beginning. We had it down to 45-60 mins. But she not only ate forever, she started with hunger cues again (and still does) 1.5 hours or less after last feeding started. She was diagnosed with a tongue tie, that was clipped last Tuesday. The past couple weeks I can get her done in 30-45 minutes, but it's a workout as she is VERY lazy at the boob. We are less than a week out from her tongue tie correction, but she still takes 30-45 minutes to eat, every 1.5-maybe 2 hours. I'm having a beast of a time finding a local IBCLC that if can actually get in touch with. I have a follow-up with the ENT who did her tongue tie correction next week. Unfortunately I can't EP as PP mentioned because I can't pump as much as she needs as often as she needs it. But the tongue tie was definitely affecting nursing so get it checked out if you can.

eggmankate · February 2014

My daughter is a long nurser, too. I didn't know how much of it would improve as she gets older (she's almost 11 weeks now). I told the Lactation Consultant about it because it's just a drag to have to feed so often and have it be such long sessions. She noticed that DD is causing a crease in my nipple on my left side thus indicating she's not nursing as efficiently as she can on that side. She suggested Craniosacral Therapy. A therapist comes to our house and makes adjustments to areas that are related to the spine such as the jaw, spine, hips, palatte, etc. I can't explain it very well because I honestly don't understand it all. The biggest thing the therapist noticed is that when she puts a finger into my DD's mouth that DD sucks on it up and down as opposed to front to back (the way the tongue "should" breastfeed) so we're working on that. I've noticed that we've been able to cut her nursing time down by about 4-5 minutes. Not sure if that's the therapy or just her getting older. LC also told me that while nursing I should massage and push the milk down to the nipple which will help her drink quicker--I think that is working, too.

Mailmans Baby Momma · February 2014

Thanks for your feedback ladies. We've actually been nursing less than an hour today, and when we did a bottle last night he took 5 oz...so we are thinking he's just transitioning his feeding schedule. I may just wait until his next checkup and ask the pedi then.