Baby eats then is hungry 15 minutes later

Re: Baby eats then is hungry 15 minutes later

• midge519 member

  November 2015

  Try waking her and offering the other breast or when she's starting to fall asleep massage your breast. It'll help push some into her mouth and she'll drink more. It could just be cluster feeding. My son has been nursing just about every hour for days now so I understand the frustration

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• clairesmommabear member

  November 2015

  It does sound like cluster feeding. DS has been doing that for the past four nights - the entire night. It's brutal. My heart goes out to you, just remember it will get better as they get older.

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• cbolton19 member

  November 2015

  My daughter does the same thing. The other morning I could not wake her up to feed her. We did everything we could to get her to wake up. When she finally did, she was starving. She falls asleep while nursing often too. I just feed her when she's hungry. It's a pain. Hopefully it will end soon! I'd like to go places with her!

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• Bingj member

  November 2015

  You can tickle her feet, undress her, use a wet wipe to wipe her face gently. Try changing her diaper before switching to the other breast.

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• carmv01 member

  November 2015

  Yup, my son has been cluster feeding as well the past few days. During the afternoons he'll want to eat every hour or less. He also falls asleep at the breast so I'll usually change his diaper after the first breast to wake him up. He'll typically be cranky and wailing while being changed and then is quickly soothed when I offer the 2nd breast.

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• koriemo member

  November 2015

  3 week olds tend to go through a growth spurt. She's also probably eating more. Your milk supply takes about 24 hours to adjust to higher demand, so she just might be needing a little bit more right now.

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• Carrmenn member

  November 2015

  Going through the same thing . He'll eat for 30+ minutes, burp, poop, fall asleep for like 15 and then wake up hungry looking for boob

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• brynagc member

  November 2015

  After she falls asleep you could try changing her diaper to wake her back up. Also, my pediatrician suggested wetting a washcloth and wiping the baby's forehead with it to wake them. 

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• mandala1107 member

  November 2015

  The LC in the hospital recommended a baby wipe to the face when he fell asleep. It works because I don't warm it up in my hand at all and the chilly wipe irritates him just enough to wake him. Normally I can just wipe it along his hairline and it does the trick. Is she perhaps looking to comfort suck vs actually eat? Perhaps see if you can distinguish that and if you choose, maybe have something for her like a pacifier or try your finger to see if she's just looking for comfort. My LO takes a binky just long enough to calm himself then he spits it out and falls asleep. Growth spurt is also possible. My son nurses tons in the evening to gear up for nighttime and sleeps for slightly longer stretches. If none of those or the other suggestions presented by other posters work, you may want to seek out the help of a trained LC. There are other things that could be going on such as low milk transference, lip or tongue tie, weak suck, etc. I wouldn't jump to any of those issues until you've exhausted the easy fixes. See and IBCLC earlier rather than later if your BF struggles don't get better.

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