7 month old feeding for over an hour at a time! Help please!

[madam1mim]

Currently feeding my 7 month old daughter and finding things so hard to get done because she feeds for over an hour at a time! Has anyone got any idea how long is normal for a baby to be nursing per session? Any help much appreciated as I don't feel like I'll ever get to leave the house at this rate!

[nethunsreject]

COuld you get to a support group and get her latch checked?

Is it new? COuld she be teething and needing the comfort? Or going through a growth spurt?

[madam1mim]

Thanks for the speedy reply!
I saw a breastfeeding counsellor not long ago and we looked at positioning as I was getting milk blisters etc. She IS teething though so could be that. She has always fed for a long time, usually she falls asleep by the end. I've not really thought about it until recently as now I'm getting frustrated with not being able to get out and about.

[sc2987]

Mine (7.5 months) does this and always has. Get an Ergo and feed her while you're out.

[nethunsreject]

Sorry - I posted and had to go!

Might be worth getting someone to have a look again - there are almost always even more efficient ways to feed. Agree wrt sling. Once you get the hang of it, they are great!

Are you happy feeding out and about? SOmeone told me on here that I should try in front of a mirror and I did and was amazed that you could see NOTHING at all when ds was on. And I must say that I have never had any comments at all from anyone. And I've fed everywhere now

[TadlowDogIncident]

Mine did this - I kept waiting for the moment when he would miraculously get more efficient at feeding and be done in ten minutes, and it just never came. Used to drive me crackers: our record was an hour and a half. I don't think there was anything wrong with him, he just liked to take his time about feeding. Basically he used to combine it with napping (he was a bad napper otherwise), and rouse himself every few minutes for a few more slurps of milk.

If I really needed to be somewhere without DS, I made sure I started a feed at least three quarters of an hour before I needed to be getting ready to go, and if he hadn't finished by then I just unlatched him and handed him to DH. He didn't usually even protest.

[madam1mim]

Sorry I;ve taken so long to reply! TadlwDogIncident - this sounds exactly my little girl! She hardly ever naps, I sometimes can get her to have one once a day but thats when I've fed her into a stupor! I guess it is something I'm going to have to put up with and work around...I can't keep being late and cancelling things!
nethunsreject - thanks for replying, I'll look into the latch issue again as we can probably still bit a bit lazy in this area. I've just got over mastitis probaby due to this so don't want to go through that again! As for feeding out, I don't mind at all, I'll feed her anywhere. It's just the problem of getting out in the first place because she's taking so long to feed at home!

[stegasaurus]

This sounds like DD who will be 6m on Sunday. I have always been told her latch is good, but she has always fed for ages, usually a hour then I stop her and she doesn't tend to complain. It is very frustrating at the breastfeeding group when the group leader tells newer mums that soon their babies will be taking a feed in 10mins. I am resigned to the fact that DD will probably never do that, but it is a good thing that she is my first baby as I surely wouldn't be able to sit for a hour every couple of hours for 6 months if I also had an older child to entertain. Good to hear it is not just me.