Is baby drinking too much breast milk during the night?

[Cuteasabird]

hi all

my dd is 10 weeks old and has never been a great sleeper. at night i feed her to sleep lying down and we co-sleep. most of the time she will unlatch and fall asleep only to wake up and root for the breast. i have tried to settle her by shushing and patting but 9 times out of 10 she will only settle if i latch her back on. when she is latched on she is not actively sucking but will do really fluttery suckles. every now and then her suckling triggers a let down reflex and she ends up swallowing the milk. there have been nights where she has stayed latched on for the whole night so it seems like she is drinking alot of milk even though she's not actively feeding. will she gain too much weight from doing this? her birth weight was 7lbs 8oz. at her six week check up she was 8lbs 11oz and is between the 9th and 25th centile.

[pookamoo]

Hi OP

Sounds completely normal to me.

It is not possible to over-breastfeed a baby. She will settle in the end.

[Cuteasabird]

thank you for the reassurance :)

[PenguinPoser]

She won't take too much. It sounds normal. Difficult but normal.

[Iggi999]

I wouldn't bother with the shush pat stuff with a ten week old. Sounds like you are both doing great - if you do just feed her, will that give you a better nights sleep or a worse one?

[Cuteasabird]

admittedly i do sleep better by just feeding her as i just latch her on then go back to sleep. was just worried that in doing so i was making her put on too much weight!

[ThirtyNineWeeks]

Hi, OP, mind if I watch with interest?

I'm so over this breastfeeding malarkey and I'm only 2 wks in. I've resorted to a bottle of formula when I'm desperate for me and baby to sleep (that gives us four hours). Why don't they sleep like that from breast milk!

[Cuteasabird]

hang in there ThirtyNineWeeks!

[happytocomply]

Great that you have mastered feeding lying down. It took me months but it's so much easier and really made a difference to the amount of sleep we both got. Like others have said, it's impossible to over feed a breastfed baby. Id keep offering a breastfeed whenever she wakes, it sounds like the way to give you both the most sleep.

[pookamoo]

Thirtynineweeks that sounds tough, too.

At 2 weeks though, she is working so hard to get your milk supply up, which is why she is wakeful and feeding so often. Again it's hard, but totally normal, and doesn't last forever.

The reason some babies sleep for longer on formula is it takes longer and is more difficult to digest, while breastmilk is very efficiently digested as it's made just for them and their needs.

The one thing I would say is that at 2 weeks old, the OP is right when she says "Hang in there". Each bottle you give the baby stops the signals to your body to make milk, so it will be harder for you the next day, as she will be working extra hard to make your body up your supply to compensate for the bottle she had. She is still establishing your milk supply at this stage, and although it is hard, it does pass.

How do you feel about the bottle of formula?