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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

6 week old feeding for hours

15 replies

SmilingandWaving · 15/02/2011 18:39

My 6 week old EBF DS feeds for 2hours every time he feeds, he'll go for an hour on one side then I'll burp him & he'll feed for another hour on the other. My health visitor & others keep telling me that he can only be feeding for 20 mins tops and anything longer than this is just for comfort and that I should stop him once he's finished eating.

Trouble is I can't actually tell whether he's eating or not, he seems to swallow so quietly. Also I thought that it was best to let him stop by himself at this stage as it helps to establish supply.

Should I be worrying about this or just leave him be if he's happy?

OP posts:
bobs · 15/02/2011 18:43

I had the same thing - esp at night when I seemed to be feeding permanently from 6-11pm - drove me potty. If I were to do do it again (which I'm not at 50 Grin I would stop as soon as I felt my baby had had enough. Also I don't think I was taking in enough fluids which proably didn't help

MummyBerryJuice · 15/02/2011 19:03

Is this a new/recent development? It could be a growth spurt and he is building up your supply.

If not:

Does he have plenty if wet and dirty nappies? Is breastfeeding comfortable for you?

It is nonsense that a baby only needs to feed for 5/10/20/(insert arbitrary time here) but if he is feeding for an hour on both sides he may be falling asleep halfway through IYKWIM?

emsken · 15/02/2011 19:08

i had the same problem and was advised to feed for 30 mins - then stop and wait for 3 hours and then 30 mins again - she soon learnt to speed up - took about 1 day i think!!!

JiltedJohnsJulie · 15/02/2011 19:15

Agree with the others, are you hydrated? Are you happy with the amount of wet and dirty nappies? Is he bright and alert at times? Are you nipples ok? If yes to all of these I wouldn't worry.

What does he do if you try taking him off and winding him sooner?

Pidgywidge · 15/02/2011 21:43

We had the same problem and started to take dd off the breast after around 30 minutes. She was fine for around 10 minutes and would start to whinge a bit, when we gave her a dummy. This seemed to solve the self-soothing problem which my breasts were servicing!

japhrimel · 15/02/2011 21:48

Is weight gain ok and do they do plenty of wet and dirty nappies? My DD fed for hours early on when we had latch/positioning issues and problems with fatigue so she wasn't getting enough fattier milk. But she had weight loss issues.

pearlgirl · 15/02/2011 23:07

My baby fed like this when he was little - but the feeds were "bit of feed, bit of a doze, bit more milk, a bit more sleep"
Your baby is still little and it may well be that he becomes a more efficient feeder as he grows - with ds1 and ds4 they both started off like your baby and as they got older i realised that I was pinned to the sofa less and able to do stuff in between feeds

NonnoMum · 15/02/2011 23:11

MY DC3 was like this. I hated that the HV didn't believe he was feeding for 2 hours at a time (he was!). If you can bear it just sit down and feed... It won't last forever.

He is now my best feeder and sleeper of all my kids...

Original poster
SmilingandWaving · 16/02/2011 08:31

He's done it since he was born so i wasn't really worried until people started to comment. My mum keeps asking 'helpful' questions about whether I've got enough milk & if its enough for him as he 'doesn't seem to be filling up very quickly'. But he's gaining between 5 & 8oz a week & plenty of wet & dirty nappies so there doesn't seem to be any problem there.

I have tried taking him off sooner but he screams & when offered a dummy he just clamps his mouth shut. He doesn't feed to sleep though as he likes to be rocked & if i put him down when he's still a bit awake he'll settle himself so i'm not sure its a comfort thing. I think it might be that he falls asleep on & off while he's feeding so i do try to jiggle him a little every now & then but still doesn't seem to speed things up.

I think i'll just have to make the sofa my home for a while & see how things go. If he's still doing it in a few weeks i'll have to persever with taking him off after half an hour. He's still so little at the moment i'd rather just know that he's happy & dps old enough to get his own tea Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
SmilingandWaving · 16/02/2011 08:34

Thank you for all the replies by the way. I don't know what i'd do with out mumsnet, can understand why people switch to formula when they don't have anywhere to get good advice from.

OP posts:
RudeEnglishLady · 16/02/2011 09:01

Just to add, my DS fed for hours at this age. Just get some DVD box sets and drink gallons of water and eat plenty. I wasn't crazy about this stage at the time but got very misty eyed about it a couple of months ago when DS grew 2 teeth and began to experiment with biting!

organiccarrotcake · 16/02/2011 09:11

OP I've been watching this thread and just seen your last posts which are very reassuring. It's so hard when people undermine your confidence (totally unintentionally of course) but if the nappies and weight gain are fine, and you're not getting any nipple damage, all is fine.

Don't take him off early if you can help it especially if it makes him cry :(. Obviously you still need to DO stuff sometimes, so sometimes it's needed, but if you have the time to sit and feed, let it be as at this age he's still getting your milk supply up to the best it can be, which will help in the months to come, and also having a bit of a growth spurt.

I love this postcard from the Lactivist:

www.lactivist.co.uk/a-call-for-price-product-p-40.html

which has some of the most common unhelpful phrases on it! But the point is that they are common things people say which are just wrong.

You sound like it's all working perfectly now, but sadly most women of our mum's generation were never taught how this was supposed to work, so they worry that feeding a lot means things are going wrong, whereas actually we now know that this is not only normal, but right (given the other indications - weight gain, nappy output and comfortable feedings).

You will find pretty quickly that feeds will start to become shorter and less frequent and in another month or so things will be totally different.

Well done - you're doing brilliantly.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 16/02/2011 09:29

Lovely post Organic&.

Smiling as he is doing so well and you don't have any nipple damage I would just sit in front of the tv and feed, feed and feed some more.

My DS was like this too, at the time I sometimes worried about it not being right but looking back at his baby photos I don't know why I ever worried.

Keep feeding and keep posting and let us know how you are getting on Smile

NonnoMum · 16/02/2011 14:06

BTW - as well as having a glass of water and juice right by your side, you will need a box of chocolates as well...
and the remote for the TV...
And your phone...

Enjoy!

(and nothing beats the look of contentment on their faces when they are finally full!)

organiccarrotcake · 16/02/2011 14:09

Thanks JJJ :)

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