8 week old BF schedule. Help!

[argylesocks]

There's probably tons of threads about this but I couldnt find any so please help me!

My DS is nearly 8 weeks and is a difficult feeder. He's eaten round the clock every hour since birth and at 8 weeks still won't go more than an hour and a half between feeds, night or day.

Everyone says he should be eating for 20 minutes at a time, or at least 10 on each breast, but I can never get him to eat for more than 10 minutes total. He either falls asleep and will NOT wake up or gets bored and won't eat anymore.. then an hour later is screaming bloody murder because he's starving.

I cant sleep, I can't leave the house because all he does is eat. I realise this is normal for newborns but everyone, including health visitors, say by 8 weeks he should be eating more and going longer between feeds but he's not making any progress.

Anyone else had this problem. I dont know what to do except wait and hope for the best but two months on it's not improving. Help!

argyle well done.

Just wanted to say i found ds went much longer between feeds around the three month mark. So much so that i thought something was wrong!

Hopefully you'll have a similar situation round the corner. Without the thinking something's wrong, obviously.

Thanks. I expected the constant feeding for the first few weeks but I thought two months on it would get a little easier. It's 1pm and he's only not been on my boob for maybe an hour since 8am. Whenever I take him off he starts screaming but when he's on he's not eating, he's just lying there.

But if I move him he wakes up and screams. I tried a dummy this morning and it worked for about ten minutes. It can't stay like this for months or I'm going to lose my mind.

Have you tried taking him out for a bit argyll? Mine just fell asleep in the pushchair for an hour or so. We're back home now though and I'm trying to get the breastfeeding back on track rather than the incessant expressing. He's up to his old tricks though, he's been on the boob since 1.45, seems unsatisfied and cries if I try and take him off and do anything else. What are we going to do with these little monkeys?!? I'm so determined to make breastfeeding work but he's 8 weeks old tomorrow and I know what you mean, I can't carry on like this for months.

I don't know Katy! I really don't think it's normal for him to not want to do anything else. Even when we're playing or I'm singing to him it's just holding him off from screaming for boobs. I feel like he's miserable and I feel bad :(

Does your LO seem unhappy when he's not on the boob?
I don't want to stop Breastfeeding but right now I don't see it getting better anytime soon. I know it's supposed to be difficult for some people but I can't take months more of this.

He seems ok at night, in the morning and over lunchtime (because I take him out I think) but from the time we get it he's just sad sad sad unless he's on the boob. Even when I was expressing milk to bottle feed him ( and adding formula) he had a funny old time in the afternoon but this is relentless and he does seem unhappy unless he's sucking. It makes me think I can't have family and friends to visit us because all I'm doing is sitting on the sofa with boobs out. I have to leave him to cry when I go for a wee! I think the prob I have is that by 8 weeks I really would have thought things would have settled down so he could at least go 2 hours between feeds. Oof. Xx

I think some babies do take longer to seatal in then others, I remeber DD around 8week's was our turning point she suddenly started shortening her feed's but not going longer between them so things seemed a little easier. But she always was an unhappy baby didn't sleep much either and never has since. She droped her nap's quit young compared to her pears.

She was a boob monster and I think it is normal for some babies not to want to do anything else at 8 weeks. Think of it like this did our ansesters have baby gymes and flashing toys to look at no, they just would have been carried until they could walk and fed on demand.

It is hard work no matter how you feed your baby, some baby's sleep better then other some have a sunner disposition.

Good luck

argyle and funny, just to say i wouldn't expect and eight week old to be interested in much other than boob and dozing. So please don't think there is any thing wrong! Remember, the frequent bf feeding (as opposed to the more regular ff way) is as mother nature intended.

I know that is possibly an intensly irritating thing to hear when you are in the middle of it. There is no denying it is hard work, but there's also no denying it will get easier.

Funny, do you feel uncomfortable bf in front of friends and family?

Argyle - my DD wouldn't take a dummy for long either. When my mum came down she suggested i kept it in her mouth by holding her against my chest with it in, and also that I tap the plastic with my fingernail when it was in her mouth. I think this mimics something about breastfeeding. It took a while but DD does take it now, despite it feeling like I was really forcing it on her. I think babies get a lot of comfort from the breast - to give us a bit of freedom dummies are a lifesaver, even though I always said my baby wasn't having one

At least it will help distract you and baby between feeds and hopefully make the gaps slightly longer.

Good luck!

Have you tried a sling?

Thanks for the advice everyone :) I've tried to be a bit more persistent with the dummy over the past two days and he seems to have taken to itnow, at least for a while between feeds. I'm definitely not worried about him gaining weight, if anything he's gaining too much because he's eating non stop! I guess theres nothing to do but wait it out and hope it gets easier soon. I need some sleep!!