Is breastfeeding hard physical work for the baby?

[pipoca]

Just musing really. I've heard babies have to work harder at the breast than a bottle and I was wondering if bf is quite an effort. We live in a hot country (35-40 degrees at the mo) and DD (13 weeks) always sweats profusely while bfing. I thought this wa just cos it's so hot and she's being held close to me, but this morning it was quite humid and I noticed her nose covered in beads of sweat as well as having a sweaty head and it made me think of what they say at working harder at the breast than a bottle and I wondered if it's actually quite hard work for them?
I don't mean they shouldn't bf, just rambling away, train of thought really.

pipoca, bf is not hard for a healthy thriving baby - it's just what they do and it's not harder than anything else they are 'made' to do, like waving arms, smiling, kicking legs, and at your baby's age rolling and developing physically and in every other way :)

Sweating is a necessary part of temp regulation and she will be doing this in response to the heat, not effort.

Thanks, was just wondering. It has been very humid lately.
You know how it is when you're bfing and gazing at them and thinking away to yourself and I was musing on whether it was heat or effort.

Thanks for your advice on previous threads of mine. I was debating introducing a bottle of formula at night to try to get some more sleep and did in fact but it made no difference, as you said it might not. We're still bfing, with no formula at all now and she's sleeping 10pm til 3am or sometimes even 5 or 6am and is chunking on the weight at a great weight! I'm a bit sore on one side as she's latching on a bit wonky from time to time, but otherwise we're going great guns!

Good to hear things are going so well and glad I helped :)

It shouldn't be too hard for a healthy baby - but DS2 had an undiagnosed heart defect and found breast feeding very tiring. His consultant said that feeding was exhausting him, but that's because he was very sick.