Can't feed/ won't feed!

[KatsMother28]

Hi

Looking for a bit of advice if anyone can help. My 10 week old DD and I have just gotten to the stage where we're able to BF easily after weeks of problems and she'd settled into a routine of feeding for 20ish mins every 3 hours - until this week.

Suddenly it's changed to just 10mins with her starting to 'mess about' by pulling off and screaming at the end. I try to persevere and keep sticking her back on, changing sides, burping etc but eventually give up and stick her dummy in at which she stops crying and is ok.

But as a result of (I assume) not getting enough she now wants a feed every 2hrs max. It feels like she's on me all the time!!

She has been suffering with a cold this week and has had a very stuffy nose - is this the reason or has her pattern changed? She eats well when bottle fed expressed milk but her nose seems clearer and she's still doing it.

Anyone got any ideas? Thanks. :)

DS did exactly this at around the same age. He suddenly seemed to 'get' BFing - think a lot of it was to do with having a bigger gob to be honest!! As a result his feeding became a lot more efficient and therefore quicker. I was very slow to catch on and kept sticking him back on until a wise MNer suggested he was getting what he needed faster, and was pee'd off at me for force feeding him!

Could be something similar with yours? Two hour gaps are pretty normal as far as my experience, and the other BF moms I know goes. If she's had a cold she'll need extra hydration, nutrition and comfort, so it's not surprising she's been nursing so much. Her pattern could also just have changed; they like to keep us on our toes!

Hi mombo

Could be I suppose... Still a bit nervous about how long she feeds for as we recently stopped using nipple shields and her feed time halved then as she could feed quicker.

I just keep getting the impression she's not done but there's only so many times I can force her back on. It's almost like she gets the first milk easily but then can't be bothered to work for the rest.

Agree with the others, 2 hours feeds are pretty normal as is taking less time to feed at this age.

As for her blocked nose, try putting her in the same room while you have a shower so that the steam helps to clear her nose. You could try saline drops, available from the pharmacy or try a nasal aspirator. You could even do all three.