fed up with long, frequent feeds

[celandine]

DS is 10 weeks and feeds for about 40 mins every 2 hours. He's always fed from both sides. He rarely pulls off himself but if i've tried letting him spend as long as he wants on the first side and he would be there for up to an hour and then still want the other side.

I'm starting to get fed up with the amount of time spent feeding him, including many night feeds (another thread). Surely this should be getting better, he should be feeding faster? I worry how on earth I will be able to keep up if he's already having both sides. Will I end up feeding even more regularly or giving him 4 sides?!! I want to continue bf him but if this frequency keeps up I will find it tricky to have a proper life as i can't feed in public on my right side as I rugby-style hold and there's nothing to lie him on! I have to either be at a friends or at home every 2 hours which limits me and my 2.9 year old.

I'm small breasted so guess this is why ds needs to feed in this way (smaller ones generally have less storage space?) as opposed to my larger-breasted friend whose 10 week old feeds one side every 3-4 hours. Has anyone else found this? Any advice welcome :)

boob sixe has nothing to do with it.
ds2 was like this but started going longer between feeds not long after 10 weeks.
I was feeding every 2 hours day and night at this point

hope it sorts itself out soon

Well done for getting this far. You've done the hard bit.

The feeds will tail off,that I can promise you.

At this stage,if you are confident that he has had enough,you could take him off yourself. Not generally recommended,but i did that with my dd otherwise she would probably still be here now,5 years later! (ds was completely different-came off as soon as he had finished)

The size of your boobs has noting to do with how much milk you produce btw!

Have you tried practicing with a different hold at home??

Celandine - well done for getting through the first ten weeks! My ds is now 19 weeks and he was much as you describe your ds. One day, I decided to actually give him exactly what he wanted and I swear that he was on my breasts all day!! I started doing what Moondog suggested ie taking him off when I thought he had had enough and that seemed to do the trick.

Hang on in there, and I reckon it should get easier pretty soon.

I don't think breast size has anything to do with it tbh.
I promise you, it may take a little time but it does and will get better! For me and ds, the real change came between about 3 and 4 months. IME the feeding stayed relatively frequent, but oh, it got SO much quicker.
Might it be time to try a different hold? I have small breasts myself and have found that an advantage to them is that you have a hand free as you don't have to support the breast with one hand, which in turn makes feeding in public easier. I've always used the cradle hold though.
I do know the feeling of wondering whether you will ever be able to have a life agasin - but it will get better! :)

Research does honestly show that size makes a difference to breastfeeding. Not in the amount of milk made overall - I'm quite aware that I can make as much milk as anyone else - but in the amount stored at a time. Smaller-breasted people (generally) have less storage capacity and therefore have to feed more frequently.

Has no-one else noticed this frequent feed thing with smaller breasts, or is it really just me? Is it just me with the both sides thing too? I told my friend yesterday that 1 of hers equals 2 of mine, and I was concerned that in the future perhaps my ds will need 4 per feed to satisfy him!!

Moorbroon, it's relieving to know that others have experienced the same thing. I too feel that if I just let ds stay on for as long as he liked then he'd be on me all day! I tried it once recently and a feed took just over an hour. I only worry because there's obviously still milk available when i take him off the first side.

Foundintranslation, I really can't feed very well on my right side without the rugby hold. If I try to I have to faff about so much and keep relatching and just never feels right. So public feeding would be very impractical unless I just fed one side per feed and saved the awkward side til I got home :(

I sound like such a moany cow I know, and I know it will all get better soon. I just keep thinking back to my bottlefed ds1 and how he was in a great routine and sleeping through by now. Breastfeeding is SO different!

Reading that others experience the same thing reassures me that it's not me making doing things wrong.

Do you have a sling? You may find you can feed on the go that way. Also, are you co-sleeping? That really helps with the night feeds.

And yes, try new positions now, your baby is bigger and more used to feeding. Maybe cradle or cross-cradle?

I have small breasts. DS1 fed really often, and for ages. DS2 fed somewhat less often, and never for more than 10 minutes.

it is the baby not you - some are quick feeders and some are slow feeders. The longest my DS ever did at one feed was 1.75 hours . I got very achy from sitting down feeding him so much.

In the end I decided he could have half an hour at one go and then that was it - they get most of their volume early on in the feed - the later feed is slow drips of the rich milk. And some babies just like sucking - so they will stay there as long as they can !

Not necessarily recommending this for every feed - but you don't need to be a martyr to feeding.

Try with a sling - it might help.

Stick with it - you will suddenly find that breast feeding is much easier, and very much easier than bottle feeding - it is the early days of establishing supply and you both learning the technique that is the difficult bit.

celandine, might it be worth 'practising' different holds on your right side? Maybe you could get a bf counsellor to help you?
You're not a moany cow, just at that stage of wondering whether it'll ever change - like many of us before you! :)

Do you know what research this is Celandine?
I would be intersted in checking it out.

Celandine, your breasts don't really store milk, they make it as required. And as someone with huge norks (they were 48K when I was breastfeeding) who also had to feed for 40 minutes every two hours (and sometimes more) I can assure you that it can be normal to have to feed for 40 minutes every two hours at this stage, whatever your breast size.

Haven't read most of the responses but I found that my dd was comfort sucking a lot rather than feeding because she needed to. I know a lot of people don't like dummies, I was one of them until dd was about 8weeks old, but have you considered trying one?

Moondog, I can't backup what I've said about the storage capacity thing but i have read it somewhere online. Not a lot of use I know. I'm sure it's not a rule, just an 'in general' thing and it kinda makes sense to me.

Ds won't take a dummy so I give him my finger but it doesn't ever settle him.

He ends up cosleeping with me in the last half of the night and it's the most restless part of the night as he just wants to have a boob in his mouth all the time, waking every 30 mins or so so my experience of co sleeping certainly doesn't compare with what others report.

I have an Ergo sling and may give bf in it a go tomorrow, good idea....

growth spurt at 12 weeks - your ds could be building up the milk supply - more demand means more milk.

would try other bf positions - cradle is easy for out & about. Also bf whilst walking around & being with your 2.9yr old - will make life easier.

Celadine, I have copied this from kellymom.com - it's my bf bible : )

Storage capacity:

Another factor that affects milk production and breastfeeding management is mom’s milk storage capacity. Storage capacity is the amount of milk that the breast can store between feedings. This can vary widely from mom to mom and also between breasts for the same mom. Storage capacity is not determined by breast size, although breast size can certainly limit the amount of milk that can be stored. Moms with large or small storage capacities can produce plenty of milk for baby. A mother with a larger milk storage capacity may be able to go longer between feedings without impacting milk supply and baby's growth. A mother with a smaller storage capacity, however, will need to nurse baby more often to satisfy baby’s appetite and maintain milk supply since her breasts will become full (slowing production) more quickly.

Think of storage capacity as a cup - you can easily drink a large amount of water throughout the day using any size of cup - small, medium or large - but if you use a smaller cup it will be refilled more often.

I hadn't thought about storage this until now, probably because I am a size 38DD and never thought I had a problem with storage

Nevertheless, at 10 weeks my DS would have been feeding every 2 hours, day and night. In fact he fed every 3 hours or so (day and night) until he was 10 months old.

Yes, bf is different to bottlefeeding, but it is a myth that ALL bottlefed babies sleep through the night. If some do it is because formula is bloody difficult to digest whereas bm is digested very quickly and is therfore better for the baby's gut.

If you are determined to continue bf, just be patient. I am sure he will settle into a better pattern soon.

I do remember being absolutley knackered for the entire 1st year of my DS's life, but it had nothing to do with bf. I know plenty of bottle-feeders who were just as knackered as me .

What always kept me going was the absolute certainty that I was putting my baby's needs first.

Good luck !

Hmmm. Milk production / storage is related to how much mammary gland tissue you have. Breast size is related to how much fat there is in your breasts. So feed length is affected by how much milk you store, but this isn't necessarily related to the size of your breasts.

No advice though - mine both wanted to feed forever too.