When to move onto the second breast?

[Macaroons]

How do you know you have completely emtied the first breast? My little one seems to suck on the first breast for a long time and it looks to me that he's swallowing something. How long does it usually take to empty one breast?

My little one is 5 weeks old. He's gaining weight ok but he's constantly crying for food - he cluster feeds during the day (almost once every hour) but can last for 3 hours in the evening. So I wonder if I have been letting him suck on an empty breast for too long. Thanks.

I just move my DS2 on to the other side when he seemed to lose interest in the first side - depending on how hungry he was when he started that could be anything between 10 and 20 minutes. DS1 used to finish a feed in 7 minutes on the dot and refused to take any more but he gained OK.

Don't panic about him constantly wanting to feed, that's quite often normal and especially in the first 6 weeks. You may find it calms down a bit after that (or not, like my DS2!!). Cluster feeding is also often about comfort as well as food.

Good luck. :)

Please don't worry about emptying the breast - it's impossible :)

Your baby lets you know when to swap by his behaviour - as Twinkle says.

Whoever has told you to stay on the breast until it's emptied needs some urgent updating!