12 week growth spurt?

[ziggyf]

Hi

Do babies tend to have a growth spurt at about 12 weeks? My little boy has been feeding about every 1 and a half hours for the last few days. I'm really sore now and can rarely let him finish feeding naturally which is making him really cross and probably decreasing the length of time before he needs to feed again! Any tips for how to get through this and reassurances that it will end soon?! We're both a bit miserable at the moment as it was only just before christmas that we finally got the hang of breastfeeding :-(

thanks,
ziggy xx

ziggy, babies' appetites and needs can vary, and I am wholly unconvinced they are destined to happen at certain, typical times....there is no real evidence for this, and as babies do not live their lives by the calendar anyway (apart from broadly developing in certain ways at roughly predictable ages), then there's no reason to think a 'growth spurt' (I don't even like the term!) is more likely at 12 weeks rather than 11 or 13 or whatever!

If you feed your baby in response to his cues, which will naturally vary in frequency, you will have the milk to meet this needs

Mothers usually find that extra feeding frequency changes tend to settle down in a few days. I don't know why you are sore though....has anything changed? Extra feeds shouldn't make much difference to this.

hi tiktok

i've always struggled with bf despite plenty of help - i'm beginning to think it isn't possible for me to feed without pain :-( i think that my nipples just aren'y getting the break they need in between feeds at the mo so are suffering more because of the increased demand.

on the plus side i have plenty of milk and lo is gaining loads of weight, it's just the actual feeding that's the problem.

z xx