bf 3 week old falling asleep during feeds & dummy

[MamaChris]

My bf 3 week old often seems to sleep rather than eat during feeds - like, he'll feed for 3-5 minutes, then fall asleep, but if I try to pull him off, he'll wake up and start rooting madly, only to fall asleep again once latched on.

My partner says he's using me as a dummy, and we should just get him a dummy instead. But I'm not sure it's so bad if he's using me for comfort, particularly after a difficult first couple of days when he was separated from me in an incubator due to respiratory distress.

What do people think? I'm not trying to rehash any dummy=good/bad debate, more ask whether him sleeping on my breast is ok or not?

so long as he's getting enough to eat (eg weeing and pooing lots, happy, alert, gaining weight) I wouldn't worry

(and re 'he's using you as a dummy', if you think about it, it's the dummy that's actually a substitute for you...)

I don't think using you for comfort is a problem so long as you can cope with it. Is he feeding properly though? Perhaps he's getting too warm or something and falling asleep before finishing a feed. Falling asleep at the breast is perfectly acceptable though (and the easiest way of getting them to sleep keep up the good work

thanks for reassurance yes - think he's eating enough. happy, alert & lots of dirty nappies. will try making sure he doesn't get too warm, just in case.

Someone on another list said something about dummies the other day that made me think....

'If a baby is using their mum as a dummy, does that mean that a dummy is used as a mum?'

Sorry forgot to add...sleeping in the breast is fine if he's feeding ok & doing plenty of nappies.

This page from kellymom talks about comfort feeding & feeding to sleep:
www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/comfortnursing.html