Is this really, truly just a growth spurt?

[mummythedummy]

DD is 10 weeks on Thursday. She is BF.
A couple of weeks ago, she was feeding every 3 hours or so (sometimes more, sometimes less) for about 25 minutes. Then suddenly she was feeding for much longer, up to an hour at a time, and then more frequently. She is now going about 2 hours between feeds, and then she feeds for at least 45 minutes, but usually longer. I have been told this is a growth spurt, but it's been going for more than a week and last night we had a marathon of almost 2 hours feeding, then an hour off and then she was rooting again!
I thought maybe it was comfort sucking, so got strict and took her off the first time she seemed to stop, after about 30 mins, but she became very agitated and was rooting around. I have tried to distract her with a nappy change but no good - still rooting.
Since midnight last night we have done:

1.50am: 40 minutes, then fell asleep. Went down in her cot until
3.40am: 35 minutes, fell asleep, put her down, woke 5 minutes later for another 40 minutes.
6.15am: 45 minutes. Put her down, back up again 5 minutes later for another 30 minutes.
9.00am: 45 minutes
11.00am: 55 minutes - so far!

I think the problem is actually that she's tired, not hungry, but can't settle to sleep.

Is it comfort sucking? She seems to be taking milk, but that said, I haven't noticed a huge increase in supply despite all the extra feeding. The HV said just to keep feeding her as much as she wants, but this amount can't be right.... can it???????

'but this amount can't be right, can it?' But why would it not be?? It's flippin inconvenient, true enough, at that time of night, but there is nothing wrong, or unusual, or surprising, in a young baby not being predictable about the need to feed.

Comfort sucking is normal, and it's a lot easier to go with it than to distract, as you have found

Sounds normal for a growth spurt to me.

It's exhausting. Truly, it is. I was there not long ago (and despite it being my 2nd I was still posting on MN about it!).

It shall pass. You're doing great.

I really hope so.
I was just worried there might be something wrong, she throws herself back and goes all stiff when she screams and I was afraid I might be ignoring something more serious.
I don't mind how often I feed her for, or how much, but I do know she needs to get a bit of sleep, even if I don't get to have any!

Plus it has got worse since her jabs - I miss my happy smiley baby!

The screaming and going stiff (not mentioned in your first post) - can you say a bit more about this?

She sort of stretches out her legs and leans back while she's rooting for food.
When I say screaming I think I just mean crying really loudly and lots - it sounds like frustration.
I took the stretching to be all part of the same thing - now I am worried!

Thanks tiktok for your help - what do you think?

Sounds normal - what a lot of babies do when they are impatient to be comforted by a feed. If you are worried about any of this, then your HV should be able to reassure you, but to me it sounds like a normal baby going through a wakeful, hungry phase

thanks all. it is reassuring to know it all sounds normal.

The leaning / arching back is a classic sign in my two that they're tired. It is also a classic to get confused between the hungry and tired signals and it's only as they got older that I was able to differentiate as the signals became quite different. After no. 1 I thought that i wouldn't make that mistake again, but lo and behold......I did with no.2 too. Is she actually feeding properly do you think or doing shallower sucks?

I think she does sometimes do the shallower sucks, which is why I am sure she is tired.
She also gets bags under her eyes, including a dimple that only appears when I am tired!
I wish I could just say to her "close your eyes sweetie and get a bit of sleep and it will make you feel better!" Actually I do say that but of course she doesn't understand!

DH took her from me this evening when she finally fell asleep feeding, and I went out to a nearly new babyclothes sale. I came home after an hour and was dreading the chaos, only to find her asleep on her daddy in the sling. He said "she only thought she was hungry".

I think sometimes that is exactly the problem, and it's hard for her to focus on sleep when it's just me there in the daytime and I smell of delicious milk all the time!

I was so grateful for the hour out of the house, and I got some very cute little bargains for DD too! They will fit her after the growth spurt!

My baby used to be awake for all hours at night, she would latch on all night if I let her, between crying and waving her fists and legs around. I think it was partly wind, we found baby massage and also me cutting out cruciferous veg and onions to help a great deal. However, what really helps the most at those times is my partner taking over and putting her to sleep on his chest, she falls asleep almost instantly.

Yes, Daddies can be useful like that. A nice warm comfy chest with a heartbeat and no distracting milk! DS used to love falling asleep on DH after I'd fed him during the night - he would sleep for a few hours there so I could get some sleep in between feeds in the early days - this was before we discovered co-sleeping and used to try to put him back in his moses basket after a feed only to be woken 20 mins later!

she might only think shes hungry and actually be tired, but feeding gets hr to sleep so just go withit! even if shes barely feeding shes helping establish a great milk supply.
i fed dd constantly because i didn't know what else to do and couldn't bare to hear her cry, enjoy the excuse to sit and feed and bond with your tiny baby, she'll be an independant toddler before you know it!