Losing will with BF

[annabeau]

hi

i have a 7 week old dd who has always been a good feeder (she came out via c-sec rooting and started feeding in the recovery suite) apart from a recent bout of thrush (which I think she still has a touch of, i'm waiting on getting some more meds for her.

she can be very demanding however. she took a while settling but until the past few days she was feeding roughly every 2 hrs in the day and every 2-4 hrs at night. now all of a sudden she's taken to snacking, falling asleep mid-feed for 5 mins then waking up crying with hunger, wanting to feed more often etc and it's really stressing me. she fights sleep as well but that's a whole other story

do BF babies ever settle into some semblance of a routine of regular feeding or is this it? i feel like i will never get a proper break. i am trying to express but with poor results of only 1-2 fl oz at a time.

Sounds like a growth spurt and its quite a big one at this age. Keep feeding on demand so your milk supply increases and should settle down after a few days to a week.
BF is hard in the first few months but it does get easier.

the first few weeks are so intense and it feels like all you do is feed

it does get a lot better but that probably feel s a long way off

i think at 7 weeks i felt awful about feeding and was absolutely going to quit

i kept going - co-sleeping helped a lot and DD is 21 weeks and still EBF

i wouldn't bother expressing for now and just concentrate on feeding her as much as possible

may be the 6 week growth spurt

I had a horrible couple of nights at the 6 week growth spurt - continuous feeding from about 9pm to 3am. It really does get better. If you have a problem with her falling asleep try finding a bit of her that's sensitive to keep her awake (I used to find pulling on his ear (gently of course!) worked). Or blowing on his forehead. Can you feed lying down? Took me a while to manage it but was much comfier when I did. Get some good books and don't panic - it does get easier!

It is worth going through this when you come out the other side. You will eventually, and you will forget how hard it was. Bf does get a lot easier - I'd say it is really a lot easier when you co-sleep if they are a night time snacker.

thanks guys

she has been better last nite and today. i just get so overwhelmed, babies need their mummies so much but i tihnk even more so with a bf baby.

i don't tend to offer both breasts unless its her evening cluster feed. she is a baby who wont say no when offered and i think regularly offering both will make the situation worse.

she had started refusing expressed milk in a bottle which really got me down (having visions of never being able to leave her for longer than 2 hrs) but she took some today from her grandma so fingers crossed!

More than 2 breasts?