BF for hours in early evening feed

[samoa]

I have a 7wk old baby girl. I am breastfeeding and the day feeds are fine, although they can last up to an hour and a half. But my biggest problem is the evening feed which can last up to 4 hours. Obviouslly she is not feeding all the time but she will not detach. is this normal?

yes totally normal. they often do this frantic feeding in the evenings - it is supposed to be them building up your supply in the evening so they can sleep a bit more through the night. (hopefully)

if your DD is just using you for comfort it might be worth sneakily swapping your boob for a dummy - if you want to go for a wee or get a cup of tea

Completely normal at this age. It's known as 'cluster feeding'. Baby is working hard to up your milk supply. In my experience these long evening feeds usually tail off by around 12 weeks (often making a short reappearance around 16 weeks when there's a big growth spurt!)

My advice - set yourself up on the sofa, get some good DVDs in, get DH to make the dinner, and sit back and let your baby do what it needs to do. (A muslin draped over your baby is recommended to avoid bolognaise stains on all the babygros)

Thank you for your message. We have tried several times swapping the boob for a dummy, but she just spits it back out!

I am glad to hear that it is normal. Good advice MrsKitty for the bolognaise, as I do actually live in Italy and therefore eat a lot of pasta!

Spooky

Yes it's normal. Just enjoy the snuggling.

Must confess to being the same in evenings - I also cluster feed / drink / snack at this time. Eg from about six o'clock drink, dinner, glass of wine, yogurt, drink, Penguin, glass of wine, water, hot chocolate, bed!