growth spurt? when? always feeding newborn making me crazy

[missytequila]

my baby girl is 17 days old and seems for the last two days to be feeding constantly and not really settling afterwards like she used to.

is it normal to feed every hour sometimes? she feeds and then cries and wants more straight away...

is this a growth spurt? when will this let up? as a first time mom I was not prepared for this kind of 'on demand' feeding.

how long do you do 'on demand'? when do babies get a pattern?

I had exactly the same thing. As a first time mum myself I too thought I was doing something wrong. I was tearing my hair out!!
I was told this was a growth spurt, and it eased off after a few days - and it did.

I was told by someone that when BF, then for the first 6 weeks you should be prepared to do little else other than BF and sleep etc. Once I got this into my head and stopped trying to get DD into a routine and stopped trying to do too much myself, I felt much better about it. Dd is now 5.5 weeks and is sleeping much more at night and less in the day... although she still cluster feeds most evenings (from about 7-11) she is generally going 3-4 hours between most feeds now... until the next growth spurt!
Hope this helps - rest assured you are dong the right thing by letting her feed when she wants and it will get easier.

I am having the exact same thing, DS is 19 days old and you may as well put a bell on me and call me daisy all I seem to be doing is feeding and not a lot else, also 1st time mum but apparently this is normal!!

yes it's normal. and yes it's draining.

ds is in fact feeding atm. i remember the first few weeks being glued to the sofa. just accept it and go with her flow. she's setting up a good milk supply.

on a practical level, don't worry about housework etc. your job is to feed the baby. you're doing a brilliant job

Well done to you all. Breastfeeding is hardwork! You need to be really determined. You have to go with the flow and realise that you will be feeding at all times and all hours. It is very tiring but it gets so much better and easier. It's really very normal!!

thanks for the support. here's to all of us trying to make it past the 6 week mark and beyond

hi i'm in the same boat, ds is a week old today. just wondering what i'm going to do when dh goes back to work as also have dd who is 2y4m. how will i look after her and take her places? panicking about how long this might last

my bum is sore from sitting on it all the time. dd didn't feed this much i'm sure

so glad to hear this is a normal problem...i mean the health visitors are always telling you this is completely normal but i just thought they were pushing the whole 'breast is best' thing... my dd is pretty much on the boob all of the time and im sure people think im exaggerating when i say she eats all day...

it doesn't help when my mother keeps saying 'your overfeeding him, he should be eating every 4 hours'

I have told her to read the book I have and hopefully she will start to understand and be supportive!

I'm the first of our family to breastfeed and everyone doesn't realise how different it is to formula feed!

Get yourself set up with the remote control, a drink, a comfy pillow and go with the flow. You dont have many excuses to sit on your bum as a mum but this is certainly it! She will settle into a pattern but not for a while yet. Give this 6 weeks at least and you may see a routine emerge. x