Breastfeeding and Napping Issues

[Mamaofaboy]

Hi Mumsnetters

I have a 12 week old DS (13 weeks tomorrow) who is still terribly slow at breastfeeding! He is generally good at feeding every 3 or so hours (longer overnight thankfully) but his feeds are looooong. Generally between 40-60 mins at a time. He rarely latches off, I have to swap him boobs mid feed. If he is offered more, he always wants it. Sometimes he seems to nap, but is still actively suckling throughout!

Additionally he is a terrible cat napper, a 30 min nap is a good one in our house! He is still napping regularly for about these 20-40 mins between each 3 hour window but screams when waking up as I think he’s still tired, but impossible to put back to sleep...

Anyone got any similar experiences? Do I try to keep him awake longer during feeds, or do I cut them shorter to make him nap longer? I’ve been following his lead but at 3 months I’m worrying I’m not helping him sleep properly and subsequently leaving him grumpy and overtired!

Thanks x

If he's snoozing on the boob, even for five minutes, it'll take the edge of the sleep pressure that builds throughout his day, making it more difficult for him to take a long nap.

Difficult one to 'fix' really though as he's so small! You could try rocking and alternative soothing methods to get him off to sleep, encourage active feeding rather than snoozing by stroking his cheek when it's not nap time.

Look up wake windows for his age and encourage a nap after a full wake window.

I will say that my DC took 33-minute naps from about 10-12 weeks until about 7 months though, the catnapping is a developmental phase they go through and may continue a while!

takingcarababies.com/10-questions-to-ask-if-your-little-one-is-struggling-with-short-naps/

I found the above informative when my LO was smaller - read point one about young babies and catnapping!

Thanks @blackstripe we are following wake windows and not feeding to sleep - feed, change, play, down for a nap when showing cues towards the end of a “wake window”. Can usually get him off okay with some shussssshing and bum patting but when he wakes up again he screams and won’t go back off!