New Mammy Breastfeeding Help Please

Chet T16

Megan is 1 week today and seems to be feeding all the time and never seems to be satisfied. Shes getting plenty of milk. Latch is good and supply is good. She has lots of dirty and wet nappies. She was seen by the nurse today and she is gaining weight.

Is this normal for a 1 week baby? How long should she feed at each breast for? Should i offer both breasts at each feed?

I'm happy enough to keep feeding i just want to know if i'm doing something wrong

Redpunto

Rule of thumb is offer as much as the baby wants - i think they get most of the milk within 10 mins so switch after a certain time, sometimes they just like the sucking and may not be latching on just for milk but yes, breastfeeding, especially a very small baby is a full-time job.

si_guru

You are doing absolutely the best thing for your baby - keep at! We have twins they never breast fed the same.. my wife used to dispair! But with some expressed milk (and a little help from Daddy) we kept it going for 8 weeks.

Nevyn

Sounds like babyled feeding or breast feeding on demand.

http://breastfeeding.about.com/od/babyshungercues/g/feedingondemand.htm
http://www.parentingscience.com/breastfeeding-on-demand.html

If the baby is gaining weight then jus go with the flow, it's early days and all the baby will do is feed and sleep and grow and feed and eat and grow while going through a heap of nappies.

I would suggest that you get to know the feeling of your breasts when they are full and when the baby had fed enough to ease the pressure of one breast then change to the other one.

tfak85

Thaedydal wrote: »

Sounds like babyled feeding or breast feeding on demand.

I would suggest that you get to know the feeling of your breasts when they are full and when the baby had fed enough to ease the pressure of one breast then change to the other one.

be sure that baby completely empties the breast on one side before offering the other.. your baby is already gaining weight and this is wonderful, for baby to continue gaining weight you must give the front milk (thirst quenching) and the hind milk (creamy and full of calories).
best of luck with the feeding, it will probably take you a good six week to get into an easy routine so don't worry if you feel stressed about it at the beginning.

Chet T16

Thanks for the replies.

That was my wfe posting from my account. She has finally managed to get some sleep now as the baby has nodded off. Today it was literally 40 mins feeding, 15 minutes rest.

I think mostly we're just worried we're doing something wrong and want people to tell us some babies will need to feed like this and its ok.

Nevyn

All I did it seems for the first 4 weeks after I had both mine was feed them, myself and sleep, it was harder when I had to keep an eye on the eldest second time around.

nesf

Chet T16 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

That was my wfe posting from my account. She has finally managed to get some sleep now as the baby has nodded off. Today it was literally 40 mins feeding, 15 minutes rest.

I think mostly we're just worried we're doing something wrong and want people to tell us some babies will need to feed like this and its ok.

Babies go through phases where they have "growth spurts" and seem to be unsatisfiable in terms of breastfeeding. Then they settle down again to a more regular pattern after a few days.

All completely normal so long as the baby is gaining weight appropriately. Our little one at 3 weeks just finished one of these phases. People give common times of 10 days, 2 weeks and 6 weeks but really it varies baby to baby and they follow their own pattern with this. Just be assured that it's totally normal for a baby to go through phases like this when being breastfed. Part of the reason for these phases is (according to the La Leche League) to help increase the mother's milk supply. Near constant feeding encourages the breasts to start producing more milk and so on.

My wife found this book to be quite good (just bear in mind that this group is extremely pro-breastfeeding so they might be a big "over-enthusiastic about the benefits" so to speak and arent'y going to give balanced advice but extremely pro-breastfeeding advice, that said they do give some useful tips and information for new mothers who don't know much about breastfeeding and what to expect so worth picking up I think): The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (La Leche League International Book)

eviltwin

Just a word of advice from my own recent experience. Keep breastfeeding exclusively as they say for the first six weeks as best you can. Don't do anything else other than breastfeed. Let dad do the cooking, cleaning and anything else that needs doing.

Mums who are breastfeeding need support. They don't need to be worrying about anything else other than feeding. Its almost impossible in the first few weeks to do anything else.

I have a seven week old son. I stupidly combined fed as I didn't think it was fair that my husband be responsible for looking after me, the baby, the house and our older child and as a result found after a month my milk supply had pretty much gone so now he's back on bottles.

I'm okay now but at the time I was completely gutted and sunk into a bit of a depression. If its something you are committed to doing don't let anything get in your way.

Chet T16

It seems yesterday was just a hungry day, she seems back to "normal" today.

Hanna is completely commited to breastfeeding. SHe would stick with feeding every hour if she had to, she was just concerned she was doing something wrong

Kildrought

Sounds bang on normal for a newborn! I used to say my first child only had one feed a day, started at 6am and finished at midnight!

Its definitely worth contacting La Leche League - they have local groups all over the country - there's bound to be one near you, its free and they are all just ordinary mothers who have chosen to feed their babies. Encourage your wife to go to the weekly meetings, they are the best support of help and information on B/feeding that I know.

Yes of course they are pro-breastfeeding - that's kind of the point! Complaining about that is a bit like complaining about the AA being pro-sobriety!

cbyrd

Yep sounds just right!!
I'm sitting under my lad as we speak he's feeding for hours at a time then sleep for an hour then off again... the only complaint i have is daytime tv is crap!!!:D on the plus side the last 3 nights he's slept 7 hours 10 hours and 7 hours... bliss!! it was almost 24 hour feeding until my milk came in on day 4!! thank god for daddy!! it is important that you give a min of 20 -30 mins each breast as they need the fore milk and the heavier more satisfying hind milk!! the breast will never completly empty so even if they are an hour on the breast they're still getting something although they have to work harder for it!!
i'm just enjoying the sit down!!

tryingsohard

Both my son and daughter were pretty voracious at the start, seeming to want hours on the breast! It is true that after a while you get used to the "deflated" feel of a breast that has been emptied and learn to switch to the fuller one (such good design, us mammals!). If you feed on demand, you must learn to adapt and let go of any other routines or needs, which can be tough..I read some great books in all those hours of feeding, until the little beggars learned to reach behind them and tear a page out of mummy's book!

As your baby gets older ( depending on the baby, but coinciding with an increased awareness of the world and the beginnings of their attempts towards motion), I think it becomes important to find other ways to comfort them...with my son, I stuck him on the breast when he cried and lacked the experience to tell that he was actually tired, or over stimulated, or gassy, or any one of the other things that can trouble a small baby. As a result, he had to fall asleep on the breast, and when I weaned him at eighteen months, it was difficult to provide him with an alternative source of comfort.

With my daughter, I discovered that physical closeness is sometimes what they need, not milk, and was relaxed enough to explore this, with the result that she was always able to fall asleep on her own (this issue becomes huge later on!)and was always very content to cuddle and play as well as feed. She was also weaned at eighteen months, almost voluntarily, and with little or no stress.

lynski

Please be open to look at things like latch - i had a phn, midwife and doc tell me my lo was latched properly, despite pain, soreness and prolonged feeding - it will get easier was all i was told. When i went back to the books and looked again she was not latched properly, once we sorted it out, no pain and feeds of under 20 minutes.
Breastfeeding does not have to be painful or prolonged and you can combine successfully from an early age if it suits you - without supply ever drying up. I did with both of mine. I also did not feed on demand, but used routine feeding from birth. Use your own sense, babies cry for reasons other then hunger and they do not need 24hr feeding.
It is one of the most empowering things I have ever done. enjoy; it lasts for such a short time.

tryingsohard

lynski wrote: »

Please be open to look at things like latch - i had a phn, midwife and doc tell me my lo was latched properly, despite pain, soreness and prolonged feeding - it will get easier was all i was told. When i went back to the books and looked again she was not latched properly, once we sorted it out, no pain and feeds of under 20 minutes.
Breastfeeding does not have to be painful or prolonged and you can combine successfully from an early age if it suits you - without supply ever drying up. I did with both of mine. I also did not feed on demand, but used routine feeding from birth. Use your own sense, babies cry for reasons other then hunger and they do not need 24hr feeding.
It is one of the most empowering things I have ever done. enjoy; it lasts for such a short time.

I don't think that Chet mentioned the feeding being painful, and it is helpful to remember that there is no such thing as time for a small baby; whether the feed is "under twenty minutes" may make a difference to the mother, but is irrelevant to someone who still hasn't figured out that those pink things flying around in front of him are actually his hands...