b/f Help!!!! Feeding for nearly 3 hours!!?

[Angelface]

since giving birth on sunday me and leila have been breast feeding, she latches on great and has no problems!! But......... Shes feeding for 3 hours at a time!? Surely this isnt right? Even if i give her a dummy she doesnt want it, and will happily suck away, untill shes fallen asleep, which has been our nightly routine since sunday...!

Any advice please?!?! x

 

[Pyrrhic]

Is she fully awake (eyes open) the entire time shes feeding?

 

[Angelface]

not all the time, she'll be screaming her head off , i'll put her to my boob and she'll feed awake for about 45 mins, ill take her off, put her to other boob, she'll stay awake for 45 mins then fall asleep but each time i try take her off she will scream!! the only way i can get her to stay asleep is let her fall asleep on the boob then keep taking her away untill shes fully alseep?! x

 

[hypnorm]

does sound like a long time, Robyn feeds for about an hour at a time at the moment taking both sides and then will sleep for about 2 hours or 3 if i am lucky and then be ready for a feed.
THe first couple of nights she would only settle at my breast and we ended up co sleeping for 2 nights which i wasnt totally comfortable with but it was the only way for us both to get some sleep.

 

[Pyrrhic]

How often do you wind her when shes feeding? When babies are windy they will often suck, as the sucking reflex helps settle them.

 

[Angelface]

mmm, ill try winding her more then, she doesnt seem full of wind but i wind her after every boob movement lol x

 

[6lilpigs]

How often do you wind her when shes feeding? When babies are windy they will often suck, as the sucking reflex helps settle them.

This was exactely what i was about to say! If you let her have a good 20 mins fill up of milk, then what i do is pop baby upright so their head is under my chin and wrap my cardi round them. They give a grizzle for a few seconds but soon feel safe and snug, the heat and pressure of you on their tummy helps everything just gently work its way up. I find that you don't need to try and overwind them by keep patting and swapping shoulders and rubbing, just being upright and lent against you is enought to relax baby and let it come out in its own time.

 

[Samantha675]

Welcome to the joys of cluster feeding. this is from www.kellymom.com, a great website for breastfeeding info:

Cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It's often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be "tanking up" before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a longish stretch of sleep at night - baby may even sleep all night.

Cluster feeding often coincides with your baby's fussy time. Baby will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry... on and on... for hours. This can be VERY frustrating, and mom starts wondering if baby is getting enough milk, if something she is eating is bothering baby, if EVERYTHING she is doing is bothering baby... It can really ruin your confidence, particularly if there is someone else around asking the same questions (your mother, your husband, your mother-in-law).

This behavior is NORMAL! It has nothing to do with your breastmilk or your mothering. If baby is happy the rest of the day, and baby doesn't seem to be in pain (as with colic) during the fussy time - just keep trying to soothe your baby and don't beat yourself up about the cause. Let baby nurse as long and as often as he will. Recruit dad (or another helper) to bring you food/drink and fetch things (book/remote/phone/etc.) while you are nursing and holding baby.

 

[Serene123]

It's normal

 

[princessellie]

Welcome to the joys of cluster feeding. this is from www.kellymom.com, a great website for breastfeeding info:

Cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It's often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be "tanking up" before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a longish stretch of sleep at night - baby may even sleep all night.

Cluster feeding often coincides with your baby's fussy time. Baby will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry... on and on... for hours. This can be VERY frustrating, and mom starts wondering if baby is getting enough milk, if something she is eating is bothering baby, if EVERYTHING she is doing is bothering baby... It can really ruin your confidence, particularly if there is someone else around asking the same questions (your mother, your husband, your mother-in-law).

This behavior is NORMAL! It has nothing to do with your breastmilk or your mothering. If baby is happy the rest of the day, and baby doesn't seem to be in pain (as with colic) during the fussy time - just keep trying to soothe your baby and don't beat yourself up about the cause. Let baby nurse as long and as often as he will. Recruit dad (or another helper) to bring you food/drink and fetch things (book/remote/phone/etc.) while you are nursing and holding baby.

OMG! leyla does this, i was getting really worried about it actually cos i was thinking im not feeding her enough, i even bought formula cos i thought my nipples werent working or something lol, havent given her it yet though and now dont need to

thanks so much for posting this!!

x

 

[Brockie]

After 20 mins on the boob baby has had both fore and hind milk hon, if you have time to go longer then its up to you but she will have had a good drink in that time xx

feeds will settle in time, i remember feeling like i was just constantly feeding Freddie at first! but now he feeds for about 20 mins and we are done!!

tho like others have said, late afternoon / evening he feeds closer together i suppose to get him through the night! xxx

your doing a great job keep going xxxx

 

[Lucy&Pard]

OMG that is tuff we had a 2 hour feed when Leo was tiny but I just resigned myself to the fact that he had just been born so I lay next to him in bed and let him carry on and watched tv but 3 hours is tough! Dont know if this will help but it might have helped me back then - Leo feeds 5 times a day now and each feed takes no more than 8-10 mins! XXXX

 

[bluebell]

Jay used to feed so much in the first few weeks, sometimes it felt like I didn't get off the sofa / bed I think the longest time would have been around 3 hours, and he used to feed for upto 2 hours each feed during the night. But it didn't last long (thankfully ) It was always nice taking a bit of time out though as there's not alot you can do when you're bfeeding

xx

 

[Lucy&Pard]

Ditto the above. They arent like this for long. Its so tough but they just need you soo much. Keep up the good work though! xxxx