bfing never ends...

[MarshallsMom]

Yesterday I literally got a two hour break. The rest of the day the baby was at the breast feeding for 10-15 minutes, sleeping 10-15 minutes and so on... I can tell he's exhausted. I take him off and change his diaper every hour. He #2's 10-15 times a day and #1's once an hour. He's 22 inches at his 2 week appointment 4 days ago but I think he's longer already. He only weighed 7lbs 14.5oz at his 2 week which is above birth weight 7lb 9oz but he's growing really fast. Already over an inch longer than he was at birth. I think he's just super hungry and growing a lot. I try to put him down when he falls asleep but he wakes and wails and roots for the nipple so I put him back on. I have to go to the bathroom with this little dude latched - no lie! It's driving me crazy. I took a shower yesterday and had my husband hold him and 5 minutes later my husband came and interrupted my shower b/c LO was wailing and rooting for nipple. We have a paci which works when I have to take him to the doctor or for a short car trip but at home it doesn't work at all. Seriously, is BFing really worth it?? I have to start a practicum at 6 months which is only 15 hrs/wk but at 9mnths I have to start internship which is 40/hrs week. I wonder if I should just switch to pumping. As it is I do not have any time to pump at all. When I finally get that long nap from him, I HAVE to sleep...or do homework or both. I am currently in grad school online. I read that this can keep going for 6 - 8 weeks. I do not know if I can live on less than 4 hours of sleep for two months. He's seriously a ravenous little dude. Also pediatrician and LC both say my milk supply is fine, latch is good, etc. I just have a slow flow at certain times of the day and when my flow increases is when he finaly settles down and takes a longer 2-4hr nap. Otherwise it's all short naps and long feedings with diaper changes in between. He's currently 18 days old. My husband is a teacher so he took off for the 5 days I was in the hospital (24 hours of labor and then a c-section) but had to return b/c his classroom was becoming chaos. He works another job in the evenings to cover health care costs so he's gone from 7am-7pm M-F and sleeps in on Sat. and on Sun. teaches Sunday school. So I'm pretty much on my own here. I don't have any family and I just moved to this area so no close friends. I tried a wrap but can't nurse him in it b/c he's so long and can't hold his head up yet. UGH. I am tired and I need to sleep. Any suggestions?

 

[Jary]

Sounds like he's cluster feeding for a growth spurt. Babies do this a lot in the first month. I remember my LO did this too. It's frustrating at times but worth sticking with! At the end of the day, he's still very new and he's not quite ready to be too far away from you

I know its hard but eventually he will fall into a bit more of a routine and to me you are both doing fantastic! Keep up the good work

 

[staralfur]

Very exhausting but totally normal. The first six weeks seem like constant feeding. Have you tried cosleeping? My life became a lot easier after I started taking LO into bed with us. I barely woke up to stick a boob in her mouth and then was back to sleep right away.

I wouldn't be worrying about how things will be at 6-9 months. It will be SO much easier by then. My LO fed literally every 1-2 hours for the first 3-4 months. I managed to go back to school at 5 months with no problems.