How fast does your baby empty your breast?

[rosegarden620]

My daughter is 7 weeks old. She's an extremely efficient nurser and will literally only eat for 8 minutes MAX. Sometimes she'll hit the 13 minute mark...on average 7-10 minutes a feeding.

She's gaining well.
Plenty of wet and dirty diapers.

She's been doing this since she was born practically but I wonder...

How efficient are your nursers?

 

[lisa1980]

Both of mine have been speedy nursers but my littlest is particularly efficient.

I had to stay overnight with him in hospital when he was 8 weeks or so as he had a high fever (turned out fine) and the nurses couldn't believe how fast he nursed. I'd say he can empty both breasts in 8-10mins flat. He's a big boy too (91st centile) so he's obviously been getting enough each time.

He's not interested in comfort sucking either so I couldn't induce him to stay on longer even if I wanted to!

 

[rosegarden620]

That makes me feel better! I know all signs point to it being ok but I can't help but wonder. Especially bc she only does one breast sometimes 2.. But mainly 1.

I thought how the heck could she be done after 6 minutes!

 

[noon_child]

It might not just be your baby but your breasts. Oddly there is no set number of milk producing cells or number of milk ducts in the breast. Just like they develop individual sizes and shapes, so too is the inside structure completely individual!!

 

[lisa1980]

That makes me feel better! I know all signs point to it being ok but I can't help but wonder. Especially bc she only does one breast sometimes 2.. But mainly 1.

I thought how the heck could she be done after 6 minutes!

DS2 only started taking both breasts each feed fairly recently (even now he sometimes only wants one). At 7 weeks he was only taking one at a time and that seemed plenty for him.

I also worried about it at first, mainly because of other people's reactions to it, but I offered the breast all the time and he would only take what he wanted. He's an absolute chunk though so he must have known what he was doing

 

[RaspberryK]

Dd never takes both unless it's a particularly long clusterfeeding session. And she's fairly quick too, has been from birth. Xx

 

[petitpas]

Ds used to feed for about 6 mins, dd (91st centile) gets her fill in just over 4 mins, sometimes less. She feeds about every two hours and I have always followed the one feed one breast way. Every baby is different. Instead of watching the clock I think the best indicator for your feeding success is a happy healthy baby

 

[AnonymousCAT]

That's awesome! When DS was born (a premie) he would take 1.5 hours to nurse each time... It was torture! At 7 months now though he usually takes between 10-15 min which feels lightning fast to me

 

[BunnyN]

LO is a very slow feeder. At 4 months he was still feeding for 40mins out of every 2 hrs.

 

[x_WelshGirl_x]

Yep, my dd will hardly ever feed for too long, sometimes she will feed for 5 mins and be done for an hour or 2 but then sometimes she will want more 10minutes later. She's never fed for more than 30minutes. She was 5lb 8oz when born, she was up by 1lb when she got weighed by the HV at home, at 14weeks she was 13lb 9oz so she is getting more than enough. I used to worry at first as I had read people nursing for 30mins one side then 30mins the next etc but each baby is different and has different needs

 

[Literati_Love]

Mine took 40 minutes for the longest time. Then about 20 minutes by 4 months. Since 6 months + she takes 10 minutes or less (probably around 5-8 minutes now at 9 months). I can't imagine how nice that would have been if she had been speedy at the beginning!

 

[bdb84]

There was a point in my 2.5 year nursing relationship with DD1 that she would empty my breast in two minutes flat.

With DD2, it's between 5-8 minutes I would guess.

 

[misscyn]

Good question; i've wondered about this too. My dd is in the 94th percentile and she empties a breast in about 6 minutes. I always give only one breast per feed. I think my breasts are the issue and not my baby though, because when i pump i get 4 ounces in about 5 minutes too.

 

[stephj25]

used to be 13mins with my boy, it's now 5mins max

 

[kathryn06]

For the first 4 weeks dd would take 10 mins+. She can finish a feed in under 5 now. Still gaining weight so it's not a concern 😊