LO feeds for a long time

[bubbles82]

My LG is 11 days old now and I've found breastfeeding hard work but glad I've stuck with it so far. I was advised by midwives to demand feed initially, and to start with I seemed to be permanently feeding, then this changed to LO going up to 6 hours through the day without demanding at all, to the point where I was waking her to feed, and she'd then wake around every 2-3 hours to feed through the night. The feeds seem to be getting longer and longer though, I was told in hospital 5-40 minutes is a normal feed, but my LO usually goes for at least an hour and a half. I was advised recently to try up her feeds to every 3 hours, but she is still going for an hour and a half to two hours, so I'm lucky to get an hour in between and it feels like I'm permanently feeding day and night again.
Is she likely to reduce the length of the feeds soon if I keep up with the 3 hourly timed feeds? It's starting to feel a bit much some days, we're not managing to get out of the house at all and I'm getting next to no sleep which is really starting to take its toll now!

 

[Katteh]

You really need to follow her lead on feeds, restricting feeds at this point is going to restrict your supply whilst it's developing. Babies feed a lot in the early weeks because they need it.

Ideally at this stage you need to make sure baby doesn't go more than 3 hours from thw start of one feed to the next. It does seem like you're feeding forever early on but it does get better, it just takes perseverance. Is baby actively sucking or sleeping on the breast? If she is sleeping then you need to encourage her to stay awake for a feed; tickling, poking, stripping her down into her nappy will all help. Is there any pain whilst feeding too?

 

[jcg0506]

Is she comfort sucking? You know when the active swallowing becomes a light, fluttery sucking, and you no longer hear swallowing. She might even be asleep while comfort sucking. Some babies will continue comfort sucking for a very long time (mine would!). If this is the case, you can let her comfort suck for a while then break the latch. If you're okay with it, you can give a pacifier/dummy. I didn't know this either at first and wondered too why my baby was nursing for over an hour. If she is actively sucking the whole time, then you will need to go along with it. Some babies are just slow eaters.