Please tell me this gets easier

[fashionlover]

It seems as though my daughter cannot get enough milk. Thankfully, I have a really good supply, but every time I think she is done feeding I set her in her crib and she begins fussing and rooting all over again. I am determined to continue breastfeeding at least until she starts teething, but I am at my wits end with this and getting no sleep. Anyone else going through this?

 

[optimistic1]

It does get better. I still have my ups and downs with it at 2 months. The first 6 weeks are rough lots of cluster feeding and sleepless nights! They eat for comfort, they eat to build supply, and sometimes I think they eat to fuel up for a good nights (or days) sleep. Things have been better (breastfeeding wise) with my lo. She only feeds like crazy the entire day and most of the night when shes going through a growth spurt. Ive also noticed at 2 months she empties my breast faster shes no longer feeding for a half hour or more....its more like 15 20 mins and shes satisfied. Although she does still feed for a couple of hours for comfort in the evenings.

If your comfortable with co-sleeping that might be your best bet sleep wise....Im not comfortable with it so I always had to suck it up and have OH keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't fall asleep holding her while she was nursing. Obviously if I survived and so can you! It takes a lot of patience though. I almost gave up a few times. My initial goal was to make it til teething but now that ive gotten over the newborn cluster feeding stage I am going to try to get past the biting and make it up to a year.

 

[MalcolmsMiss]

It sounds more so that she is doing it for comfort, rather then actual food. How old is she? Newborns love to comfort suck, to they feel safe, secure and connected to their mother. So the moment you break that feeling of security, she will fuss and look for it again. If she is still very new, this is very normal they don't really know how to just be by themselves, as they only have their instinct, which tells them to be close to you at all times. Also, she may fall into a light sleep on the boob (as many babies do) but may not actually be ready to go to sleep, so will wake as soon as you break the latch. It takes a while to figure out their sleep/awake times.

It gets much easier!

 

[lily28]

Aw she is still very new! She was attached to you via the umbilical cord that kept her full all the time and now she has to adjust to being fed with intervals, it is harder on her really. Think of the boob as the "umbilical cord" that keeps her full, happy, and secure now. She will grow and need less feeds at night.
Keep her close and stay in bed so you can feed her and get a snooze too
Yes it gets a little better, don't worry about it! You are doing a great job!

 

[rose.]

Yes, 100%! Alfie used to feed all day and night at first but now he usually only nurses for 5-10 min per session, doesn't cluster feed anymore and has a good latch (we had issues for ages!) I used to sit with him from 5-10 every night and he would scream, feed, scream until he finally went down at 10-11! Now he's normally asleep by 7-8

It's worth it, the beginning is hard, but no cleaning, sterilising or getting caught out with not enough bottles is worth it

 

[aliss]

Oh hun, it does. And let me say, my formula fed bottle baby was the same. It's newborn behaviour, not breastfeeding.