6 weeks BFing --- Now What?? A few questions!

[kimbe]

Hi All,

DD is now six weeks and BF is going strong and heading for 1 year :). I was wondering if a few things should be changing and if I few things are "normal." Any insite or sympathy/empathy would be wonderful.

1. For the last 3 weeks (during the day), when Sarah is awake, she "thinks" that she needs to eat every hour. It is funny because when she is sleeping she will go 2-3 hours. When I do feed her, she eats for a few minutes and will sleep for abit (like 30 minutes) wake up and then eat again. Am I a human pacifier or is she really that hungry or is she just bored.

2. I am still feeding on demand, but will things eventually get more regular? Will the number of feedings decrease? We are still nursing AT LEAST 12 times a day! Not that I have a problem with it, but I am wondering if we will ever be able to plan outings around her eating.

3. She is sleeping for a stretch of 3.5 - 4 hours at night then goes back to every 2 hours until morning. Will she start sleeping a little longer soon?

4. She is pretty fussy if she isn't eating, sleeping or being held. (She is a high strung kiddo with somewhere to be!) We get about 2 hours a day where she will "play." This will get better too right?

Sorry this was long. You all have given me so much help up to now and I really appreciate. I hope that you can help me again!

TIA!!!!

[Rachels]

First and foremost, it will ALL get easier. Hang in there-- I promise things do level out. It can take some time, though.

For the nursing, just nurse her whenever she tells you she needs it. My dd was an every-hour nurser for a long time. Their little bodies know how much they need and when, and it's a perfect source of comfort as well. Remember that at six weeks, she's hitting a growth spurt as well, so she needs to nurse very frequently to help your body meet her needs. Remember that the breast is not a substitute for a pacifier-- a pacifier is a substitute for the breast. You're doing the right thing to nurse on demand. The degree to which she demands it will level out over time.

There's no telling what will happen with her sleep or when, but six weeks is still very tiny. Most babies don't have a very predictable routine then, and they need to wake to nurse. If you can nurse her lying in bed, you'll feel less sleep-deprived over time.

As for being held, she needs it. She's used to being inside your body, where you were holding her every moment of every day. Babies thrive on contact, and it's too much to expect them to manage on their own when they're so little. Do you have a sling? That might be of help to you since she is needing your contact so much right now.

But it will ALL get easier! She's just still new at the whole thing, and it will take her some time to figure out the ropes.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
New baby coming in October!
(Holy smokes, it's a boy!!!)


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbo...ethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

[JTsMom]

Congrats on making it to six weeks! :)

1. I don't think she just "thinks" she needs to eat. Chances are she really does need it! She probably is tanking up for the sleep periods. That will change. DS is now 2 1/2 months, and doesn't do that very often any more. He used to be attached to my breast at LEAST 3/4 of the time he was awake, and I can't even count the number of feedings he was doing b/c they'd all blur together. Just keep telling yourself that she knows when she's hungry, and trust her. If she is using you for a pacifier, that's normal too. Sucking is a need, not a want for newborns. I know it gets frustrating when you can't move around for 90% of the day, but it gets easier every week, I swear.

2. YES! I still can't plan an outing around a feeding, but I have no problem NIP, so it's not a huge deal. I just plan on every errand taking forever (and it usually does). :)

3. Maybe... there is no way to predict. For us, dimming the lights in the evening, and turning them up during the day helped to establish day vs. night. At that age, DS usually went 5-5 1/2 hours at night. They go back and forth though. Anyone who tells you there kid sleeps through the night every single night is full of it.

4. You are probably at the worst point for fussiness. From what I've read, it peaks at 6 weeks or so, then starts to dramatically improve until 3 months, then it goes away almost entirely. With DS, it peaked around 6.5 to 7 weeks, then got WAY better. He still has his days, but not like before.

Hang in there- it will only get better! Pretty soon she'll be smiling and laughing the majority of the time.

Kim,
Your baby sounds exactly like mine was. We are now at 12 weeks and he is my first baby so I was new to everything.

I fed him every time he demanded it at first, and it was every hour to hour and a half. At night he would sleep a 4 hour stretch and then get up every couple of hours. I nursed him during all these times too.

He was also fussy during the day and while not colicky, needed soothing to calm down.

Around 8 weeks I decided to take a little more control of things for my own sanity. I started to follow this routine: nurse, play, sleep, nurse, play, sleep. I stretched out the schedule to nurse him no sooner than every 2 hours, then in a week or so I stretched it to every 2.5 hours. He now nurses about every 3 hours during the day. I am not absolutely rigid about this, if he displays hunger a little bit earlier, then I feed him.

What I discovered is that I was nursing him every time he was fussy even though he wasn't necessarily hungry. He would suckle for a few minutes and then nod off.

What he really needed and what he was crying about was sleep. So we began to work on sleep issues. I make sure he gets about 5 hours a day (not easy because he sleeps for short periods) and about 10 hours at night.

At night he is sleeping 6 hours, nursing and then sleeping another 4 hours.

Different things work for different people but I found that around 8 weeks I needed to establish a little more of a routine and take a little more control of the situation. But I am glad that up until then I did things more "on demand" because I really learned to observe my son and pick up on his cues.

Good luck!

[kimbe]

Thanks ladies. I really appreciate your replies. You all have such great insite and after reading your posts, I feel rejuvenated -- like I am not crazy and things are going well! I like hearing what others have done because none of the BF books I have give you much information about nursing beyone the first few weeks.

I think that you are right NoemiArthur, Sarah is crying more about sleeping. I think that that is why she wants to nurse every hour because it helps her fall asleep. I like your way of making sure that She sleeps enough during the day. I am going to start keeping track of her sleep time to in addition to when she nurses.

Thanks again to all of you!