frequent nurser

[Oregonmother]

My 5 month old boy demands to be breastfed every 2 hours while awake! I started him on rice cereal two weeks ago and it has not helped any. Any suggestions on how to get him to go longer between feedings. Also, he nursed every hour while awake until he was 3 1/2 months old so he is doing better but it is still a lot. And he refuses to take mor than about 2 ounces from a bottle.

[Marissa]

Are you at home with him all day, or do you work oustide the home?

[Oregonmother]

I am a stay at home mom.

[PJAlama]

I decided very early on that feeding on demand did not work for my baby, because he would (not unlike his mom!) want to eat, eat, eat whenever he could, whether he'd had enough or not. (Let's just say that my nickname has never been "Twiggy.:)) So when he was just 2 or 3 weeks old, I started giving him a pacifier when it seemed too soon for him to really be hungry (at that time, less than 2 hours between feedings), and sometimes even letting him cry himself to sleep if the passy didn't satisfy him & it wasn't time to nurse. Result? Within a week or two he learned to comfort himself by sucking his thumb and became the most mellow, easily contented baby I'd ever seen. He also (would you believe) gained weight more steadily when I fed him on schedule than on demand.

I know that not every kid responds equally well to this kind of tough approach -- at the time, it was what I had to do to keep my nipples from being gnawed off and my sanity from going out the window -- but it might be worth a try. Granted, if you've been feeding on demand for 5 months, this sort of treatment will come as more of a rude awakening to your kid than it did to a malleable 2-week-old. But I think that expecting a certain degree of self-comforting from a 5-month-old would also be a lot less controversial than my expecting it from a 2-week-old, so it might actually work better for you now than it would have at an earlier stage.

Good luck!
Pauline

[LoveMyBug]

Some babies nore frequently but only ingest a small amount, where others don't nurse as frequent, but their stomachs hold more.

My DS is 8 months old and nurses 12-15 times a day. He eats every 1-3 hours and it depends on how much he ingests to how long he can go. there really isn't anything you can do about how much they ingest, so I would just keep on keepin on.

The only other option is to put your baby on a schedule and starve him between feedings, but no one wants to do that to a baby, now do they?

[PJAlama]

I strongly object to the implication that putting a baby on a schedule is "starving" him. Plenty of us were raised with scheduled feedings, and are raising our babies that way, without anyone "starving."

There is no reason to throw up your hands at this sort of situation and say, "there's nothing I can do." Why not talk to your pediatrician about your child's nutritional needs & get his/her advice on how much the child actually needs & how to distinguish real hunger from comfort-seeking?

Pauline

[kitmama]

"Schedule" doesn't have to be something that's incompatible with feeding your baby on demand- at least, not if you make sure the baby is really hungry before automatically offering your breast. The pacifier is a good thing to try, also you could change his diaper, play a little peek-a-boo, move to a different room for a change of scene, whatever- if he is truly hungry he won't be easily distracted, but if he's really looking for some attention, for something to do or just wants to suckle (but not eat necessarily) then you'll be able to distract him with something else. If it seems that nothing else will do, then by all means feed him.

The other thing to start trying is to make sure to get a full feeding each time. He's probably just snacking now- I think his stomach should be capable of holding more food than he is currently taking at a time now. Also, he may be getting mostly foremilk (the milk that comes out at first, which is more watery and less filling) rather than hindmilk (which comes after the foremilk, and is more rich and filling). Shoot for a good 10 to 15 mins of suckling on each side at each feeding. If he stops too soon, you can try burping him before continuing, or tickle his feet to keep him awake, or talk to him, whatever. You might not be able to get that much eating out of him at first, but at least try to get a good solid feeding on one breast, so he gets the hindmilk.

Now, since he's been eating so frequently for so long, he's probably not used to holding much in his stomach at once- so at first he really will be hungry more often than, say, every 3 hours. But hopefully as you work on feeding more each time, and making sure to only feed when he's really hungry, then soon he will be spacing his feedings farther apart than he is now. Once he settles into a new rhythm you may find he has put himself on a "schedule"- eating every 3-4 hours, say, and getting sleepy for naps around the same time each day. Just watch out for his cues.

I started out thinking "schedule" was almost a bad word. But really, I noticed that if my son got good full feedings when he was hungry, and I didn't expect every fuss to be hunger, then soon after 3 mo he almost put himself on a schedule. He wants to eat and sleep around the same times each day- which is helpful to me. My idea of keeping him on a schedule was recognizing his rhythm, and then doing what I could to keep him on it.

I hope this is helpful to you. Please know, though, that I am no expert in any way, shape or form- I'm a new mom with only one son so far, and this is just based on my experience. It may or may not be useful in your situation.