https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 27 May 2026 07:59:26 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170746 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:13:29 +0000 illumina 1170746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: ahh that's not bad :) S only ever eats from one boob at a time so the other is usually fine waiting until the next feed. That was until this week (as per my other thread) when she's often going 4hrs between feeds. My boobs hurt. Right now she's been napping for 3hrs 45mins and I'm kind of hoping she'll wake up soon to relieve me!! I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm almost starting to worry she's napping TOO MUCH in the day!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170734 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:11:21 +0000 MapleMoose 1170734@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The LC told me if you see the jaw moving at the back towards the ears then it's nursing. If you see dimples form on the cheeks closer to the mouth then it's comfort sucking. I am able to tell using this method on M, but then again she's only 2 weeks old so her cheeks aren't as plump yet as they might be on an older baby. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170725 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:09:05 +0000 Foodnerd81 1170725@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: she's 12 weeks now, and goes to sleep between 8 and 9. Her wake up time is slowly getting later, but almost always between 2 and 4:30. But she usually is actually hungry for it. </p> <p>Yeah your boob being lighter is a good sign that's she's eating! C only took one side in the middle of the night and the other was rock hard this morning! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170692 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:00:16 +0000 illumina 1170692@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hilsy85: I'm so dumb, you know what, she must be eating something at 1am because the boob I give her feels much lighter after she's done!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170670 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:55:44 +0000 Adira 1170670@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: You could also try giving her a finger to suck on since you don't want to give her a paci. See if that will work? If she's really hungry, she'll spit it out and demand the real thing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170662 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:54:53 +0000 hilsy85 1170662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: yeah that that age I would not push to skip a feeding--it's better for your supply as well if you nurse her! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170653 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:52:27 +0000 illumina 1170653@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hilsy85: yeah, 5wks, still tiny. She's a great sleeper at the moment though, so it's not a huge deal. We don't really want to use a paci. We'd prefer if she found her thumb, which she's just starting to do, so maybe that will help? I think maybe I'll try the rocking back to sleep, see how that goes.</p> <p>@Foodnerd81: what time is C's bedtime? She's around 11wks old right? I would say there's something about 1am, but when we were "experimenting" the other week, I realised if I wake her at 11pm for a quick feed before we want to go to bed, she'll go until 3am until the next wake up. I've only done that twice though and not since as I subscribe to the "never wake a sleeping baby" thing and just trust her for the most part to figure things out for herself.</p> <p>@Revel: I'm the same, I don't mind it especially as she only feeds for such a short time at night and goes back down without any fuss. I feel bad for dh though because he always gets woken and can't just nap during the day like I can if I have to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170651 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:52:07 +0000 Adira 1170651@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with the others - comfort nursing is a lot more light and fluttery. They aren't really SUCKING and you don't hear or see them swallowing. When Xander's sleepy, his feeds often turn into comfort sucking.</p> <p>When I was trying to get Xander to drop some of his night feedings, I offered him a pacifier first (this won't work if your LO doesn't take one though) and see if he would take it. If he kept spitting it out, then I assumed he was hungry. But if he accepted it and fell back asleep, he just wasn't to comfort suck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170608 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:39:13 +0000 Revel 1170608@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I honestly couldn't tell for a really long time. I could see the difference between really gulping drinking and just comfort nursing on like a BF website with videos, but I just couldn't tell when LO was small. I have been able to tell for a while now that she is almost five months, but I swear it took two or three months. I opted to just nurse whenever she wanted and rely on number of diapers and weight gain to assure me she was getting enough. </p> <p>I still nurse at all her night wakings, whether for comfort or food, but I know not everyone wants to do that. I can usually tell if she wasn't hungry because I'll pop her on and she'll fall almost immediately back to sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170582 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:29:19 +0000 Foodnerd81 1170582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can tell at the end of the feeding when she's hardly sucking, more like fluttering her lips and tongue (unless it try to pull the nipple out, then she sucks harder). She also goes longer and longer between sucking. </p> <p>I don't know how to break the 1 am habit though. C had STTN a few times and is def capable of going 8 hours at a time, but I think most of the time she is hungry and does need the food. However I think she eats for 20 minutes then comfort nurses for half an hour after that which I could live without at 4:30 am. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170560 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:23:10 +0000 hilsy85 1170560@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can tell when my LO is comfort nursing because he'll flutter nurse--it feels like a butterfly almost. And he won't have any throat/jaw movement. </p> <p>How old is your LO? Little right? You could always try a paci at that waking if you think she's not really hungry, or just try rocking/shushing back to sleep, but if she really little I would probably just go with it when she wakes and look at the nights she doesn't as nice surprises! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/comfort-nursing-how-do-you-tell#post-1170539 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:15:38 +0000 illumina 1170539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I want to start by saying I have almost no (I'll get to this at the end) issues with allowing S to comfort nurse. I assumed up to recently that every time she was on the boob, she was feeding. Then yesterday she had "fed" for 30mins or so (a long time for her lately), taking regular breaks, when I burp her... and I noticed something odd, there was no spit up. This led me to thinking she was just sucking, not feeding! </p> <p>How do you tell if they are feeding or not? Sometimes she gulps and I can hear her swallowing, but not always. If she does it at all it's probably just at the end of feeds, as she's on a regular 3-4hr feeding schedule and doesn't tend to want the boob outside of this, apart from maybe if she's being a little fussy in the evenings, but again, I just assumed she was feeding the whole time!</p> <p>Ok so my one little issue is that I wonder if she's comfort nursing at one of her nightly wake-ups? Usually she goes down around 9-10pm and wakes up at 1am like clockwork, cries so I'll get her and then is so sleepy, "feeds" for 5-10mins max, falls asleep on me and I put her back down. Last night was different, she fed at 7pm, then was fussy but didn't want to nurse again so we eventually got her down around 9pm after letting her cuddle with us for a while. I thought she would wake up around 10-11pm ish based on the timing of the last feed, but she ended up staying asleep until her usual 1am. I was shocked she was capable of going 6 hours without a feed! So assuming last night was an exception, if her usual last feed is 9pm, does this mean the 1am wake up *is* for a snuggle? If so, I kind of feel guilty for considering this but is there a way to get her not to need this so we can sleep a little longer stretch at the beginning of the night?</p> <p>Wow that was long and disjointed- thanks for making it this far!! </p>