Do you ever cut off nursing sessions? This past week, dd2 has been nursing and falling asleep and will nurse for 30+ mins on one side. Today we had one session last 43 mins. That was ok because i was watching tv but most of the time I have stuff to do!
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@SleepyMonkey: how old is LO?
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@FaithFertility: almost 3 months.
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My 4 day old nursed on one side for just over an hr this evening. A half hour later he started crying and I said there was no way he was hungry. Well, here I am again and he's 10 mins into the other side. He's such a voracious eater at this age that I wonder how long our nursing sessions will get, and if I will need to end a session "early." No answers for you, only commiseration.
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Almost always. My son (5 months) doesn't know when to stop (never has!), so I have a timer on. I find the sweet spot between him getting enough and getting too much (when he spits up a bunch if he eats too long)is about 23/24 minutes for us. I wouldn't know what to do with a baby who self-regulates when he or she should stop eating! Hope you find your own rhythm soon!
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Definitely. I can tell now when she's just using me as a pacifier, so I either let her continue because I'm nursing her to sleep (total 45 min) or I pop her off to get stuff done!!
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@SleepyMonkey: not that this helps you now, but it will get better. My DD used to nurse for 45-60 min a session. Around four months it switched to 15 min as she became more efficient. It became 5-10 min a session a few months after that.
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@Astro Bee: my baby had much longer sessions in her first week of life. Then they got shorter. Now they are way longer! I nursed 3 hours and 20 mins yesterday. Ughhh.
@ChiCalGoBee: thanks! She used to be an all business nurser...no comfort nursing. Until this week!
@derevival: when do you decide to pop her off? She will usually drink every let down so i don't really know when she is full.
@Zbug: 5-10 mins! Thats REALLY efficient!
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@SleepyMonkey: 3 hr 20 mins cumulative? Hmm, I should add up my timings, although I've mostly just been recording the start time and number of wet/poopy diapers. I think as long as they are getting the right number of those, it's okay?
@ZBug: my doctor said she would nurse for 5 mins each time because she had such fast milk flow, and that was sufficient for her boys. She has 4 so I can only imagine how precious her time was.
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I always had too. She never would just unlatch.
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@Astro Bee: yes cumulative. I track the nursing sessions with a timer in the Baby Connect app. I may be a little obsessed with this app. Thank goodness today is mostly back to normal. Should be around 1 and a half hours total.
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@Smurfette: was there a time limit where you would cut her off? Like...20 mins? 25 mins?
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@SleepyMonkey: yes. When she was a newborn I did 20-25 mins each side. Then cut down the time as she got older
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Like others have said, my DS very rarely stops on his own (like maybe 10 times in his life). When he was a newborn I would stop him after 40 minutes. Now, at 4.5 months, I stop him after 20 minutes. If he freaks out when I take him off I might offer him the other side, but usually he's satisfied.
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@SleepyMonkey: I say then yeah.......DD seems to get right to business and will pull away on her own, then chat and babble to me....I can also tell when she is eating or just playing
DD is almost 4months
I think at that age it is ok, if she is upset offer it again -
Can you hear/feel/see the difference between them drinking/letdown and comfort nursing as they drift off?
I would listen to DD and cut her off once the meal was over at that age. What helped was following an eat-play-sleep pattern during the day so she wasn't tired at the breast.
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@mrsrugbee: Yes I followed that as much as I could
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@SleepyMonkey: My LO usually nurses less vigorously and it's obvious when she is starting to nod off. It's a very delicate balance though because I don't want to pop her off too soon because it will startle her awake, which I don't want! So, once I see she is nursing less (sucking less), I will wait another 10-15 minutes max and then try to get her off.
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@SleepyMonkey: my baby is two months, and I have just started unlatching her when I can tell she is just comfort nursing. She usually nurses for 25-30 minutes (around 4-4.5 hours a day total!) when she gets up to around 45, I know she's either getting too much or comfort nursing, so sometimes I'll unlatch her. If she gets upset and goes for more I'll let her get back on.
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