My LO is almost 15 weeks. She nurses pretty much all the time and almost never naps. I'm not sure she's eating the whole time she nurses because she nurses for 60-90 minutes at a time. Has anyone else had a LO that does this? It's just getting to be too much for me.
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@mandb36: That sounds like a long time! Do you notice her sucking pattern changing, maybe like getting "fluttery" after a certain time? She may be using you as a pacifier. The LC in the hospital advised me to unlatch LO when I noticed this happening. you could try giving a pacifier after that if she gets fussy.
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At 15 weeks she shouldn't be nursing for that long unless she's extremely inefficient. If she were you would know by now (lack of weight gain, extremely painful when nursing, etc). Maybe try popping her off after 15-20 minutes on each side. She could be nursing that long because it's comforting and restful, which she needs since she doesn't nap.
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@c.sassy: I agree with what you said. At this point she should be nursing efficiently so she is probably just comfort nursing and you can stop that.
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@mandb36: Thats a long time to nurse. I would say that she is comfort nursing, since she she be nursing more efficiently by this point. I would do 2 things: 1- find a pacifier 2- make an appt with a lactation consultant.
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I was considering going to the lactation consultant. We've tried pacifiers but she doesn't like them. She took one until three weeks old (this isn't to bring the mood down but she took one until the day of my FIL's funeral since DH wanted to put it in the memory box in the casket which I do understand).
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I just tried one of the other kinds of pacifiers we have that she rejected at two months and so far she's taking it. Maybe this is progress!
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@mandb36: Good! Also, distraction is a great tool.
Sometimes (and even still) to get my LO off the boob, I would have my husband come pick her up and take her outside or something. That quick distraction made her forget about nursing long enough that she would be ok.
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@mandb36: you could also try putting her down for a nap if she's fallen asleep while nursing...
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Is she falling asleep while nursing? If so, I would wake her up by rubbing her back or tickling her feet or side if she's ticklish. My 7 month old sleep eats about 90% of the time but I make sure that he's sucking and swallowing still. Also, once I noticed that he empties me I just take him off by using my pinky finger to unlatch him. And that's usually around 10 minutes on each side. It's less painful that way. My LO comfort nurses when he's really tired. He'll just keep trying to latch on even after he's done. He also knows that he'll get a second let down if he does that too; but then we'll be nursing for 20 minutes. Sometimes he cries a little after I take him off but he gets over it.
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@T-Mom: I have but she almost always wakes up when I try to put her down when she falls asleep nursing.
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@mandb36: Does she fall asleep when you unlatch her or when you move to put her down?
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@Thehistoryofus: It varies. Sometimes it's when I unlatch her, sometimes it's when she's moved. Sometimes it's even after she's moved when she seems to realize I'm not right there.
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@mandb36: It sounds like its just something you will have to work on over time. They have to learn how to nap without you right there and without latching on! But you can do a slow transition. See if you can work on on-latching but staying asleep in your arms. Once you get some success there, then try putting down to sleep.
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I was going to suggest that you try different pacifiers but it sounds like you've already done that with success! I agree with pp that you just have to start putting her down for a nap and try to teach her to fall asleep on her own.
I always thought that babies would just fall asleep when they were tired but I was soooo wrong and my LO, despite yawning all day long, would never actually fall asleep and stay asleep while I rocked and rocked and rocked him. At around 10 weeks old I worked really hard at getting him to nap in his room in the dark with white noise. I followed waketimes of 1-1.5 hrs. At 15 weeks I would use 1.5 hrs between naps. My cue was always if I saw 2-3 yawns, we'd go up to his room and put him down for a nap.
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@Thehistoryofus: She did sleep on me some this weekend which definitely was nice since it helped her not to be overly tired.
I will add that I do know she is getting enough. We went to a lactation consultant at two weeks old and at that point she ate 4 oz in about fifteen minutes.
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It took a while but she just went down for a nap. She ate around 11:25 (she had woken up for the day and eaten at 8:15ish). I made sure she was actively eating and woke her up if she started to drift into just sucking but not eating. She unlatched around 11:45 and seemed asleep but woke up when I moved her to nap.
She got fussy again around 12:40 so I let her nurse on the other side and made sure again that she was actively eating. She unlatched by herself again around 1:00 and is now asleep in the swing. I'll try to repeat this every three hours with play time in there instead of just trying to get to sleep and hopefully we've made progress. : )
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@mandb36: Awesome!
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Have you a introduced a paci yet? Definitely sounds like your LO is comfort nursing. Maybe trying a paci while she sleeps in your arms may help.
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@Clementine: She took a different kind of pacifier than I had been trying earlier. Oddly enough she took it enough to want to finish eating earlier and then fell asleep immediately after eating without the pacifier. But if today is any indication, it'll definitely be a useful tool when she needs it.
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A few questions.
1. Have you offered both sides? I can't remember when but at some point I had to start offering both sides at a nursing session.
2. Have you tried feeding a bit sooner than every three hours? If she was up at 8:15, it sounds like she was honestly tired at 11. Maybe feed before she gets really tired to make sure she eats till she's full. -
@Thehistoryofus: She was tired at 11 but she had eaten from 8:15 until around 9:30 this morning because she was only half heartedly eating. I'm definitely going to try offering both sides during the next session. She's still napping currently but seems like she's about to wake up and I think she's due to eat again around 3 so it should be right on schedule.
Thanks again to everyone for all of the advice! I have a lot of hope right now that we're moving in a good direction!
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