I'm just wondering if this is typical or if I should be doing something different -- I'm sure I'm not alone in this but I feel like I have NO idea what I'm doing most of the time and would like some reassurance or advice!
Anyway, my son is almost six weeks old, and basically uses me as a human pacifier. He would probably be content to latch on and stay on all day. I can tell that after awhile he's not really eating, just sucking. I may have established this pattern unwittingly, because whenever he's cried I've thought, "Oh, maybe he's hungry" and offered him the breast, and he's never turned it down, haha. I've tried giving a pacifier (multiple types) and the most he's done is suck for a minute and then just let it fall out of his mouth and cry. The main issue with this is I nurse him to sleep, but it takes like an hour-plus of nursing and sucking until he's asleep enough to transfer to the bassinet. It's also basically impossible to get him back down when he wakes in the middle of the night because he just wants to stay latched on.
Was your newborn like this? Did they grow out of it at some point (when?) or am I establishing bad habits? Should I be trying to comfort him in other ways or is this normal? I'm grateful that the actual process of breastfeeding has not been difficult, but I wouldn't mind a litttttle more time with him not actively attached to my body...I've also tried pumping to have DH feed and give me a break, but he just sucked down the bottle and then still wanted to nurse right after.