Breast feeding Question?

Question

My 5 1/2 week olf daughter is breastfed and has been since she was born. She was doing fine eating every 2-3 hours but in the last few days she's been weird about eating. She nurses, doesn't seem to latch on as strongly and only nurses from one side for about 7-10 minutes. Before she was nursing for 10-20 minutes both sides. After she eats she falls back asleep and then wants to "snack" every so often,around every 20 minutes. When she stops feeding she starts looking for something again, latches on for about 5 seconds, stops and keeps repeating this. She sucks her hand a lot, but refuses a pacifier. I know she's not eating as much, either that or I am producing more, because I pump when she is done and still collect quite a bit of milk and that's AFTER she eats. She still makes wet diapers so I am not worried about dehydration..yet. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it normal? Could it be nipple confusion? I have given her a bottle only a couple times because she starts daycare next week and will have to take a bottle because I can't nurse while she is there. (She will still be getting breast milk though) How can I get her to feed like she used to or is it nothing to worry about? Thanks!

Answer 1

jsut because she's not eating as long doesnt mean she is not eating as much- the older babies get, the better they get at getting teh milk out ina  shorter period of time. taking the other breast isn't very important. inf act, it's good for them to nurse longer on one side so teh get more of the hindmilk and if they don't want the other side then that's fine. she is probably going through a growth spurt where she wants to nurse more often  and then gets tired. growth spurt can make them very tiredd andd eat often but not a whole lot. Babies go through these things all the time and to me it sounds like nothing to worry about. Their eating patterns will change from day to day and as long as they are gaining weight and peeing good then you have nothing to worry about. don't be afraid if within the next couple of weeks her bowel movements slow down either. After the first month or so breastfed babies tend to change their amount of bowel movements and breastfed babeis can go up to a week without a bowel movement with it being perfectly normal. breastmilk is so pure that almost all of it is used up and there is little waste

here is a great site for you:) and good luck

http://www.kellymom.com/

Answer 2

it sounds to me like she has either become efficient enough that 7-10 min on each side is enough to satisfy her OR she is falling asleep mid feed and not getting enough.  My daughter did the same thing and I had to tickle along her spine to wake her up and get her to finish.  They say though that 10-15 mins each side is enough to satisfy them. Keep up the good work I promise you it gets very hard when you go back to work.  At 5 months I am still BF and pumping constantly but it is worth it!