Breastfeeding Too Much?

oh yeah... it's normal. They're little piggies at that age. Lots of different theories on how to deal with it. I say feed on demand.

My daughter was the same way. While this might seem a little exhausting, this is what they do. Especially if you are exclusively breastfeeding, it can seem like you never get a break. This is a small sacrifice in the long run, you are giving her the best food there is for a baby. It doesn't last forever, so hang in there. Besides if you are really worried, her ped. should be able to tell if she is getting enough to eat by her weight gain.

I think its pretty normal. My son was like that too. It gets pretty tiring as the mom, but at this age, that is what they do I guess. I talked to the lactation people, and that is what they said. It works itself out eventually! Hang in there. And, Congratulations on the new one!

She's fine, fine, fine. It's all about supply and demand. Just let her nurse as much as she wants, it will take a few months to get the whole process regulated. Hang in there, it is so worth it!

I would have been so lucky if my LO had only fed once every hour!! Ha! My son nursed every half an hour for the first month and a half! She's getting enough milk, just go with the flow, she's teaching your body how to feed her and it sounds like she's a pretty good teacher.

Sounds like she is doing wonderfully -- my first one nursed every 15-45 minutes and gained weight like a champ! And it is all healthy weight if it's from breastmilk -- it will actually *decrease* her risk of obesity later in life, so let her nurse away! Also note that there are brief 24-48 hour periods (usually somewhere between 3-6 weeks, at 3 months and at 6 months) where babies will seem nurse almost nonstop all day. These are growth spurts and it takes the breasts about 24 hours to catch up with the demand. Please do not supplement at these times (or at any time) because your milk supply will not be able increase with the baby's needs. Supplementing with formula at any time is the fast track to pre-mature weaning because it causes the milk supply to continually drop.

La Leche League's website has lots of useful information and resources at www.llli.org, and my fav breastfeeding books are "The Baby Book" by William Sears (best deal! -- contains important information from ALL of his books!), and "The Nursing Mother's Companion" by Kathleen Huggins. If you like a really compact and easy to read book I recommend William Sears' "The Breastfeeding Book" which is also top-notch.

Or, if you attend local La Leche League meetings you can get answers to almost any question under the sun you may have about breastfeeding, as well as discover the hundreds of amazing benefits of nursing like higher IQ, proper jaw and palate development, superior and unmatched psychological benefits, increased bone density, and reduced risk of SIDS, cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, juvenile diabetes, anemia, cavities, allergies, asthma, eczema, and much, much more. Science is still uncovering more and more benefits of breastmilk every day and the ones we know of are considered to be just the tip of the iceberg. Also, the antiobiotic properties which protect against illness actually *increase* with age, and the longer you breastfeed the greater the strength of all the other benefits. When parents ask Dr. Sears how long they should breastfeed, his answer is, "How healthy do you want your child to be?"

I highly recommend reading Ma'hale's question on breastfeeding Jan 13 to get an idea of how universal and beneficial breastfeeding really is. Good for you for choosing only the best for your child, and hang in there -- you will be rewarded by it for the rest of you and your daughter's life! Take care. :-)

This sounds totally normal. When they are so little, so is their stomach, they need to eat often. As long as she has lots of poop and pee diapers she is getting enough milk. Lots of babies have a certain time where they cluster feed and it has nothing to do with your milk.

If you are really worried you could always call a lactation consultant or go somewhere they have a scale... weigh her before you nurse and after, then you know how much milk she's getting.

These are good sites to look at.
http://www.kellymom.com/index.html
http://www.drjacknewman.com/

I did scheduled feedings with my son every 2 1/2-3 hrs throughout the day. I have found that sometimes people associate fussiness or crying with hunger when really the baby may have gas, be bored, need a cuddle, etc. A lot of babies will eat if food is offered and if they are fussing because of gas and then put food on top of it they are in more pain. If your baby is seeming hungry an hour after feeding, you may want to try burping her, checking her diaper, cuddling, etc to see if maybe there isn't some other problem to deal with than hunger.

sounds like about what we did when we were nursing...i refer to my son and self of course ;)

strongly agree with everything Charlene said btw.

have fun...it's over in a blink...and if you can, try and get a picture of your newborn at that angle. the strongest memories i have of my son for his first 9mo are at an angle i have *not one* photograph of. wish i did.

My advice is if you have all the time in the world to breastfeed then by all means do what you are doing but I personally made my kids wait at least 3 hours between feedings and shot more for 4. At 2 weeks of age she needs about 2 oz at a time (on a 4 hour schedule). They do need what I call suck time though and I would use a pacifier for that, it is a personal choice. I didn't have time to have a kid attached to the boob all day and night. She is probably going through a growth spurt but I didn't let that change the schedule for me. Do what works for you, good luck.

My first baby did the same thing. She could nurse until the cows came home! :-)

this is very normal as your baby grows, i didn't start weaning my kids out to two hours until after about two or three months. right now i feed my 9mnth old still about every two in ahalf to three hours, but i am going to nurse him until he is about 18mnths old or so...

L.,

This is totally normal for newborns. My daughter wanted to nurse all the time. One day she would go 3 or 4 hours between feedings then the next she would nurse about every hour to hour and a half. It really does depend on the baby and their growth spurts. They have so many in the first 6 months its crazy. My daughter just turned 6 months and she is still eating like crazy. About a week ago I was giving her 4 oz. of formula every 2 hours instead of her normal of about 5 hours between feedings. It's completely normal and I wish you the best.

Good luck with your new one and hope you get some sleep soon.

S.

This is totally normal. Many infants nurse every 15 minutes in the begining. She's making sure that your breast milk adjusts to the amount that she needs. It can take several months for your milk completely adjust to the right amount for her. Sometimes they'll eat every few minutes and sometimes it's every few hours.

You should not try to put your baby on a schedule. Most people I have known that put their breastfed baby on a schedule drove themselves to using a bottle. From an evolutionary aspect humans would have fed their babies on demand. Even 100 years ago people did not chart, weigh, and schedule infant feedings and nearly all babies were properly fed and grew up healthy. Charting was invented by some doctor that thinks everything needs to be tangible.

Infants should be fed on demand. Your baby knows when she's hungry, the clock does not.

Breastfeeding is the best thing that you can do for your child. Stick with it. Good luck!

She is putting on a growth spurt. Demanding more of you, will make you produce more, and then she will have more. She will be able to grow more. It is normal.

Perfectly Normal :) Sounds like you have a healthy baby!

Perfectly normal! I had days of growth spurts, when she wanted to nurse non-stop and my husband came home to me crying....because I thought I didn't have enough milk (being a first time mom). But everyone I talked to said the same thing: almost all babies do this!

Congrats and enjoy your little one....

Ditto previous posts; my son ate a LOT for awhile. Good luck, and I wish you sleep soon!

I don't think it's ever too much - the same can't be said for formula-fed babies - so allow her to nurse when she wants for as long as she wants, particularly in these early days when babies work to set up the milk supply and have a series of growth spurts that require them to eat more. You might want to ask your doc about pacifiers and the best time to introduce them. If it's done too early there can be some nipple confusion.

She will probably go through spurts of frequent eating as she grows, but the first 6 weeks it seems like they take a while to work out a schedule. My daughter would vary between every 2-3 hours to every 45 minutes! After about 6 weeks it stabilized to a steady 2.5 hours or so.

Best wishes and happy breastfeeding!!!

A.

Perfectly normal, my baby fed every half an hour...exhausting, but they know how much they need to eat. If you think he is not getting enough, then it's a problem, so you may want to see a lactation consultant. I saw one & it helped alot eve n though he was doing fine. .

Hi, Lynelle -
Congratulations on your new baby!
As a former childbirth instructor and mom of 3 healthy breastfed "babies" (now 11, 8 and 4), I can tell you that babies go through lots of growth spurts, one of them right around 2 weeks old. Your baby is likely trying to increase your milk supply to meet with her increasing demands. Prepare yourself for this to happen again at around 5 weeks old, and more down the line! As others have said, it's not really possible for a breastfed baby to overeat! We can't measure what they're getting, every baby's needs are different, and if she is gaining weight, your milk supply is probably just fine. Just believe in your body's ability to be in sync with your baby, and unless something like lack of weight gain point the other direction, be confident you are both doing great!
Best wishes - J.

She may be going through a growth spurt, common around 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, but can happen any time. I know my son would want to eat all day for about 2 days, then would sleep more than usual for 2 days.

Sounds totally normal to me. My son was bf'ing allll the time until he was about 8 weeks old. Then it slowed down a bit, to every 2-3 hours. He would want to feed every 20-30 minutes the first couple weeks. It can be really tiring, but it does get easier!

As long as she is having pee/poo diapers, she's getting enough, she's just most likely learning while her body regulates hunger etc. Most babies also have a growth spurt around 3 weeks, so that could be part of it as well. :)

Sounds normal, but alot depends on how much she is getting at each nursing. I received some great advice when I was nursing my newborn. Perhaps it will be helpful to you as well.

1. Do not let her snack and snooze. That means encourage her to nurse long (as you are saying she is) to ensure she is getting the rich hindmilk. My lactaction consultant and ped had both told me to tickle her under the chin, talk to her in an upbeat manner, etc while nursing so she learned it wasn't sip and snooze time. I recall when she was about 4-6 weeks old, she was nursing 15+ minutes per breast.
2. Think Eat-Wake-Sleep (not eat-sleep-wake). After you nurse and burp her, interact with her for 10-15 minutes to provide some "wake time" positive loving stimulation. Then change her and put her down for naptime. So the routine discourages breastfeeding to sleep and improves eating habits as well as sleep habits as she grows. This is different at your evening and nighttime feedings, when you are encouraging a good sleep routine -- nurse, then burp and change, then lullabies and to sleep (no wake-time interaction other than changing and lullabies).
3. She will go through growth spurts and be hungry as you are seeing. This is normal, usually it is about 1.5- max 2 hours between feedings at this young age (during the day), so she could well be hungrier sooner. Just make sure she's "emptying" your breasts as best as she can. Don't alternate within a feeding at this young age. She can't drink too much at a time still, so empty one breast so she's really getting the hindmilk and stimulating increase in supply, next feeding offer the second breast. As she gets a bit older, you will end up offering both breasts for longer feedings.

These tips really helped me with my daughter and she still has good eating and sleep habits. Perhaps it's just dumb luck, but I think this advice had something to do with it!
:) Good luck and ENJOY!!!!

She's growing and she's hungry. The more she nurses the more milk you will produce to meet her needs. It's okay and it's great that you recognize the need to feed on demand. Congratulations on your new baby!!!! Enjoy every moment, even the frustrating ones!!

Babies go through growth spurts all the time and they don't necessarily happen at the 3wk, 3mo... intervals that the books say. My daughter ate like a horse one day then like a bird the next. I think frequent feedings are natures way of ensuring that mama's milk is coming in. If your baby is gaining weight properly, then there is nothing to worry about.

This sounds totally normal. My baby nursed so often, I wondered, too. It sounds like your milk supply is being established. Your body will adjust to your baby's suckling and make as much milk as she needs. That's the beauty of breastfeeding, your body adjusts to your baby's demands. Also, babes go through growth spurts and nurse more frequently at those times. You body responds fairly quickly, too. Keep up the good work!

That is totally normal. She is going thru a growth spurt. So every 2 hours is mild in comparison to some (mine were every hour :) ) She will go thru another one at about 6 weeks. She will adjust her feeding over time and do these "cluster feedings" as she grows and wants you to produce more milk to accomodate her. I know it can be tiring but it is only a season and I am sure you are doing a great job!! Breastfeecing can sometimes feel overwhelming so get support if you need it. There are a lot of great mother's out there who will help to answer your questions and cheer you on!!

Very normal. Sometimes they even nurse every hour. You can never over-feed a breastfeeding baby. They digest the proteins in breast milk fast and go through frequent growth spurts. It won't always be that often, but let your baby tell you when she's hungry and try to feed before she is crying for it (babies give early hunger cues such as squirming/chewing on fingers and rooting). Remember, breast feeding helps your baby in several ways: nourishment (food), health/wellness, hydration, comfort, pacification, and bonding. Extensive BF questions are answered by certified lactation consultants at www.kellymom.com and www.llli.org.

Blessings and enjoy your baby!
J.

L.,

The greatest thing about breastfeeding is that it's almost impossible for a child to over eat. If she's nursing more she very likely could be growing.

My son, when he was nursing, would have these marathon feeding sessions where he would nurse for literally 3 hours. He's now five years old and thanks to genetics he's the size of the average seven year old.

If you are really concerned about your little one talk to her pediatrician. Also listen to your gut feelings, they are very often spot on.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

Both of my youngest boys were like that. The pediatrician said to try and space out how much they ate. I for one do not believe in telling a baby no when they want to eat, especially a newborn. My nurse midwife agreed with me. She says some babies are just hungry more often. It is impossible to tell how much they really get each time and we just have to feed them when they are hungry.
Don't worry. It is better than having a baby that wont eat or breastfeed. My oldest son would not breast feed and he was underweight most of his infancy. You are blessed with a healthy, growing girl!

Every baby is different! My daughter nursed every two hours FOREVER! Hang in there....they eat when and how much they need to!

This is totally normal. Unless your baby starts losing weight or is not peeing, you should try your best to let go of the fear that your baby is not getting enough. Many women worry about it because you just can't see how much your baby is getting. Too many women give up nursing because they are convinced their baby isn't getting enough when in fact almost all women have no problem producing exactly what the baby wants. My babies ate every two hours for the first few months. Their tummies are so small, and they are growing so fast.

Congratulations on your new little one, and good luck with nursing. Just try to remember that your body was made for this and it will all work out.

Hi L., its very normal for babies to eat that much! For one, they are trying to establish a real connection with you, and its also a comfort thing... they are in this new world, and being connected to you is very very important for them. In my experience nursing 2 babies they really don't stop nursing that much until they are almost 3 months old. Don't fret, you will get better at nursing and so will they, it will get easier. I would suggest also attending a La Leche League meeting to connect with other nursing moms about these things, its great to have that support!

This is very normal. At two weeks they go through a growth spurt, so they are extra hungry. Good luck and enjoy the bonding together

that is perfectly normal!

It could be a variety of things. Not enough milk is one possibility. However if she seems content after eating then your milk supply is probably fine. During growth spurts they will nurse more often.
another possibility is are you just nursing when there could be another reason for crying like boredom. Or for the baby to recieve comfort if they are gassy. Trust your insticts.
My 6 week old still prefers to eat about every 2 hrs.

totally normal!
especially during (but not always limited to) the usual growth spurts: around-ish 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, 6 months.
is she having plenty of wet diapers?

the baby is just trying to increase your milk supply. They do that from time to time. The body reacts to the baby's needs. Don't worry, the baby is getting enough milk, and she's making sure she has enough for her growing needs.