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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Feeding constantly

14 replies

MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 12:38

Ds is 12 weeks nearly 13. Having very nearly given in a couple of times, I have managed to breast feed him exclusively. I am the first to accept that I have been spoilt by dd who slept from 11pm-6am at 8 weeks but am I'm so tired not getting more than 3 hours sleep at a stretch with this one.

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kiskidee · 09/05/2006 12:45

I believe there is a growth spurt at 12 weeks. can almost promise you that after this one, it gets easier. One day, not too far away, ds will look up at you while feeding and smile. (whisper - and keeps doing it too!)

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 12:49

please let this be true.

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NotQuiteCockney · 09/05/2006 12:59

Oh, the lack of sleep is a killer. Are you sleeping with your DS? Is it an option? It's only cosleeping that kept me from going bonkers with both my babies.

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 13:14

I'm sleeping with him and recently I have been able to put him in the crib beside me, he just doesn't go for very long

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Astrophe · 09/05/2006 13:56

We are in similar situations...my DD slept like a dream from 6 weeks, and DS (8 weeks) is dreadful...all feeding no sleeping. (Is it Sons? Might start a thread on this...). I'm doing one sided feeding to cope with over-supply and fast letdown, but this has also resulted in him sleeping better (4-5 hours for the past 5 nights). NOT that I am sugesting you feed this way, but I think the fact that he is staying on the one breast so long means he is getting the hind milk and its helping him sleep...so maybe you could check he is getting long enough on the one breats before you swap him to the other? Make sure he's really getting that hind milk? Or maybe you are already doing this.

I also find that if I sit up for the night feeds he gets a better feed and goes a bit longer...but I know its the last thing you feel like doing.

Best wishes, hope things improve really quickly.

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 14:11

Thanks. What you have suggested is going through my mind too. Longer on one breast and sitting up at night. I think maybe he falls asleep beside me before he has fed enough.

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tiktok · 09/05/2006 14:34

Astrophe - just a word of explanation.....the reason the one-sided feeding is helping (at least a bit!) is not really because this way he gets 'the hindmilk', and this strategy is not a 'cure' for babies who don't sleep much. It works, when it works, because it reduces supply, without restricting the amount of milk the baby gets.

Foremilk and hindmilk look after themselves and don't normally need to be 'clockwatched'.

When a mum has a really generous supply like you, the baby fills up quickly on comparatively more watery milk, which is comparatively high in lactose. The milk in very full breasts is more watery. In addition, mothers like this often have a fireman's hose type of letdown :) which overwhlems the baby and causes him to gulp and gasp.

Feeding one sided means the breasts get less stimulation, and produce less. A welcome side effect of this is the letdown is less 'hair trigger' and so doesn't cause the baby to struggle. In addition, it's not that he is getting 'the' hindmilk (there's no clear cut separation of the milks) but because the breasts are less full, the milk in them is creamier.

In most breastfeeding, milk available to the baby at the start of a feed is indeed higher in water, but this is hugely variable, and changes a lot depending on the gaps between feeds and mother's storage capacity.

MrsD - what your baby is doing is normal for babies of his age, and you need help and support to get you through it. I don't think longer on one breast will help, especially, though it won't harm to try!!

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 14:41

Thank you for that tiktok!!
So it doesn't help for me to hold him on my breast for longer so he gets the hind milk? He has a habit of struggling ferociously when he thinks he has finished on one side. I thought if I held him longer he would take more hindmilk. Obviously it's all rubbish though.

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 14:44

I should add that he 'possets' less this way too, which makes sense the way you put it tiktok.

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Astrophe · 09/05/2006 15:02

Tiktok. thanks, I had been confused. My 'baby bible' (a book called Baby Love - by a midwife) also says not to worry about foremilk and hindmilk at all and that babies always get out what they need from one or both breasts...but then your advice has helped me so I thought she must be wrong. SO - normally its not worth worrying about at all, but just my over supply that has sort of 'diluted' the fat/cream? is that right. Sorry I am taking so long to 'get' this!

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Astrophe · 09/05/2006 15:04

And sorry if I misled you Mrs D :)

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 15:50

No you didn't Apostrophe - I'm only 'getting' it myself

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tiktok · 09/05/2006 16:11

Mostly, babies don't need to have their time on the breast 'engineered'....if mum and baby communicate and respond to one another, which is a process that gradually becomes easier over the first days of bf, then all that happens is baby indicates he's had enough on side one, there's a natural gap and a pause, and then another period of alertness and mum offers the other side, which he may or may not take. No probs, no timing, no worrying, baby gets what he wants/needs.

The amount of cream in the milk is directly proportinate to the fullness of the breast. Now, from the baby's end of things, because watery components trickle down to the front of the breast, quite often, he'll get a slug of this when he first comes on . Then, as he continues to feed, the stickier, creamier ingredients come to him with the letdowns.

This has been misinterpreted by some 'well-known babycare authors' as being related to time - you see rubbish advice to 'make sure the baby is on your breast for x minutes or he won't reach the hindmilk' which I can tell you causes a lot of grief and confusion to mothers and babies.

Babies who feed very often come to the breast before the milk has had time to 'separate' in this way, so they will get some of the fattier milk that was 'left' from last time they were on the breast. This is why it is not a 'sin' to let the baby enjoy 'snacking' - this again is something that's confusing,and people think they have to 'make' the baby stay on for longer and to go longer between feeds, so as not to 'snack'.

Yes, one sided feeding can ensure the baby gets more cream in his milk, but as a direct consequence of the lowering of the supply...and this is why one sided feeding is not something everyone should strive for. Many mothers can easily satisfy one baby with one breast all the time, but some can't, and they need to follow their baby's lead in this.
Hope this helps!

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MrsDoolittle · 09/05/2006 16:47

I'm sorry I didn't ask you before tiktok. This all makes so much sense now - Thank you