Author Topic: constant feeding? Please help??  (Read 18946 times)

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Offline Me.and.my.two.boys

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #165 on: November 06, 2012, 16:00:59 pm »
I don't know if I should have started another thread or not, the title would have been the same! C has gone from feeding from one side roughly every 3 hours to both sides every 2 hours or less! He was 5w yesterday, I'm not sure if its a GS or not? Because he has been feeding both sides every time, when it comes to him wanting to feed again he isn't happy he has to work so hard to get milk and is fussing a lot! I even resorted to giving him a bottle of formula (which he finished) and that makes me sad that he wasn't satisfied with me :(

Nights are tough this last week too - he will feed around 7 or 8 and then sleep until 12 or 1 and then sleep until around 3 or 4 but after that feed he won't settle well and wants fed every hour nearly! I am getting hardly any sleep and I'm stressed and grumpy :(
Kelly, mum of two amazing boys 2008 and 2012

Offline ZacsMumme

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #166 on: November 06, 2012, 17:54:01 pm »
Is he on meds yet Hun, I've been thinking of you :-*
Do you think he is comfort feeding? Both my boys did/do this :-\
'Could' be a GS too ... How's everything else though? I he sleeping on? - pain at all. X
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Offline Me.and.my.two.boys

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #167 on: November 06, 2012, 18:03:14 pm »
no meds, the gaviscon seems to be helping a lot, still some refluxy days but much better than he was :) naps have been tough but i think its because im inconsistent - some days were out and he is in his carseat and other days he is at home and naps in his seat. I gave up settling him in his moses basket upstairs during the day because i coudnt be away from ds1 for all that time. he is usually held/rocked to sleep and then we put him down. he sleeps in his moses basket at night and will do one 5hr stretch between about 8pm and 1am and then he is usually up every 2 hours!

amazingly he had a 2.5hr nap today and woke up hungry (4.5hr since last feed) - im feeding him now (both sides) and i am hoping he will settle long enough in his chair for me to put ds1 to bed (dp working lates all week).

Im worried im running out of milk because he is feeding so often? can this happen?
Kelly, mum of two amazing boys 2008 and 2012

Offline Erin M

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #168 on: November 06, 2012, 18:07:08 pm »
Im worried im running out of milk because he is feeding so often? can this happen?
No, you pretty much continually make milk.  The human body is pretty amazing.

It really sounds like pretty classic growth spurt behavior to me.  What I found with all of mine is that there are the "textbook" growth spurts -- but that there are a whole bunch of other ones.  Our LOs don't necessarily grow when the books say they're supposed to, but when their bodies decide to.  If it settles down shortly, I'd call it a growth spurt, otherwise we can start thinking about other causes.  Also, don't worry too much about the naps -- it's harder to do EASY when it's not your first, but you just make it fit however it falls and it does work out eventually.  :)

Offline anna*

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #169 on: November 06, 2012, 18:16:31 pm »
Im worried im running out of milk because he is feeding so often? can this happen?

No. He can drink you dry for sure but you will make more. This is where loads of mums start supplementing, and then supplementing more until they wind up switching to bottle feeding. If it IS a growth spurt, the only thing to do is feed and feed. Yes you will be constsantly feeding, yes your baby might be hungry straight after a feed (not 'satisfied') but that's how your body gets the message MAKE MORE MILK and how your supply increases. It's a rough few days but it's normal, and you come out the other side of it with more milk and (hopefully) a more contented baby.

Hang in there.





Offline Me.and.my.two.boys

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #170 on: November 06, 2012, 18:27:43 pm »
Thanks Anna :) Poor wee man seems hungry all the time but Im ok with feeding him loads, as long as I know its a growth spurt and it will pass :)

I do feel like a milk machine though - like this is all im good for just now! lol!
Kelly, mum of two amazing boys 2008 and 2012

Offline eva026

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #171 on: November 06, 2012, 19:31:52 pm »
I do feel like a milk machine though - like this is all im good for just now! lol!

Lol, sounds like our GSs. I'd plant my bum of the sofa one morning and get up 3 days later when the GS finished.
I think our longest feeding session lasted for 3h!





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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #172 on: November 06, 2012, 20:27:12 pm »
Everyone else has said it so much better than me ;)

These babies are very clever and know just how to give your body the signal that it needs to produce more milk.  That could also explain the apparent need to BF more from 1am (prolactin, the milk producing hormone, is at its peak between 12am and 6am, apparently).  How they know they need to feed more then to get more milk I will never know, but they do seem to know it!

I know it's not very BW, but for self-preservation with our second we did a lot of co-sleeping in the earlier days, so I would get her into bed with me lying down and she would just latch on and feed.  The sucking was great for milk supply (although I still always had my concerns on that!) and we all got a lot more sleep than we would've done if we'd had to be getting up and down all night.  I always made sure to start her off for the night in her cot so we were setting up good foundations, but sometime you just have to do what you have to do to get through.  I'm sure it'll all come good :-*
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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #173 on: November 09, 2012, 15:21:08 pm »
Ladies - is it possible for one breast to make more milk than the other? C favours my right breast and it seems to be making more milk. I have been alternating sides but when I put him on the left breast, he gets annoyed, pulls off, shakes his head and then cries etc and if I move him over to the other side he latches on and feeds fine ???

My left side feels emptier and Im worried it will slowly stop making milk if it isnt getting stimulated as much as the other side.

I fed from right at 11am and pumped from the left (only got 1/2 oz) and then at 2pm I thought I would try and feed from the right again and see if there was enough milk for a feed and then I could pump from the left again but C seemed upset after about 10 minutes and I moved him to the left, he fed for a while and then seemed upset again! I was so confused so moved him back to the right, he must have got a little more because he finished and is happy. I tried expressing both sides and I only got a few drops.

Is it possible to feed from one side and pump from the other? The only reason I want to pump so much is because C is on infant gaviscon and I was giving it to him mixed with cooled boiled water but he is going off it and Im struggling to get him to take it so would like to be able to mix it with a little bm and give it to him that way! It would also be nice to have some milk so dp could feed C once in a while!

I finished feeding/pumping about 3pm and Im pretty sure C will be wanting fed again at 5pm - Im worried I will still be empty and he will be fussing and upset :( Were not going to be at home (we will be out taking L to his dads) and Im worried I will have a hungry baby and I wont know what to do ???
Kelly, mum of two amazing boys 2008 and 2012

Offline Erin M

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #174 on: November 09, 2012, 17:53:49 pm »
It is normal and I know we have at least one mom on here who only fed from one side...can't remember who though.

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #175 on: November 09, 2012, 18:17:07 pm »
Do you think he could be uncomfortable in any way when feeding from the left?

My memory is appalling, so I can't remember what your labour/delivery was like.  Did you have any interventions or was it all fairly straight forward?  I only ask because sometimes if there's been any forceps or ventouse, LO can end up with some residual damage from that which can then end up making them feel uncomfortable which sometimes manifests as a breast preference.
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Offline eva026

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #176 on: November 09, 2012, 18:21:00 pm »
I have the same. In fact I can only get DD to take my right side if she's just coming out of a nap or at night, so if I don't catch her at the right moment during the day I sometimes end up only feeding from the right side once and pumping it twice.
Boobs still the same size though, when it started I was worried I'd have to stuff my bra on the right to not look lopsided:))





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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #177 on: November 09, 2012, 18:59:44 pm »
Can you express from the 'non-favoured' boob until you get a let down so he doesn't have to work so hard? And breast compressions to keep the milk flowing? I know you CAN feed successfully from just one boob, but probably best not to until you've tried absolutely everything to get him to take both - even if just for the sake of post-BF symmetry, kwim?





Offline becj86

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #178 on: November 09, 2012, 21:15:56 pm »
Has he always favoured that breast, Kelly? DS favoured each of my breasts at different times - one has one large hole and the other has several smaller ones - he liked the one with one large hole when my OS was under control and preferred the one with several smaller holes when my OS was crazy, usually just after growth spurts.

I know someone who has fed just off one side bc LO refused the other side completely.

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Re: constant feeding? Please help??
« Reply #179 on: November 10, 2012, 10:09:49 am »
Bec, it hasn't always been this one. During the night he actually fed from each side fine, no pulling off or shaking his head - I think it's because he was managing to get milk more effectively because the breast was fuller (because it had been a good few hours since he fed last)

I'm scared to pump - I really want to so that I have some milk to mix his Gaviscon with but I'm worried that if I pump, I won't have produced enough milk by his next feed. It would be ok if I could guarantee 3 hours between feeds but sometimes it's as soon as 2 hours!
Kelly, mum of two amazing boys 2008 and 2012