Still hungry VS comfort sucking

[albers30]

I’m having a hard time determining when my little guy is still hungry VS just wanting to nurse for comfort or because he’s tired. He’s not quite 3 weeks old and literally came out of the womb sucking his thumb (he was always doing that on US in womb as well) so he is definitely a suck for comfort baby. He’ll often show signs of hunger not long after a feed like rooting and sucking his hand/thumb but when I put him to the breast he actively eats for maybe a minute or two then seems to be falling asleep and just passively sucks for as long as I’ll let him sometimes or sometimes he’ll eventually pull himself off but the minute I put him down he wakes and starts sucking hand and rooting. He’s gaining weight and has plenty of wet/dirty diapers but that’s with letting him nurse on demand like that so I’m a little afraid if I don’t give in to these questionable nursing sessions that might affect him or my supply. We’ve been struggling at times with him sleeping independently so I don’t know if that’s a factor as well (being overtired and/or nursing as a prop for sleep). I don’t remember at this age how much and what we need to be doing to encourage independent sleep. Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

[*Ali*]

Hi, sorry you haven't had a reply yet.  How are things now?

[albers30]

Still the same

[sfusion]

I'm no expert but I'm having similar issue here with my week old.  In my case, it turns out she wasn't getting enough milk from me (not sure if it's a supply issue or just that it has not fully come in yet). We started giving her 15ml of formula through a syringe while breast feeding and now she sleeps independently.  If she falls asleep before she has nursed ~10 min on each side, she ends up rooting shortly afterwards/waking early.

[*Ali*]

I'm sorry I haven't been back to reply before now. It's manic with the 4 kids off school for the summer.

I hope things are improving. It's very normal for babies to need lots of contact and nursing in the early weeks. As you say not nursing will damage your supply, as will giving formula.

Does baby have lots of wet and dirty nappies? If so I wouldn't worry about not having enough milk. Do you have any in real life bf support group ypu can go to for reassurance?

[Katet]

My eldest did a lot of comfort sucking early on for first 6+ weeks (& with a had a split nipple, which was painful). He was a big baby & I thought surely when others are getting longer between feeds I should too. It settled at around 6 weeks.