hungry all the time/won't sleep

[ladyscott]

for the past 3 days, my son (6 weeks, corrected age 1 week) has been wanting to eat every 2 hours.  He used to be an every 3 hour baby.  His feedings normally last 10-20 minutes, though I encourage him to stay on longer.  He also won't stay asleep for more than an hour, usually only catnapping for 15 min. to 1/2 an hour.  At night, he'll sleep for 2 hours, and will only sleep for longer if he's sleeping with me (I fall asleep while breast feeding).  He also acts like he forgets how to latch on properly.  I did a few yields and off one breast for 10 min. of electric pumping, I get between 2 to 4 ounces in the morning and between 1 to 3 ounces in the afternoon. 

I'm wondering if he's not getting enough and that's why he's wakeful, cranky and hungry all the time.  What do you think and what should I do?  It's completely thrown us off of EASY.

ladyscott

[Samuel's mum]

Do you think it could be a growth spurt? They can last up to a week and he is feeding more regularly to build up your milk supply in preparation for growth or development. It's a very efficient system.

Your yields sound very normal but as you probably know he would be getting a lot more than that as pumps aren't as efficient as babies. The length of his feeds sounds fine too.

Is the sleeping situation new as well or has that been going on for a while? When you say he can sleep for longer at night - how long can his stretches be? If it's been a sudden change in his sleeping then you may want to talk to a medical practioner or at least a breastfeeding helpline.

I loved co-sleeping at the beginning and really found it helped establish successful breastfeeding but if you are not happy about it you may want to ask for some advice on the sleep boards. I think the general BW line is don't start something that you're unhappy about doing or aren't prepared to see pretty permanent. Does that make sense?