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Offline soji

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really short feeds
« on: February 23, 2007, 15:12:09 pm »
Hi everyone -
DD is 8 months old.  Lately she's been nursing very quickly - say 3 to 5 minutes.  SHe'll suck, suck, suck, and then she's decided she's DONE!  She takes both sides and if I can get her to nurse for 5 minutes or more consistently, I am one HAPPY mommy.  But here's my concern.  My boobs get really full by the time she goes down for her nap (around 2.5 hours later) and then they are REALLY full by the time she feeds again.  Before if she would stop nursing, I would just switch her from side to side until she refused a breast. Now after 3-5 minutes on one side, she absolutely refuses that side.  I put her on the other side and she'll go for 3- 5 minutes and then her mouth is clamped shut!  She started clamping down during her solid feeds too.  She used to be so easy to feed her solids and now she's got the "I'm not eating anymore" clamp down routine down pat!  So, should I be concerned that she's not getting enough bm?  I have forceful let down and she always sucks until after the let down has slowed down (so that I'm not spraying milk when she pops off!)  We went through the whole distraction phase where she would pop off all the time and the biting phase to this. 

I really love bf'ing and miss the time that she used to suckle longer.  :(  But I'm so happy to be giving her anything she can take now.
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Offline daisymelan

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Re: really short feeds
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2007, 16:29:27 pm »
Sure sounds normal to me.  I bet she's just much more aware of how in control of her environment she is and she has decided she only needs to nurse for short times to get what she needs.  I know my lo was about that fast at that age.  I can appreciate you missing the cuddle time though.   :(

As long as she's content and makes it from one feed to the next then she is getting enough.  Clamping down is a good indication she's done as she can't nurse when she does that (just liek the biting).

HTH
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Offline soji

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Re: really short feeds
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2007, 17:48:19 pm »
thanks for your encouragement.  Well, she's now going for one boob for 3 or 5 minutes and then the next one for barely 1 minute!  But that's it.  She won't go for more.  I even tried bf'ing her before her nap and she doesn't want it!  My boob gets really heavy with milk and I'm afraid that it's going to slow down my production, but if she's getting all she needs that's okay, right?  My boobs will adjust to how much my baby needs as time goes on, right?  I try to give her a little more bm with her solids, but it's not nearly as much as when she used to suckle for a long time.
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Offline RachelC

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Re: really short feeds
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2007, 17:57:50 pm »
Still sounds normal to me.  Yes, your breasts will adjust to her  needs.

Can you post your daily routine including feed (both solids and bm) times?
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Offline soji

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Re: really short feeds
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2007, 14:33:01 pm »
Thanks so much for your reply!!!

Here's our routine lately...

7 am wake
7:15 bf: right side 3-5 minutes.  left side - lucky if i get 2 minutes of continuous sucking.  If she does latch on, she will usually (I use this term loosely now) suck until my let down passes. 
8 am solids: cereal/fruit/veggies
9:30 nap
11:30 wake/bf; left side 3-5 minutes.  right side - lucky if i get 2 minutes of continuous sucking.  (same as above)
12:30-1 snack - yogurt
2:00 nap
3:30/4:00 wake/bf; start with right side and same as above
5:00 solids
6:30/7 bath
7:00/7:30 bf/bedtime: here's the weird part.  She will suck longer b/c we dropped the catnap and she's been falling asleep bf'ing (we're working on this), but she'll go for 10 minutes on each side.  I have to admit that i LOVE this.  But last night she ate so poorly during the day that she cried hard when we put her in the crib (which she NEVER does) and I had to bf her for another 10 minutes.  Then she fell asleep and her diaper was nice and wet this morning.  Yesterday was by far the worst day in a very LONG time.  She's been sleeping very well for months now and can put herself down for all her naps and bedtime.  She doesn't wake up during the middle of night.  But she has been waking up around 6am and just playing in her crib.  This has been going on for that last 2 weeks now.  I saw her on the video monitor.  Otherwise i would have no idea that she was awake.  Up until 2 weeks ago she was sleeping solidly until 7 am.  Sometimes we would have to wake her up!!
Don't know what's going on...

Do you think it's a nursing strike b/c of her teething????
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