3 Week Old Breastfeeding Prolems . . . or Maybe It's Normal?

Breastfeeding is on demand, that means whenever your baby is hungry you feed her. You cannot overfeed a breastfed baby.

You baby may be going through or ramping up for a growthspurt. Periods of increased nursing are totally normal and will stimulate you body to make more milk. I clearly remember days of 24/7 nursing and I was terribly worried I wasn't making enough milk...everyone I talked to including my ped assured me that it was completely normal during the first weeks of life, indeed expected to go through this and just nurse whenever I she was hungry.
Good luck!

My daughter seemed to nurse every hour for the first few weeks too. Probably some of it is comfort - being close and cuddly with mommy - and part is hunger. She probably gulps the bottles down because it's so much easier for her to eat from. If you think she is choking there maybe is a let down issue - this is what I did (advice from a hospital lac. consultant): when you nurse next time sit in a recliner or in a reclining position and put your baby over you - so the gravity is working against the let-down......that helped with the issue I was having that seemed the same as yours.

Infants feel more secure when they are able to suckle the breast. You cannot overfeed a baby by breastfeeding, tho you can by bottle. Bottles - you don't even have to suck in order for the fluid to drip out, with breasts you actually have to work at getting out the milk.

Eating often and sleeping right after is very common, even until 6 months. Just feed her from the breast when she's hungry and pump either before or after in order to get a stockpile supply in the freezer for when you return to work or in emergencies.

Feed from 1 breast two feedings in a row (pump the other side for your frozen supply) and allow her to feed as long as she desires.

Yes to most of it ... it could be as simple as she just needs to burp or rest in the middle of a feeding. It may be that one of your nipples isn't has trigger happy as the other so it takes longer to feed on that one side. (that was my problem). I would continue to pump and feed her via bottle for a few days so that you can track how much she is actually getting per feeding.

let her nurse one on untill she is done before moving her to the other. (she needs the hind milk) that way u get one close to empty. if she falls asleep nursing, wake her up and then switch and she will nurse herself back to sleep.
i really dont think u can ever over breast feed! she will stop when she is full.
at three weeks, id just let her nurse as much as u can stand to help build ur supply (and burn calories!!)

and dont use what you pump as a guide! it is very misleading. your breast know the difference from a pum and a baby. you will not see as much when u pump as ur baby is eating.

Check out the book "Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy" [http://www.breastfeedingwithcomfortandjoy.com]; it can help you with your questions. She may be having a poor latch, so having a hard time with the milk transfer, and getting enough milk into her, which can be remedied by refining and improving the latch, as shown in that book.

If you are worried that you're not producing enough milk, you may be put at ease by pumping extra -- which is not a bad idea anyway, so you can have bottles of expressed milk if you want/need to be separated from her for a while. Pumping can also help increase your supply, if you think that may be a problem. [I pumped for a friend's adopted baby, and how I increased my supply was to keep pumping for about 15 minutes after I was "dry" (i.e., producing only a few drops here and there). I kept it up for a while, and produced more every day, in addition to exclusively breastfeeding my own newborn.]

If I recall correctly, there's a growth spurt at about 3 weeks. When my babies hit their growth spurts, they would nurse constantly... I remember days when they would nurse for 2-3 hours, sleep an hour, and then do it again. My third would choke sometimes on the letdown... I would just take him off, and let him latch on again. He learned how to deal with it, and it was never a really big deal. I remember one of the older ones wouldn't choke, but the milk would occasionally come out his nose when it got flowing too fast. I've been told that pumping first would help with that initial letdown, but frankly, they all nursed so much at the time when that was a problem that there really wasn't time to pump much.

Count the wet diapers-- if fluid is coming out you KNOW fluid is going in! And remember "normal" is always a RANGE on a bell curve!

I can't say enough good things about going to a LLL meeting. There's something SO comforting about talking with a whole bunch of other moms in person! (AND you can call the local leader NOW for advice and support if you want) You can find a meeting near you at http://www.llli.org/webus.html

That sounds like my #3. She was--still is--an odd nurser. She latches on, gets distracted, looks around, latches on, sucks...she putzes. Part of the reason she wanted to nurser so much was that she had reflux, and the sucking kept things down where they belonged a little more. She also had torticollis, which influenced how she nursed as well. I doubt she has that, but if there are other signs, our first heads up to reflux was the constant nursing. Otherwise--all three of my babies nursed very differently, so as long as she's gaining and there are wet diapers, I wouldn't worry too much.

Get a referral from the hospital or your OB/GYN for a lactation consultant. They can be an enormous help.

You might want to look into "overactive letdown". I had this, and DD would choke. I used a combo of block feeding and a nipple shield til she was big enough to compensate. Bottles are easy. Nursing is a little more work.

When you are out and about, try having her in a wrap where you can nurse and walk at the same time. I personally never figured it out, but my friend was a pro.

She will stop eating when she's full. Infants do comfort nurse. You may find that she nurses actively for awhile, sucks but it's not "active" and then nurses again over that timeframe.

Pumping and nursing are not equal, so don't fret the ounces in the bottle.

Nurse on demand. You can't overnurse at this age and whether she is hungry or whether she is nursing for comfort it really doesn't matter. Don't play with a pump too much or you will have difficulty continuing to nurse long term. As you must know from your other experiences, it is so much easier to nurse than to bottlefeed and much cheaper also! I can't believe how expensive formula is these days!

Still nursing my 14 month old - although only when we are home as I am back to work full time. I love every minute of it and will keep going as long as he is willing.

No, you are not alone. Some babies want to eat and then when you take them off the breast they have a hissie fit. I had one of those and she would eat and eat until she would throw up and we would clean her up and she would eat again and feel contented. This did happen about the time you are talking about for about two weeks and then everything settled down.

Just remember as long as she is wetting diapers and have BMs she is getting enough to eat. Perhaps if you used one breat to get the hindmilk you might have more success and then switch for the next feeding. I know you feel lopsided sometimes but it is all about feeding and having a happy baby.

Do try to stay stress free while going through this phase so that baby does not feel it and tense up on you. A happy momma is a happy baby and a happy family.

Everyone has a different kind of let down for nursing. I had one of those that would drown an adult until I got it under control. If I didn't cover the non nursed side it sprayed all over the place until it settled down which usually took about five minutes and then all was well for nursing.

The other S.

PS I do so miss those days but then again grandchildren are nice to have fun with. You can always send them back home when you have enough heheheheh.

Sounds normal. Don't worry, I'm sure you're not over or under feeding her. :-)