EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

How often is your DC nursing during the day? How often at night? DS is 4 weeks old today, and he nurses every 2 hours, sometimes 1 and a half, sometimes 3 during the day... at night it's every 2 hours. Sometimes he will give me 1-- three hour stretch. This is killing me. I'm exhausted. I don't know what to do to get him to sleep longer...

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

DS is 5 weeks old and i EBFed in the beginning but my supply couldnt keep up wit his demand. He is ALWAYS hungry. Now i supplement with formula a night and get 4-5 hour stretches!

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

There were times when DS would nurse every 90 minutes when he was a NB. It wasn't easy, but before you know it he will be going longer in between feedings! At that age I felt it was best to nurse on demand. Hang in there!

Maybe DC is having a growth spurt, usuall they nurse like crazy for a couple of days and then it calms down. Hang in there!

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

Unfortunately for you, at that age, you have to just feed on demand. I remember being so exhausted I thought I would just fall over while walking. When you put him down at night, what do you do? From the start, we have been swaddling (I HIGHLY recommend the Woombie , and we use a white noise CD (Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block- heartbeat sounds, track 4). That really helped him go loooong stretches at night. When he was about 4 weeks old, he started going 7-8 hours at night. Hang in there, it's really tough, but soon enough it will get easier and better!! What you're doing is SO good for your baby and SO worth all the hardship you have to go through in the beginning!!

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

At that age DD was nursing 7 times a day. She would eat every 2-3 hrs during the day and have a good stretch through the night twice. Now DD is 3.5 months and sometimes only 6 times per day. Every baby is so different though! I wish I could remember my DS's schedule but, I think it was more frequently. HTH!

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

Problem is DS doesn't really like to be swaddled... we use the Swaddle Me... however, when we don't swaddle he startles and wakes himself. The other issues is he LOVES to be held,... he sleeps wonderfully in our arms... once we put him down in his bassinet, he wakes up or only sleeps for short periods.

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

I think at that time I was nursing every 2.5 hours during the day and night.

And occasionally cluster-feeding!

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

Posted by Cookiegobbler

Problem is DS doesn't really like to be swaddled... we use the Swaddle Me... however, when we don't swaddle he startles and wakes himself. The other issues is he LOVES to be held,... he sleeps wonderfully in our arms... once we put him down in his bassinet, he wakes up or only sleeps for short periods.

Re: EBF Moms of newborns/infants....

Posted by wingsofsong

Posted by Cookiegobbler

Problem is DS doesn't really like to be swaddled... we use the Swaddle Me... however, when we don't swaddle he startles and wakes himself. The other issues is he LOVES to be held,... he sleeps wonderfully in our arms... once we put him down in his bassinet, he wakes up or only sleeps for short periods.

Is the issue with the swaddling because he can't move his arms? My son did NOT like to be swaddled because he hated his arms being stuck down at his sides. But he always slept better swaddled, so we would get him very sleepy and then swaddle him so he didn't really fight. BUT, then we discovered the Woombie, which is awesome, because they have movement of all their limbs because of the stretchy material, but it's still tight enough around them to be cozy, warm, and startle-free! I would def recommend trying it- I put the link in my last post.