10 Week Old Feeds Every 2 Hours - Allllll Day and Night

Oh my the memories that this brings to mind!! My first child breastfed every two hours, 24 hours a day for months and months it seemed like!!! I called myself the "human pacifier"...lol. I would suggest that you give co-sleeping a try...that way you can sleep while she nurses. Has the nursing schedule been this way since birth or is this something new? If it is something new she is probably getting ready to enter a growth spurt and this is her bodies way of helping YOUR body to get prepared by boosting your milk supply.
Does your birth hospital have a lactation clinic? If they do...make a visit and have a talk with the Lactation Specialist...she should have some great suggestions for you.
In the meantime...please don't give in to any temptations to supplement with formula...that will just be making the problem more complex because your body won't be producing as much milk...and your supply will become inadequate for her. Supplementing with formula can make breastfeeding SO much more complicated!!! If you are producing an excess of milk...pump...and freeze it to use when you go back to work!!

I know some people might not agree with me on this one, but you could give her her formula at night- it might help her sleep for longer stretches of time because it's more filling. I formula fed my 4 and they all ate every 2 hrs. during the day, but would sleep for 4 hr. stretches @ night. Formula makes them gain weight faster too, which also helps them sleep longer.

Right around this age you can see if she will be entertained otherwise (snuggling, singing, etc) before automatically feeding her. But she also might be cluster-feeding through a growth spurt as well. I know how hard this is, I remember those days:) Hope you can get some rest soon:)

Maybe put her in bed with you at the 1am feeding and you might find yourself getting a longer stretch of sleep, she might suckle a little and go right back to sleep... thus learning that she does not really need that 1am nor the 3am feeding anymore, soon she wont wake up for it. If you get the 11-5 stretch that will be nice. That's what I would do. Just remember, getting your sleep is the most important thing, whether you have to get that by being on the couch, in a recliner or pullling your kid in to co-sleep for a time, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. You cant survive when you are exhausted because you lose ALL of your patience and become so drained that you become no good to anyone.

Ok my son will be 11 months and he would prefer to nurse every 2 hours however he actually eats every 4-5 hours. I feel you pain because he didn't start doing this until a couple weeks ago. I know a lot of people say to let your child feed on demand but at 10 weeks baby should be able to go longer than 2 hours...maybe she wants to be close to you and this is the way to to it(babies are sneaky like that) I have 2 other children and I think that is why for my son.You could try making her wait to nurse in half hour incriments. Let her cry I know it seems mean but she will survive and won't have any lasting resentment whe she is older..Also is it possible she has gas and acts like she wants to eat? My pediatrician told me that is takes 2 hours to digest breast milk and and to not let my son eat sooner than 2.5 or he would get gas and continue to think he is hungry and the cycle would never end. This was at his 2 week check up. I feel your pain my son still gets up in middle of the night to nurse although we are currently working on that! Good luck

You cannot let them go longer until they are of a certain weight, and mine did not get there until 6 months. Talk to your doctor, but the current philosophy is feed-on-demand for healthy future, so unfortunately that means every 2 hours for the first few months at least.

Have you tried nursing her while she's in a sling so you can get other stuff done? Every 2 hours seems pretty normal for a newborn. I was told 10-12 nursings in the beginning was average. Remember, this will pass. Is she 10 lbs yet?

It's not what you want to hear, but it sounds about right to me. There is also a growth spurt coming up. Use a sling so you can still run after your 3yr old. This may not be popular, but bring your baby to bed w/ you. Then they can nurse while you keep on snoozing. If you don't want her in your bed you can get a co-sleeper (arm's reach co-sleeper is fantastic!!) so she if right there for a quick night time feed.

She could be going through a growth spurt, but maybe she's not hungry every 2 hours, but still needs something (and doesn't know what it is?) Does she take a pacifier? Not sure how you feel about that, but both my babies loved sucking on a pacifier- it soothed them when they were needing to suck but weren't hungry. They definitely would eat when they were hungry and suck on a pacifier when they were not... there was no confusion for either one of them!

Have you tried to push her to 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 hours? (We all know that a baby crying for 2 minutes seems like 20!!!) I guess some breastfed babies eat every 2 hours, but it seems like at 10 weeks, unless she's going through a growth spurt, she should be able to go a little longer than 2 hours. Maybe if she just nursed and wakes up again, your husband could try to get her back to sleep in the middle of the night without eating??? (If she's around you, of course she's going to want to nurse, but if you aren't around, maybe he could help soothe her back to sleep???) This is what I would try.

Not sure if you're open to it, but what about some formula? At least you wouldn't feel like a human pacifier! Good luck.

I agree with Linda try a formula bottle before bed it may hold her a little longer. I didn't nurse so I guess I don't get the whole anti formula thing. My kids are 26 and 22 and grew up healthy, smart, and fine being formula fed. I think it is more important to be able to function and be able to attend to your three year old right now, then worry about giving into your baby getting a bottle of formula. I know myself when I am exhausted I am cranky, and unable to function so I would think your lack of sleep is affecting your day and especially trying to keep up with a three year old. My kids were on cereal by 3 months old but that was many years ago and now there are all new rules. I think all children are different and they do not always go by the book, or even what is recommended. Children have to be raised by their individual needs, not what is always suggested. if your baby needs more then give her more, and get some much needed rest. Good luck!!

are you producing enough breast milk? i had a similar problem with my youngest eating every hour on the hour and i found out i wasnt producing enough breast milk so i supplemented and eventually had to go to straight formula and even had to add cereal to it cause i couldnt get him full. i did this before i found this site so see what you can do to increase your breast milk and ask your doc about it. i wanted to breast feed just wasnt feasible for me. so i hope you can get the answers i couldnt get to continue breast feeding. i wanted to do it for at least 7 months didnt work that way though.

I know that many, many people will probably disagree, but I'm just throwing it out there as an idea...would you be willing to try co-sleeping? I co-slept with both my kids, and it was so much easier on me (and my husband) because the baby never had to cry to be fed (when your baby is right next to you and starts to get restless, you just start breastfeeding while she's next to you, and you don't have to get up and you can just go right back to sleep). I was a SAHM with my first, but with my son I went back to work, so it was really nice to sleep with him and breastfeed with him at night because I got so much more sleep. And they both transitioned just fine to their own beds and now they're 8 and 6 and have no problems sleeping on their own and sleeping through the night.

I know that lots of people advocate co-sleeping for bonding and "attachment parenting" and what-not, but for me, the bottom line was I co-slept with my babies because I wanted more sleep! :-) And my husband was for it because he didn't have to get up or be woken up by a crying baby, either. Anyway, I know that's probably not the answer you were looking for, but I thought I'd share my experience. Good luck!

My dd is almost 6 months old and still eats every 2 hrs during the day (from 6am to 8pm). And, she still gets up a couple times a night to eat. Not telling you this to bum you out :) but just to say I understand where you are coming from, and that every baby is different. My daughter just has always needed/wanted to eat that frequently. She is not overweight at all (in fact is a long stringbean) she just eats very often. I have tried stretching it but it never goes well-she is sad and hungry and that just seem silly to me. My pediatrician told me that I need to just continue to feed her on demand, and I know that at 10 wks you definitely are supposed to be feeding on demand. Good suggestions about getting a swing/carrier. Cosleeping may also be a saving grace foor you. Hope things get better for you!

Oops-I meant sling, not swing! :)

That is typical for many babies. I know that is NOT what you want to hear. My DD did that and at the time it felt like forever.

Have you tried to give extra feeds in the evening before she goes down for the night? Sometimes that can help them stretch out for a longer sleep at night. If your nipples are irritated by the constant nursing you may want to check your latch because if she is latched correctly it shouldn't hurt at all. And with an incorrect latch, she won't be stimulating the breast properly and milk supply will suffer. But every 2 hours can be totally normal for many babies.

I'd also say give co-sleeping a try. I think Dr Sears has info on how to co-sleep safely. Really it can be salvation for nursing moms. If it is not for you, have her crib right next to the bed so you don't have to get up and go down the hall. It can make such a difference!

I found that my DD did things when she was good and ready and not a moment before, no matter what I did. She slept longer stretches when she was ready. The fact is that babies need to eat round the clock and it just takes some longer to sleep longer stretches. She will get there though.

I agree with the co-sleeping and sling advice. Both saved me with my 2nd and third children. There's a growth spurt coming up and then she probably won't be feeding quite that often, until the next growth spurt of course.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with her feeding every two hours, in fact this is completely normal and healthy. Have you ever been to a le leche leauge meeting? Check out thier website for more info. Breastfed babies NEED to nurse more frequently, at least every two hours, sometimes even more frequent. Night nursing is also healthy and important for keeping up your milk supply(especially when you go back to work). Co-sleeping is great for times when you need more sleep, you can just roll over and nurse, hardly waking both you and the baby. Also a sling will be our true life saver. Learn to nurse your baby in it, and your life will suddenly become so much easier! Please dont get discouraged, feel blesses that yiu have a healthy nursing baby! It may feel overwhelming right now, but it will pay off when you have a healthy, robust baby! Keep at it mamma, it will get easier with time!