I went away for a long weekend. When I returned my 10 week old son began struggling with returning to nursing from being feed by grandma from the bottle. For the past two days my son has only wanted to suck on my breast. He will occasionally fall asleep and when he wakes up he cries and only wants to nurse. He doesnt play or really even want to go to sleep for any length of time. I do not know if he is just sucking or if he is sucking hard enough to actually get milk. Maybe he is just sucking enough to get a little bit, but not hard enough to actually nurse. My question is what should I do? Do I continue this way, with him nursing all day, or do I give him a bottle. We have been enjoying a relatively successful, exclusive nursing experience until now. I want to get back to that place, but don't know how. Thanks.
Thanks to everyone for the help and support. My son and I are doing great. It was a conbination of regular doses of fenugreek, mother's milk tea and 24 hours of skin to skin contact and nursing in the bed with him. It will still be a few days before my milk production is back to regular, but all is well. It would have been horrible for us to loose our nursing time. Thanks Again.
Keep with the breast. When he realizes what's happening he'll go back to the pattern. Babies love schedules and consitency. Good luck!
If you listen when he is sucking, he will make a "kuh" sound when swallowing. This will help you know if he is actually nursing or not.
I can't give you advice other than that since I have a 3 month old who is "grazing". He will play and occasionally sleeps, but would love to nurse all day long. Only thing that makes him really happy other than nursing is being outside.
Hey S.,
He's just happy to have you and your boobs back and is using them for comfort and suckling. I would totally encourage you to continue on an exclusive nursing relationship but you'll need to establish some limits to his nursing. 20 minutes max per boob every 2-4 hours so the message gets reinforced that the boobs are for feeding. Babies do need to suck and while I'm not a huge fan of them long term, a pacifier for the first 6 months is a wonderful way to soothe the baby and give your nipples and much needed break. If you want or need to have him also take breast milk or formula from a bottle having someone else give him one feeding a day while you pump will help that.
Good luck and hang in there! I'm a huge nursing fan but didn't really love it until my son was 4 months old. It gets easier and sweeter and so much more rewarding. It's the thing I miss most when I see babies.
Did you pump while you were away? If not, maybe your supply went down from not pumping. His frequent sucking will increase your supply again. What was in the bottle grandma gave him, breast milk or formula? That makes a difference too. As long as he's staying hydrated and isn't too hungry, I would let him nurse all day. Another option would be to use a breast pump to build up your supply and supplement with frozen breast milk or formula until you have enough to keep him satisfied. Then again, I'm not a lactation consultant...they could help you more.
Productive sucking will be wide open mouth suck, a few small open mouth sucks, wide open mouth suck, a few small open mouth sucks, etc. Comfort sucking or sucking to encourage "let down" will be lots of small open mouth sucks. If you didn't pump every 3-4 hours in the day while away, your supply could be low. To reestablish supply, a "nursing vacation" may be what you both need. Take the baby to bed with you for a few days, rest, and nurse very often. In today's busy world though, this can be difficult to arrange. If it's nipple confusion, a bottle may make matters worse, and persistance usually pays off. "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" is a great reference book on how to increase supply and supplement at the breast, and deal with many other breastfeeding issues. If all esle fails, you should call a certified lactation consultant. CDH has several on staff: ###-###-#### Hope this helps, and good luck reestablishing a wonderful nursing experience!
Hi S., I'm A. J., one of the International Board Certified Lactation Consultants in Chicago. It sounds like you were off to a great start with your breastfeeding but encountered a problem after going away for a while. Your problem is very correctable, but there are several aspects of what's going on that we need to discuss to help you get back to where you want to be. Now, here's a quick check point: If your baby is making at least 4-6 tablespoon sized or bigger poops per 24 hrs., Then he is getting enough milk. As for his endless breastfeeding, I wouold call it a "Baby Moon" he wants to ramp your milk supply back up. Now, did you pump your milk while you were away? Please email me:____@____.com or call Home Care of Newborns & Families, Inc at ###-###-#### and we can talk, or schedule a home visit to get you and your son back on track. A year's worth of breastfeeding can save you at least $2400.00 in formula fees. Thanks, Hope to hear from you, A.
Sounds like he missed you! Maybe he just really need to be with you and know that you are not going anywhere. At that age they don't understand that when something isn't there is still exists and can come back. I would keep up the bonding and if you co-sleep that might help too.
I believe he is just adjusting to you being away and now coming back. Continue to nurse on demand and I think it will all sort itself out in the next few days. Even with pumping, your supply could have taken a dip. Pumps are not as efficient as babies at getting all the milk out. He could also be going through a growth spurt. The best way to keep your supply up is to nurse him frequently on demand, as he requires it.
Unfortunately that long weekend might have done just that, cause "confusion," which is actually sort of laziness because it's far less work to drink out of the bottle than the breast. The good thing is that he still wants to try and nurse, but probably is having difficulty at such a young age grasping that it is going to be harder to get his milk now than when he was with grandma.
Keep at it, certainly, and hopefully he will recover to nursing the way he was before. It might have to just be more difficult for you guys for awhile. Best of luck to you guys - and you might want to take him with you next time!! This is a really easy age to travel with.
I don't know how long you've been home, but it sounds more like he just wants to be with you. I work 24 hour shifts for the Chgo Fire Dept , so when I would get home after being away for so long both of my kids would "make me pay" for being gone. They would spend half the day nursing my first day home, then slowly return to normal. So maybe after 3-4 days he's trying to reconnect with you. I would suggest not giving him a bottle and let him slowly get back to his regular schedule.
He's also really quite young and It is very possible you have coincidentally stumbled into a growth spurt or change in demand. Often they go thru periods where they increase the demand to increase the supply. He's still definitely in a on-demand nursing age, so I'd let him have it. These times go too fast, when they no longer want to nurse you'll miss him hanging off you all day!! Hard to believe, but trust me!! :)
S.:
call a lactation consultant to assist you.... they can come to you and work with you one on one.
P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions
I'd encourage you to keep up for a few days and check out kellymom.com for support.
It sounds like your son doesn't have nipple confusion. Instead it sounds like for one, he missed you and is using nursing to reconnect and also is probably going through a growth spurt. Usually around 6 weeks and then around 3 months they really pack on some weight. Hang in there. Keep nursing him, use Lansinoh if your nipples are getting sore, and I would imagine his nursing routine will return to normal soon.
I have an almost 3 year old son I nursed for 21 months, and a baby girl who is 5 months old and exclusively breastfed.
A.
Assuming that you are making the milk ...
He probably really just missed you and is just getting the comfort and attachment again that he has known and loved.
I noticed that for my little guy - He wants to nurse all night the 2 days I work,(I work just 2 days a week) and then that first day off wants to be grazing all day. After that it's like he gets his fill of Mommy-time and the need gos down. - He's 10mos old now, and has done that since the beginning. - My 2yr old did the same thing.
