The past 2 days, at least, I've noticed that my daughter isn't showing signs of hunger often. She is sleeping a lot, when she wakes up she is very alert. Tonight she was very fussy. I wake her up to feed her, usually when I start feeling full, I've had to pump a couple times to find relief because when offered she either refused or only ate a little. Any thoughts on why???
Mother of 3 beautiful girls, and expecting baby number 4 in July
I see from your other tread that overactive letdown is a suspect with you-unchecked, oald may sometimes cause a baby to refuse to nurse. Not saying that is what is going on, not enough info-
gain good, output good? How much has nursing frequency reduced overall? Just as babies ramp up nursing when going through a growth spurt, they can ramp down at other times, and that can be perfectly normal. It's a matter of degree. If your baby was nursing 12 times a day and (at this age) went to 8 times for a while, and output etc was fine, that might be just fine. If droped rapidly from, for example 12 times to 6 times or less that could be alarming. These numbers are not exact, every baby is different I am just trying to give an example.
She was gaining good at our last visit, and is very plump and healthy looking. Plenty of wet diapers, not as many dirty, I don't know if she is constipated some or what. She will have fingertip size spots for a day or two then have a big blowout. She has had a stuffy nose as well. She is eating just about as often, but I'm waking her up to do so. I wasn't sure if I could over feed her if I don't wait for her cues. But if I wait for her I become very uncomfortable.
I guess the base question is whether or not I need to wake her up or if I should wait for her cues. I worry about her not getting enough so I offer at least every 4 hours, if not sooner if I become engorged.
Mother of 3 beautiful girls, and expecting baby number 4 in July
If her weight gain is good she is getting enough. Exclusively breastfed babies do not, as a general rule, get constipated. It is normal for poops to become much less frequent some time after around 6 weeks of age. (It is also normal for them to NOT get less frequent in case anyone is wondering.) But post 6 weeks babies can start going several days between poops, even up to a week or more, and it can be perfectly normal. You know it is not constipation if the poops are still generally moist, runny looking. And of course they may become way more copious when less frequent. So what you describe as far as poops go sounds normal. You know baby is still getting enough by weight gain and wet diapers.
Whether you wake baby up to feed her is up to you. You cannot overfeed her at the breast, so if you start feeling full or having an urge to nurse, I see nothing wrong with encouraging baby to do so, even if it means waking her up. On the other hand, waking her may not be necessary. Really by this age nursing frequency can vary quite a bit baby to baby. Also feeding frequency will likely increase or decrease-go up and down-several times during the time you nurse, which is normal. This is why LLL and lactation professionals encourage cue feeding- because feeding on a schedule does not allow for these many normal variations in nursing behavior. The only time cue feeding does NOT work is in the circumstance where a baby, usually for some health related reason, does not cue often enough. This only happens quite rarely beyond the first 2 weeks of life or so.
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8 weeks, not showing signs of hunger
with all 3 still
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