Nursing 7 week old every 2.5 to 3 hours seems impossible!

[@llli*mama.meg.30]

I have a 7.5 week old that weighs 11 lbs 10 oz, he was born 7 lbs 11 oz. he is a very fussy baby and always seems to want to nurse, sometimes every hour to hour and a half. He sleeps great at night and gives me a 6 hour stretch then goes 2.5 to 3 hours. It seems to be the afternoon is the hardest, he is very fussy and just wants to nurse. The pediatrician recommended to me that I try to spread out the feelings to 2.5 to 3 hours. That is all fine and dandy but my LO just cries and cries until I nurse him. I try everything, rocking, swaddle, vacuum on which calms him, changing diaper. How do I get him on this 2.5 to 3 hour schedule??? I know I am feeding on demand so is it ok to nurse so much. When he nurses the sessions are about 10-15 mins long. He gets very sleep so clearly he is tired. I need some advice.

[@llli*phi]

Frequent nursing and afternoon fussiness are totally normal. My son never once went 2.5-3 hours between feedings (except maybe at night on rare occasions). I think making your baby wait to nurse will just make for an even more unhappy baby.

Do you have a sling, wrap, or carrier? At that age I just tucked my baby in the sling and nursed him pretty much around the clock. We went for lots of walks with him in the sling, and that made him much happier too. Also a lot of my baby's evening fussiness was gas, and tummy massages and bicycling his legs between each feeding during the day helped to work out some of the gas incrementally so that it wasn't so bad in the evening. Evening baths helped too.

[@llli*joshuas.mommy]

That is poor advice from your pediatrician. Many pediatricians are not well-educated about breastfeeding. It is completely normal for a baby that age to want to nurse every hour and sometimes more often. The fussy period and 'cluster feeding' (on the breast nearly non-stop) in the evening is normal too. If it is not driving you nuts, the best thing you can possibly do is nurse on demand whenever your baby seems to want to. It is absolutely fine to feed on demand and nurse whenever he wants, you cannot overfeed a breastfed baby and you can't spoil him at this age either. My pediatrician told me at my 2 week checkup that I 'should' be nursing every 2 hours at most because 'you need a break' (from nursing). The truth is that trying to 'schedule' him was more stressful for me than just nursing on demand. I didn't feel like I needed 'a break' from nursing and didn't mind nursing every hour or more so really there wasn't a problem. Babies don't look at the clock and don't know they're supposed to be on a schedule. Feeding on demand is the most natural and best way to feed. It sounds to me like you're doing everything right and don't need to change a thing unless you want to.

[@llli*angie0712]

Frequent nursing and afternoon fussiness are totally normal. My son never once went 2.5-3 hours between feedings (except maybe at night on rare occasions). I think making your baby wait to nurse will just make for an even more unhappy baby.

When does it start to space out more?

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Especially since you're getting such long intervals at night (which is not that common and wonderful!), I think you should just roll with it during the day. Joe lengthened his feedings out to every 2-3 hours around five or six months, but that was day and night, so he was probably getting as many sessions in total as your little one. He didn't space them out any more than that until after he really got into solids. He did, however, get much less fussy in the evenings after 3 months or so, so don't worry, you won't be cluster feeding forever. What you're describing sounds really normal for a 7 week old, though.

[@llli*phi]

When does it start to space out more?

with joe.s.mom. My son was nursing every 2 hours pretty regularly starting around 5 months. He would go a liitle longer at night, but he didn't start giving me a 6 hour stretch at night until well after a year. Although my son nursed frequently throughout his infancy, the feedings shortened up significantly. After awhile he could get a full feeding on one breast in just a few minutes. I think the feedings started getting shorter between 8-12 weeks, but he was still nursing all the time.

A sling really helps with the nursing marathons. Sometimes my baby would even be happy enough just being carried around in the sling.

Mine also stopped fussing so much around 3 months. He got super fussy again at 4 months, then became a really happy little guy by 5 months.

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

That's a good point. Although Joe's feedings never spaced out all that much, and he fed day and night, feeding him became much faster and easier as time went on. So even if I was still feeding him every two hours or so, it only took 5-10 minutes, so it was way less of a big deal. And unlike a newborn, he'd latch himself on and generally be happy through the feeding. Way less fussiness at the breast, for sure. So it does get a ton easier.

[@llli*mommal]

Ecellent advice from the PPs. Your doc gave you awful advice. You've tried it his way and as a result you and your baby are both miserable and you are working even harder than you were before you started trying to "stretch" the intervals between the baby's feedings.

Fussy evenings are hard on everyone. The following are some strategies I found very useful for dealing with them:
- Nurse. Nurse, nurse, nurse nurse nurse. And then nurse some more. Your baby cannot scream at you if there is a breast in his mouth. . If nursing works, you don't have to bother with any of the rest of my tips!
- Calm house. Turn off the tv and stereo, and turn down the lights.
- White noise.
- Warm bath.
- Fresh air (go outside)
- Closeness (wear baby in a sling or snuggle him close)
- Motion (rocking, stroller ride, swing, bounce on an exercise ball)

Schedules are the enemy of breastfeeding success. Not only do they make mamas and babies miserable, but they mess with the supply = demand equation that governs how much milk a mom can produce. It's common for schedules to reduce milk supply to the point where the baby is not getting enough to eat.

[@llli*proverbs.wife]

ok, so reading these post gives me a bit of relief, feedings become short as they get older? I have a 2 month old daughter who eats for about 40 minuets, she also sleeps for about 6 hours at night and eats about every two hours during the day. In my mind I see her eating like this until I am done, which I plan will be when she turns 1, which means I only get maybe an hour inbetween. It makes me feel better that she will start eating "better"

[@llli*esmomof3]

proverbs.wife: Yes, it will get easier and shorter! You will be SO glad you stuck with it! That is why it is so sad when moms quit early...they don't realize how much easier it gets. I wish everyone had enough support to know things like that. It can be so hard when you are new mom and there is no one to reassure you about things.