oversupply and going too long between feedings?

[@llli*phi]

I wouldn't worry about spit up. My son literally spewed spit up all. the. time. and it was really gross, but he never choked on spit up sleeping or awake. Spit up can be totally normal, and is not a concern unless there is pain accompanying the spit up.

If your baby is feeding more frequently today and having normal looking poops, then I think that is a good sign that she needs to be nursing at least that frequently. Again, the spit up does not indicate she is over eating; it really means nothing at all. The frequent poops mean nothing as well. My son would poop every diaper for several days in a row, and it was never an issue.

You cannot overfeed when you are breastfeeding. Our pediatrician told me this at every. single. visit. - my son spit up huge amounts constantly and was packing on weight like mad. Our pediatrician simply said it's normal, he's healthy and growing, and you can't overfeed as long as you feed at the breast.

It's very normal for such a young baby to need help falling asleep. Your baby is at an age where she is becoming more alert and fighting sleep is very common. Like I said, my son was a TERRIBLE napper. It took forever to get him to sleep, then I was lucky to get 20 minutes of sleep from him. I used to change his diaper first, then nurse him to sleep.

Obviously, you need to do what is going to work best for you, but it really sounds like nursing more frequently is better for your baby despite the spit up. Personally, I prefer to nurse on demand, but if was tied to a routine I would go with the eat-play-eat-sleep routine over the eat-play-sleep, which can bring about serious problems (it's easy to go from an oversupply to an undersupply pretty quickly by spacing feedings through these sorts of routines). I didn't do a routine so I don't have much advice beyond that, but you might want to at least get creative with it in order to fit in more feedings. Also remember that your baby is very young yet and will likely fall into a pattern on her own as she grows.

Again, keep in mind that spit up absolutely does not indicate overeating; it is simply the norm for some babies (mine included). Wearing my baby more upright in a sling or carrier helped a little bit though (although I did get spit up on in the sling/carrier a lot too - I often put a towel between me and my baby because of that). If your daughter seems to be having discomfort from gas (common with OALD), you can bicycle her legs between feedings and give warm baths. Mechanically working on gas is much better for little tummies than spacing feedings.

ETA: And of course excellent wisdom from Mommal, as always. It takes me forever to type on the iPad, and I'm always missing stuff!

[@llli*jadedfrrog]

I guess I may have to start nursing her to sleep again. :-/ I really was trying to get her to put herself to sleep, as so many of my friends babies have done but mine does not for some reason.

Any advice on how to change her diaper and not have her wake up if she poops right after or during a feed?

[@llli*phi]

I think the extra nursing is what is needed right now, for your baby's tummy, for your supply, and for maximizing you and your baby's sleep.

Your baby is so little still. Give it time. I think a good bedtime routine is much better for learning to put oneself to sleep than is daytime scheduling/routines. It can take awhile, but your baby will put herself to sleep when she is developmentally ready to do so. You just need to be consistent with your bedtime routine and be patient.

You can't compare your baby to other babies. You can make yourself crazy doing that. She has her own individual needs that need to be met; and while she may need more assistance in some areas at certain times, she will likely be more independent and excel in other areas at other times as long as you keep meeting her specific needs. My son nursed to sleep his entire first year, but he was saying words at 10 months and sentences by 15 months. He didn't roll over (intentionally) until 6 months - and we really worked on that, but he was walking at 11 months and running at 12 months . It is difficult sometimes (believe me, I know first hand), but you just have to let go of expectations and roll with it.

If your baby poops during a feed right before a nap, I would probably change her right away and then put her back to the breast to fall back to sleep. That's what I used to do anyway.

[@llli*mommal]

I think the whole "putting herself to sleep" thing is an unattainable goal for a lot of moms/babies. Some babies just spontaneously fall asleep- or so I've heard. I've never actually met a baby who would just fall asleep without assistance. And for those babies who do just go to sleep with no help from mom/dad- who knows what it took for some of them to get there? Maybe they cried it out, and the parents are too embarrassed to admit that they let their kid scream for an hour.

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Nothing but nursing to sleep worked for me at that age, either. I spent a lot of time stressing out over my little boy's sleeping patterns when he was an infant, and now I wish I had just relaxed and gone with the flow! Nursing to sleep is easy and pleasant, and all babies (even my extraordinarily sleep resistant one) eventually do learn to go to sleep on their own. But it happens on their timeline - not ours. All the time I spent trying to change my child's basic temperament - well, it never worked and it just left me stressed and tired!

[@llli*phi]

Any advice on how to change her diaper and not have her wake up if she poops right after or during a feed?

I just remembered something else I used to do as far as diaper changes and waking goes that worked really well when my son was that little. Although I was usually nursing one breast at a time (or even when I was doing minor block feeding), I was able to use both breasts when it suited me because my son nursed so frequently (every 1-2 hours) and it didn't cause any problems. So in the afternoons and evenings when my supply was a little lower, I would nurse my son on one breast, change his diaper, then nurse him on the other breast to get him back to sleep. That worked very nicely most of the time.

I know you are concerned about "foremilk", but one usually needn't worry so much about foremilk/hindmilk imbalance when nursing on demand (or at least 10-12x every 24 hours). There is no real distinction between foremilk and hindmilk, just a gradual and relatively minor compositional change throughout the feed (there is fat and fat soluble elements in all of the milk you produce, it just becomes more concentrated as the feed progresses). As long as your baby nurses frequently enough, nursing on both breasts periodically should not be an issue unless there is a really severe oversupply, and it sounds like that is not necessarily the case.

What you can do when you nurse on both breasts, is start out on the breast that you used last - that should help your baby get a slower flow of milk and your baby will be getting the fattier milk from the emptier breast first before moving on to the second breast.