Re: constantly nursing - 45 min per breast
Hi mama, this is (probably) normal newborn behavior! A baby this age will typically nurse at least 10-12 times per day, and might easily spend more than an hour at each nursing. They won't be spaced out evenly, so you might only get 10 minute breaks for awhile.
There are a couple things to check to make sure all is well. Is your milk in? How many wets & poops does she have in 24 hours? Have you had her weight checked since birth?
To cope, you might consider
- using a sling or carrier so that she can be close to you & held even when she's not nursing. sometimes they are nursing so much because they've figured out if they stop they get put down, and little ones like this have a default setting of needing to be held. i found it helpful to think about the "fourth trimester" - until the end of 3 months, babies really should still be in the womb, developmentally, when compared to other primates.
- have you learned how to nurse lying down yet? you'll need a safe sleep surface, and then i found this tutorial really helpful: http://www.mother-2-mother.com/tut-layingdown.htm
ETA: this behavior changes very quickly as her stomach gets bigger and she grows up. It's a matter of weeks - and worse during growth spurts which often happen at 3 weeks and 6 weeks - and then for almost everyone, the nursings space out and get faster. Hang in there!
DS1 6/7/11
DS2 10/29/13
Nursing, pumping, cloth-diapering, babywearing, working professor mama with the awesomest SAHD ever.