Limit Feeding Time?

[togg_mama]

Ignore the ped. He's an idiot.

[cupcakewright]

I have to agree with the PP that say let that baby alone, lol!

Your baby will start being more efficient in time and will shorten feeds on his own but for now let that baby eat!

[mom2piddle]

I started out not limiting my DD to how long she wanted to nurse BUT I ended up with her latched on to me ALL the time....So I started limiting her...not anything insane, just reasonably 30-35 min per side during the day and 40-45 min before bed....I felt like I was being used as a pacifier....but if you are worried about your baby getting hindmilk you can always pump for 5 mins or hand express a little milk and then feed your baby....

I also had a low milk supply so do MORE feeding (shorter ones of course) helped increase my supply and my DD would then nurse for shorter times due to getting more milk!

HTH

[kezoo]

I agree that it is ridiculous that you can "teach" your 8 week old to become more efficient by cutting him off! However, I will say that if you need to cut him off in order to go somewhere (e.g. pick up older child from preschool, be at an appointment), and he's already nursed 20 minutes on one side, I think that's fine. I have read in many places that the bulk of the milk has been eaten in 20ish minutes (for most full term babies). You can watch the motion of the jaw and see if he is actively suckling or sucking for comfort. If he's actively suckling, then obviously let him continue!! And I'm not saying comfort is not a valid reason for letting him continue to nurse, but IMO he'll be fine if you occasionally limit the comfort nursing time because you have some other responsibilities. And as pp said, that will probably change in the future and he will nurse more quickly. My first was like yours - 45 minutes to an hour at a time!! Luckily, he was my first, so I didn't have other children to take care of. My second must've known she was second, because she would be 5 minutes and done (from birth!!). GL mama, and I don't think it will be bad to occasionally cut him off at 30 minutes or so.

ETA: I also wanted to add that breastfeeding is a relationship between two people - the baby and the mama - and you need to take care of your baby and YOURSELF to be healthy and provide the best for your baby. This falls under the "other responsibilities" that I mentioned above and if you need to limit comfort nursing once in awhile so you can take care of yourself (e.g. take a shower before 3 pm LOL), then I don't see a problem with that. Don't be a martyr and end up tired and sick and resentful of your bf'ing relationship. I'm not suggesting that's where you are (you don't sound it), but I wanted to remind you to "allow" yourself some me time. I know it's hard w/ a nb!!!

[carmelita625]

Even with the "new standards" for Dr's to promote BF'ing there are still a ton of baby trainers out there who don't have time to really help. DD's first ped told us strictly every 2 hrs, your not an all day and night cafe, and if you can't pump enough for your husband to feed her once a day then you don't produce enough so switch to FF. Oh and she wasn't as fat as he thought she should be, was any one in my family small. Now other than having just had her I am not nor have I ever been heavy or over weight, on the contrary, I was the smallest person amongst most of my friends and peers. When I told him that he said "No I mean really skinny." How's that for a confidence boost? This from a fat little man. I felt in my heart he was wrong and went through 2 more Dr's before I found one who asked me why I was so worried. She said she was healthy, so she wasn't a big baby, she was gaining just not like others. Her height was way above average. I was never able to pump productively but she nursed for 19 months.

My point is don't let the "expert" get to you. Get a lactaion consultant to visit you. That really helped me tons. And DD also loved to stay on for long periods.

[cindylouhoo]

What is up with peds being so concerned about babies being "efficient" eaters?! When I told Ella's ped at one of her newborn check-ups that she was eating every hour, he told me to wait at least 2 hours between feedings and to pacify her some other way if she became hungry during those two hours. He told me this would make her a more "efficient" eater. I left there knowing that there's no way I would make my baby wait to eat if she's hungry. As an adult, when I'm hungry, I want food, not some other form of pacification, so how could I expect a baby to follow that kind of crazy thinking?

The sad thing is that there are so many parents who take everything that their peds say to heart and wouldn't know how detrimental limiting their baby's BFing could be.

[one_lucky_mom]

I wouldn't listen to the advice either. Each baby is very different. Some eat faster and some eat slower, and only they know when they have had enough, no one else. There are times my dd takes very little time to nurse and then there are other times she takes longer. Your baby is still young and may either just be a slow eater or is still getting the hang of it and will become faster with time, but personally I wouldn't set a time limit on my child. It takes qwite a bit of time to get BFing mastered. Even if you have nursed before it is still new for the baby. It would also break my heart to hear that crying and it is prob hard on him (emtionally) as well because he doesn't understand why you are taking it away when he still needs it. IMO

[one_lucky_mom]

Originally Posted by cindylouhoo What is up with peds being so concerned about babies being "efficient" eaters?! When I told Ella's ped at one of her newborn check-ups that she was eating every hour, he told me to wait at least 2 hours between feedings and to pacify her some other way if she became hungry during those two hours. He told me this would make her a more "efficient" eater. I left there knowing that there's no way I would make my baby wait to eat if she's hungry. As an adult, when I'm hungry, I want food, not some other form of pacification, so how could I expect a baby to follow that kind of crazy thinking? The sad thing is that there are so many parents who take everything that their peds say to heart and wouldn't know how detrimental limiting their baby's BFing could be.

I'm so glad I have a family Dr. that fully supports bfing. I told him that dd at 1yo will still nurse every hour sometimes, but this is for a short period and he said nothing to that except that I'm doing a great thing for her still nursing.

[Calliope]

I won't add to the GREAT advise you've already received, but wanted to tell you my dd2 nursed for 45 min until she was about 3 months old. Then she started to get more efficent and gradually it came down to about 15-20 minutes by the time she was 9-10 months (shortening all along). Hang in there!

[argecash]

Thanks everyone! I'm just going continue letting him decide when he's done eating. It helps to hear that he's not unusual in his eating and that he will probably spend less time eating as he gets older.