How long does your newborn BF?

[bowies]

Up until yesterday DS would spend quite a bit of time BFing - averaging somewhere between 20-30 minutes. Yesterday it's like a switch flipped and now he's averaging around 10. I know babies get more efficient at eating over time, but I wasn't expecting it now. Is this normal? I'm still worried about his weight so I'm hyper vigilant on his feeding. DS was 10 days old yesterday. He's still eating with about the same frequency as before.

Also - he's still producing a good number of wet/poopy diapers, though the amount of poop has decreased as well.

[SKP82]

If he's having a good amount of wet diapers, I think you're good. Does he seem satisfied after each nursing session?

[pinotgrig]

15 minutes on each side. He's a lazy nurser after about 5 minutes, though, and I have to keep him awake. He also loves to comfort suck and fall asleep. Depending on what's going on, I'll sometimes let him hang out for a bit.

[mannah]

My baby also did this around 3-4 weeks old, it lasted a few days and then she went back to her previous 20-30 min sessions. Maybe it's just a phase? Or maybe he is getting really good at it!

[megkat]

My DD is 10 weeks- for the last month or so, she's been eating for 3-5 minutes on each side and that's it. Our pedi said that some babies are just efficient nursers, and as long as she seems satisfied and we're getting enough diapers, not to worry.

Oh, and the popping less happened to me too. DD was going 3-4 times a day and then she started going 1-2 times a week- pedi said that was normal for BF babies too

[matildasun]

Very early on M started to take between 5 and 10 minutes. I watched and he was swallowing, my breast was empty at he end, and he also had the appropriate number of diapers. It still made me very nervous, his sister had been a very slow nurser. When we finally brought him to be weighed, he had gained at the high end of normal.

[chicago]

DD did this too. I remember looking back at my app and being shocked that we went from nursing ~4 hours a day down to 40 minutes. She was a little older than your DS, but she also had lip and tongue tie revision at three weeks. She wasn't as efficient prior to the procedure.

As long as weight gain and diapers are ok, he's probably just nursing more efficiently.

[bowies]

Thanks all. He seems satisfied since he'll usually detach on his own and fall asleep on me. Anytime he asks to be put back on, I oblige.

Of course after I posted this he knocked out a 26 minute feeding, lol.

[SJ]

Huge range- from 10 mins to almost an hour

[halfbakedgrace]

I don't recall where I read it but there are 3 types of BFers (generalization) and one of them is a barracuda that goes in, focuses on the task & is finished nursing very quickly. Once we introduced a binky, that's how DS ate because he preferred the bink for his suckling (whereas before he would be on my breast for ~45 minutes each time).

[sh10]

Wow, you guys are depressing me. I'm so thrilled my five month old is down to 25 minutes. It used to be 60, then 45, then 30. I did a happy dance at 25 minutes. If we ever get to 15 minutes I will throw a party.

[papie]

5-10 minutes starting at like 3 weeks? Even before that it was no more than 20 minutes total. But I have a super intense letdown so my boob empties itself really fast. They choked a lot as newborns

[sh10]

Jul 12, 2014 12:24:48 GMT -5 @starry said:

Jul 12, 2014 11:28:28 GMT -5 sh10 said:

Wow, you guys are depressing me. I'm so thrilled my five month old is down to 25 minutes. It used to be 60, then 45, then 30. I did a happy dance at 25 minutes. If we ever get to 15 minutes I will throw a party.

I want to say J would still routinely nurse 20 minutes a side until 6 months when I forced it down to 15 a side. I think 10 minutes total was the absolute minimum, ever (weaned at 1 year old).

Thanks for commiserating with me, it makes me feel better.

[kettlecorn]

My 2.5 month old only does one side at a time for 10 minutes or less, and she's been doing that since about 2 weeks old. I also have a fast let down (lots of choking ) so I'm glad to hear that others have experienced the same thing.

[chickadee77]

Well. Anywhere from 10-60 minutes a side.

Yes, according to my tracking app, she nursed for over nine hours in the past 24. Sigh.

[pacificrules]

I took DD (4 days old) to the pediatrician yesterday. He said that babies get 90% of their milk in the first five minutes on each side, and 95% in the first ten minutes per side.

[IndiaInk]

DD is almost 10 weeks and is nursing 10-20 minutes at a time. Until the last few weeks though, she'd do 30-40 minute sessions. That got really old in the middle of the night.
I think she's figuring out how to become more efficient and she's also eating less often.

ETA: she likes to comfort suck for a long time too...I'm getting better at knowing when she's actually done nursing and has just switched to pacifying. 

[VillainV]

Anywhere from 5-30 minutes depending on how hungry he is, how distracted, and whether or not he just wants to comfort suck. In the mornings he's usually done in 5-10 minutes, but in the afternoon it feels like he just keeps going back and forth from one breast to the other from like 4-6pm.

[changedname]

DD took about 45mins until around 2.5 months. Now she takes 5-10mins. Sometimes I miss the excuse to just catch up on tv.