Help! i think i have one of those "high needs" babies, lol. Or maybe it's just a phase, or a growth spurt, or something, i don't know, but Ember is 2 weeks old, sleeping in 20-minute intervals, and nursing EVERY HOUR for most of the day. She'll only nurse for 10-20 minutes at a time, and about half the time she'll only take one breast, but i think she's getting alot of milk each time (i hear lots of gulping, and she has plenty of wet and poopy diapers, so i suppose she's just efficient). If this is a permanent thing, she really tricked me during that first week and a half, because she was sleeping through the night, and definately not eating so much (closer to the standard "every two hours/8 times a day"). i can't even begin to count how many times a day she eats now, i can't even remember which side to give her next (i tried wearing a bracelet, and switching the wrist i wear it on in correspondence to which side to nurse on next, but i keep forgetting to change the bracelet over too). And i have to tell you, this is our worst day so far, so of course this is the night my husband has to work a double shift (the guy who works the next one is sick today) so he'll be useless to me tomorrow too. *groans*
I don't have any advice, but reading your post made me remember my second son did exactly the same thing, for the first week and six days, he slept for a good stretch at night and fed at nicely timed intervals in the day, I was overjoyed, I remember telling my mother that I had cracked the whole motherhood thing...........the next day he was two weeks old, and transformed into permanent nursing monster, however Tim also developed colic, which hopefully for you Ember won't have. As you say, maybe it's normal for there to be a growth spurt at two weeks, Tim carried on being a "high needs" baby, I just reckon it was part of his whole personality, he's eleven now and still needs lots of reassurance, lots of physical contact, the other side of this is that he has real empathy for others and is a very demonstrative loving person.
(((hugs))) it's hard to nurse around the clock, I've BTDT I'd say it's a growth spurt. They usually happen around 3 weeks. Just keep nursing your babe as much as she wants so she can up your supply. That, and remmeber that she is SO, SO new yet. She had this nice cozy, warm, tight home just a couple weeks ago and now she's in a new land. It possible that she only finds comfort right now by being close to Mama, doing the most natural thing for a babe...suckling. Kepp up the good work, and remember that in 2 weeks, she'll seem like a totally different baby Peace
I love the fact that you have lotsa kiddies and you are asking that...thanks for making me feel not such a crazy!! My little one did that and although she is not so old now she is definitely not shaping up to be a needy type at the moment anyhow! I think that what moominmamma and colourfulhippie said about growth spurts really rings true for me here...I didn't even notice cause I was with her each day but I would go through a crazy patch and then I would notice that clothes started to not fit and stuff like that....I remember one time loking down and realising hat I obviously hadn't fed her from that boob cause it was double the size...sheesh!!! She was random and it made me random...but it was natural and loving and normal and it all seems so long ago and so much clearer now! and as for hubby having to catch up on his sleep you can do it as there are many mama's without hubbies that do...call a friend or family member, get out, have a cup of tea or a meal somewhere (preferably their house with them cooking!). sending you loads of loving and hugging stephanie
Aw Mama....hang in there. Mine did that too around that age, and then had another big growth spurt around 6 weeks. I would feed her (which took us about 30 minutes), we would finish, and then 30 minutes later, she'd be hungry again. I thought I wasn't producing enough milk, or our latch wasn't right. Turns out it was just a growth spurt. Those are really hard times. Especially with two other kids to take care of. Hope it gets better soon! ((((((hugs))))))
A friend of mine I was a birthing coach for (and helped out with the baby for a bit after she was born) went through the same thing. She spent the first two or so weeks bragging about how good her baby was and then BAM! she was beside herself and going nuts because Baby suddenly had to eat ALL the time, but would only eat small amounts and so she had to eat like every hour. The weird thing is my friend bottle-fed, rather than breastfeeding.
Bottle-fed babes still have the instinct to up the milk, where eevr it comes from ya know. So bottle fed babes will still go through growth spurts, albeit, a bit differently and faster then a breastfed babe I just wanted to mention for future refrance to the OP that babies typically go through growth spurts at 3 weks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. So when the same thing happends again in another three weeks you'll know what's going on How are things today?
My oldest never believed in sleeping thru the night and I just got into the habit of bringing her to bed where we both would just drift back to sleep...she would reawake and I would turn over on my other side and nurse and we both would go back to sleep. LOL! I lost very little sleep doing this but it did start a bad habit of her wanting to sleep with us all the time.
Things have been sooo much better the last couple of days. Must have been a growth spurt! Some of her 0-3 month sleepers are getting too short too, so i'm going to take that as proof, haha! She's also discovered that the bouncy chair is a happy place, haha, (we have one of those that vibrates) so my arms are getting an occasional break too.
