For the past week or so, Keira has only been eating from one side for each feeding. Sometimes first thing in the morning, she'll drink from both, but after that, it's just one side. I definitely do not have an oversupply, so it's not a normal full feed. She still has wet diapers and a few poops per day...but what is up?
My supply has already slowly decreased since I don't have time to pump the other boob after she feeds.
She also has been sleeping a lot. Both during the day and at night. She's going about 10-11 hours straight at night (not complaining, just mentioning).
Normally, she would do around 9 hours during the night, but just really short, half hour cat naps during the day. The past two days, she's been taking really long naps during the day too. Yesterday, for T's birthday celebration, we were out for 5 hours and she slept the entire time. I was wearing her, but even so, she normally only naps 1-2 hours when I wear her. It's almost 4 PM and I think she's only been up for like 1-2 hours total.
I noticed that she'll appear to be starving and will attack the first boob. But when i switch her to the other one, she turns away and will just stare at my face. I tried moving to a dark room, but she still won't eat.
Could she be teething already or is this just a random hunger strike? Maybe she's distracted by the world around her now that she's more alert (doesn't explain the sleeping though). She has started to drool and I can sometimes catch her sucking and chewing on her thumb.
She's currently about a week and half shy of 3 months (don't bother asking me how many weeks she is. Poor child #2...I have no idea).
Have you experienced similar eating patterns/struggles with your baby? What did you do to get your baby to drink more?
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Comments (13)
That sounds like teething mixed with growth spurt. My son always sleeps a lot when he cuts teeth. You might want to watch it though bc it might be a sign of ear infection too. It might hurt to nurse on the other side- or is it a different side every time and she just wont take the second side?
I concur with @lostonlove@xanga . Might just be normal - but worth keeping an eye on.
I agree with the first poster. As long as your daughter is happy and healthy I wouldn't worry about it. Just because she is a baby, doesn't mean that she isn't capable of recognizing when she is hungry, when she has had enough etc. I never tried to get my son to drink more if he wasn't interested. The milk production on your other breast will come back up on its own if she decides to nurse there again.
My son has always preferred my left breast. I don't know why. The only thing I can conclude is the milk flow is faster out of that one.
Agree with the others. Likely just teething, growth spurt or other random reason. My son started teething at 2 months and we saw a lot of strange times like these. Don't worry that she isn't getting enough. I agree that it's better to let them determine how much they want and need rather than force feed out of our own fears (and giving them a negative association with eating). It gets worse as they get older. My son is now 14 months and full-on teething with molars, and the days when he fully skips all meals still freak me out a little.
I agree with the previous posts too, we hit a growth spurt right around 3 months and my son did the same. When I tried to nurse him on my left side, he would actually arch his back like he was in pain, refusing. I tried contorting myself so he was laying as if he was nursing on the right, but give him my left breast and that seemed to work just fine for a while. Since he didn't get his first tooth until 5 months later, we determined it was a growth spurt issue or that he had some growing pains. One thing that "may" have helped, but I'm not sure. We took him to our chiropractor (one who specializes in babies) for his first adjustment... and he never had issues with preferring one side again. And we're still nursing at 1 year old.
Keep up the good work!
I say growth spurt. I know mine slept ALOT during a growth spurt and didn't eat too much. They stayed awake long enough to eat something, then played maybe an hour and right back to bed.
I agree with the first poster. As long as your daughter is happy and healthy I wouldn't worry about it. That sounds like teething mixed with growth spurt. My son always sleeps a lot when he cuts teeth
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we're having the same issues and she is 3 months, too. thanks for posting this!
Definitely a growth spurt. I'd put money on it. My babies have all done the same thing. I usually try to pump more then to keep my supply up though because usually the second phase of a growth spurt is a voracious appetite.
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My daughter started teething about 3 months as well, for the time being I would just deal with it and rub her gums with the tip of my finger. As she got worse we bought a few items to help her with the pain. Of course we use Tylenol, but I am apprehensive about giving her too much medecine so I try to stay away from it unless it's really really bad.
If you daughter is just refusing to eat try getting some homeopathic teething tablets, I find them to be a godsend. They will take the edge of the pain so that she just might be able to calm down enough to eat. Also, night time formula baby oragel works best because it lasts the longest. If she starts to chew a lot then try wetting a corner of a washcloth and put it in the freezer, I let my daughter chew on one for a little while and she is ready to eat again!
Otherwise there isn't much else you can do but cuddle with her and keep doing what you are doing already. Just remember the age old mantra: "This too shall pass."
Definitely sounds like a growth spurt to me, but I think it's still too early to be teething for most babies (then again, I did get my first tooth around 3 months. My daughter got her first around 6 months). Have you tried switching positions while nursing? My daughter preferred my left breast for some reason and didn't want to nurse on the right. I found I was able to "trick" her to nursing from the right side by using the football hold on that side, so she was in the exact same position on both breasts. That didn't always work, but especially when she was tired I was able to convince her to nurse from the right breast. Best wishes!