 Dr.
Jane Morton,
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School
of Medicine, is an expert on nursing premature infants as well
as a
member of the Breastfeeding.com medical advisory board. Dr.
Morton has answered many of your questions on getting started
breastfeeding and overcoming nursing obstacles.
Dr. Morton works one-on-one with new mothers at the
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University,
teaching moms how to breastfeed successfully. In 1997, Focus
Magazine named Dr. Morton one of the "Best Doctors in the
Bay Area," and she was again selected by her peers as one
of "Silicon Valley's Best Physicians" as reported in
The Sane Jose Magazine in 1999.
 My baby wants to eat all night
long!
| NAME: |
Jillian |
| BABY'S NAME: |
Quaid |
| BABY'S AGE: |
6 weeks |
Breastfeeding
in the beginning started out great, feeding every 2 hours and
healthy. But, about a week ago I started supplementing formula
at night. It seemed as though he'd eat fine during the day but
at night I'd be feeding all night and we'd both be frustrated.
It was like he wasn't getting full and I'd be up all night.
The
very first night I supplemented he slept for 3 1/2 hours and now
we both get sleep. Was this wrong? I really want to keep
breastfeeding. I'm afraid I'll end up losing all my milk. Plus,
my right breast seems to be more full than my left. Any
suggestions? Thanks so much.
Let
me answer your last question first. Most women are asymmetric.
Commonly, the larger breast is a better producer of milk, and
frequently the baby begins to prefer the better producer. So,
don't let the fact that your right breast is fuller than your
left breast worry you.
I understand how difficult it is to be "on call" every
night with increasingly demanding sleep deprivation. Being the
mother of a six week old always seemed harder to me than any
internship or residency night call schedule I ever had!
Let me see if I can give you some helpful suggestions for how to
"manipulate," if you will, a six- week-old baby to
sleep more during the night and eat more during the day. First,
this is a good age to begin expressing milk in the morning.
This
fat, rich, morning milk could then be part of, or a complete,
feeding in the late afternoon or early evening. A breastfed baby
who is offered his first bottle at two months frequently rejects
it - sort of like putting a saddle on a pony. But a 4-6-week-old
baby like Quaid is typically very open-minded to the idea of a
bottle, particularly if it is offered to him by someone other
than the mother (human beings have their keenest sense of smell
as newborns, and infants frequently will reject the breast of
another mother, preferring the scent of their own mother).
Perhaps offering Quaid a bottle of expressed breastmilk each
evening would be a fun interaction for Quaid and his father.
Second, frequent breastfeeding during the day, with short naps
in the afternoon and early evening also are important. Finally,
right before you go to bed, try nursing your son in a nice, warm
bathtub. Babies tend to nurse very well in the tub, and they
sleep well afterward. Try the routine for three or four days and
see if you can help him stretch out between feeding
sessions at night.
Most mothers prefer to have a fairly flexible baby. Beginning a
bottle (ideally of breastmilk) at 4-6 weeks and offering it not less than 2-3 times each week and not more than once each
day is pretty safe. By this I mean that a baby of this age will
not become confused by bottles and will still prefer the breast.
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