Comfort Nursing

[newmom27]

My son is almost 8 weeks old. During the day he nurses almost constantly while awake....only sleeping for 45 minutes to an hour and a half at a time. I am going back to work soon and am a little afraid of what is going to happen when I leave him. I think he is doing a lot of comfort nursing and some pacifying himself on me. I do not want to go to formula unless I absolutely have to. However, I barely have any time to pump since he is constantly attached to me and when I do think he'll sleep for 45 minutes or so I go to pump and he wakes up in 10-15 min. I am really enjoying nursing him but when I have to go back to work, I'm afraid he's going to be a real "handful" for my mom. How can I wean him from the pacifying and comfort nursing?

[vickikreiner]

That's a tough one as babies do have a psychological need to comfort nurse.
Is there any way you can prolong going back to work?
If not, I completely understand. Try maximizing how much baby gets at the breast by compressing the breast or squeezing and releasing while nursing to help him fill.
Try nursing both sides for 20-30 min then trying a different way to console him like a sling.
You should try to pump with a quality double pump like the Medela PIS Advanced or Freestyle twice a day after nursing to increase supply.
Have you started bottles? Maybe your mom can help you with this.
Try to remain calm and confident. Stress can reak havok on a milk supply.
How are your nights?

[newmom27]

It'll be really hard to do 20-30 min as he falls asleep every time I feed him in about 10 min. I do have a Medela Double Electric pump but I am afraid to pump since I never really know how long he'll sleep so I don't want to "run out" of milk cause that makes him fussy at the breast. We have introduced the bottle with EBM and he takes it well. At night he'll sleep for 2-2 and a half hours between feedings, if i'm lucky.