nursing for one hour?

[JessHuey]

I have a 8 day old newborn who will nurse for close to an hour almost every hour 1/2 to 2 hours...is this normal? Everything I'm reading says to nurse 20 minutes on each breast. I'll start on one breast and he'll nurse for 20 minutes, then I'll switch him and he'll continue almost 45 minutes... Is it normal for him to nurse so long so frequently?

[SarahFae]

At that age, I would say absolutely, but my DS was a very sick babe at that age and needed to be fed that often. DS fed for about 45 minutes on one side, then waited 15 and nursed for 45 on the other side. Repeat this for 4 weeks.

He may also be a lazy nurser, I'm sure some gals can set you up with some links. Does he fall asleep while bfing?

[JessHuey]

he does fall asleep every once in a while. he does seems to be a slower nurser to me. But I don't know what the average "speed" of nursing is..if that makes sense. Thank you for the advice, it just seemed like he nurses forever and I'm always feeding him. I know that's common, I suppose I just didn't realize how much he'll be attached to the breast! haha. Thanks again for the advice!

[Pumplicious]

JessHuey, my DD was the same way and could nurse for 2 hour stretches. Even now that she is 10 1/2 months, she is still a slow eater (this is with BOTH solids and nursing) and needs frequent breaks.

But back when she was exclusively BF, it was an exciting moment when I figured out how to nurse lying down. That way, I could just get in a two hour nap while nursing. ;) And yeah, I spent a lot of time nursing at the keyboard, with DD on the boppy.

[kohlby]

My DS would eat for 90 minutes at that age and want to nurse again 30 minutes later! He did that round the clock. It was very tough. However, by 3 months, his longest sessions were down to 30 minutes, though he only went a max of 60 minutes without nursing. He used nursing for comfort. I tried all sorts of paci's since it got very rough to go anywhere. But he didn't want them. He gained faster than the average baby and continued to nurse far more often than average. Some was to eat, some was for comfort.

*Try block feeding to see if it helps. It helped a tiny bit with my son. Start the second nursing session on the same side you started with before, that will ensure he gets the hindmilk.