thanks! and more newbie questions...

"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
My theory is that that applies to people whose babies leave 3 or 4 hours
between feeds, not to those of us with normal babies :-)

Hmm, babies who feed 3-4 hours are normal too. )
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

Sue writes:

"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
My theory is that that applies to people whose babies leave 3 or 4 hours
between feeds, not to those of us with normal babies :-)

Hmm, babies who feed 3-4 hours are normal too. )

I did put a smiley in - and the baby in question was 9 days old, IIRC. I
certainly don't think it's *common* for a 9 day old baby to voluntarily go
3 or 4 hours between feedings - do you?

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003

"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
I did put a smiley in

I know, that's why I put the smiley in there too because there are lurkers
who might be worried that their babies go longer.

- and the baby in question was 9 days old, IIRC. I
certainly don't think it's *common* for a 9 day old baby to voluntarily go
3 or 4 hours between feedings - do you?

It might not be common, but it does happen. DD3 would go at least 3-4 hours
when she was that little, not all the time mind you, but in those first few
days she did. I seem to recall DD1 sleeping 4 hours straight the first few
nights home.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

"Emily" wrote

In the meantime, I
highly recommend Soothies. They're expensive, but they feel *so* good
on sore nipples. You can usually find them at bf clinics and high-end
maternity/baby shops.

I also found them at my local Walgreens in the baby aisle.

rj

"Sue" wrote in message
...
"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
I did put a smiley in

I know, that's why I put the smiley in there too because there are lurkers
who might be worried that their babies go longer.

- and the baby in question was 9 days old, IIRC. I
certainly don't think it's *common* for a 9 day old baby to voluntarily
go
3 or 4 hours between feedings - do you?

It might not be common, but it does happen. DD3 would go at least 3-4
hours
when she was that little, not all the time mind you, but in those first
few
days she did. I seem to recall DD1 sleeping 4 hours straight the first few
nights home.

Both of mine have slept 5 hours straight at night from early on (3-4 days
old) and dd (now 4 months) has regularly had at least one 3-4 hour stretch
during the days. Can't remember what ds did during the days at this age
(nights were more memorable if we did/didn't get sleep!). :-)

"V." wrote in message
...
Thanks for all the advice earlier! Makes me feel better that things seem
normal so far!
We do nurse to sleep almost exclusively, although sometimes she will
nurse, sleep for 15 min or so, then have the cute "awake" period. At the
end of that she either nurses to sleep again or falls asleep on her own.
We are back to sleeping in the bassinet, I moved it to a warmer side of
the room (I live in Maine, so external walls are cold).
Here are my current "problems":
1. She is on a 2 hr cycle of wake-feed (30-45min)-sleep or awake
(1-1.5hrs) and so on. This means that I'm nursing 45min out of every
2hrs or so. Plus, she sometimes sleeps for 30 min and wants to feed again.
Even though we have a good latch (as far as I can tell and as assessed by
the LC and visiting nurse), my nipples are getting pretty sore. No
cracks, bleeding, etc, just really tender. I use Lansinoh lanolin on them
after allowing some expressed BM to dry on them, but I do cringe when we
first latch on. That pain does go away after nursing for a few minutes.
I think this is all normal (she's 9 days old), but I really need to know
if the latching on pain goes away at some point! According to my
reading, this pain was supposed to peak already and it certainly hasn't.

Although the pain is probably normal , like others said, look out for
thrush - I had pain that didn't go away for the first couple-three weeks and
it turned out to be thrush - I had thought it was the normal newborn-nursing
pain, too. So just keep an eye out and see if it starts getting better. If
you want to try something in case it is thrush, you can rinse your nipples
in a solution of 1Tbsp white vinegar to 1 cup water after each nursing
session and apply Lotrimin lotion sparingly on the nipples as well. It is a
pain to do after each nuring session, especially as your baby is nursing so
often, but if it is thrush, this should help you feel better in a couple of
days.

Another thing to try for the pain is to switch nursing positions - if you
are doing the cradle hold, try the football hold or nurse lying down, etc.
That will put the pressure of the baby's mouth on different parts of your
nipples and maybe give the sore parts a break. Worked for me in the past.
But as long as it's not thrush or some other problem, it should fade soon
anyway. Good luck!