Baby sucks for a long time: baby's age, feeding regimen and advice from pediatricians

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Breastfeeding is not just about providing your baby with the nutrients it needs to grow and develop fully. It is also a close emotional connection between mother and baby, the formation of his strong immunity and many other factors. That is why many women strive to feed their child for as long as possible. But far from always, a mother can bring her intentions to life due to recurring difficulties. For example, they include the fact that the child sucks for a very long time at the breast when feeding. Such a regime quickly exhausts the mother and, in search of the cause of what is happening, a woman often comes to curtail breastfeeding, and transfer the baby to a mixture. We will tell you why a baby sucks at the breast for a long time and how to deal with it in our article.

Feeding schedule: on demand or hourly

If 20 years ago, pediatricians advised mothers to breastfeed every 3 hours, today such recommendations are completely contrary to the principles of breastfeeding. All consultants and specialists unanimously say that a newborn baby should be fed on demand, namely when he shows concern. In the first days after birth, he may require a breast every 30 minutes. Over time, when mature lactation is established, the intervals between feedings will be longer. But do not think that the baby will wake up to eat exactly every three hours. The gaps will still be uneven.

In the first weeks after birth, some babies spend 2 hours at the breast. That is why the situation when a baby suckles for a long time is far from uncommon. At this time, he can fall asleep for 30-40 minutes, but as soon as his mother starts to shift him to the crib, wake up again and want to eat again. To improve lactation and stimulate the production of a sufficient amount of milk, do not deny the crumbs the pleasure of spending a few more minutes at the breast.

Just during sucking, the baby excites the nerve endings of the nipple. Nerve signals, in turn, stimulate the pituitary gland to produce the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for how much milk will be produced for the next feeding. If the baby suckles the breast for a long time and often, then it will arrive more. The formation of prolactin is especially intense at night. From 3 a.m. to 8 a.m., this hormone is at its highest andstimulates the secretion of milk in a volume sufficient for subsequent daily feedings. Therefore, on-demand feeding is a prerequisite for successful breastfeeding.

Norms of milk volume at different ages

Most breastfeeding moms worry about whether they are full or hungry. And this is a perfectly legitimate question. With artificial feeding in a bottle, a certain volume of the mixture is diluted, which is necessary for the baby by age. When breastfeeding, it is impossible to check how much the baby ate at a time. This is where experiences come from.

In fact, it's not bad at all that the baby suckles for a long time. The internal organs, liver, kidneys and intestines of a newborn baby are not sufficiently adapted to the large volume of incoming food. But since all children develop individually, it turns out that for one child 20 ml is already a lot, and for another, 30 ml is not enough. To determine how much a baby has eaten while breastfeeding, you can only weigh it before applying to the breast and after.

In the first days after birth, the newborn is still so small that 7-9 ml of fatty colostrum is enough for him. But feeding such a crumb with an adapted milk mixture is not worth it. Such food only creates an additional load on the kidneys, and they still cannot cope with a large amount of fluid.

For 3-4 days, most women have milk. The child begins to receive more fluid, and the number of urination increases accordingly. From this moment on, the baby eats already 30-40 ml of breast milk per feeding. With each subsequent day, this volume increases by another 10 ml. Thus, a two-week-old baby should eat 100-120 ml of mother's milk per breastfeed. Checking if the baby fits into the norm is very simple: just put it on the scales before and immediately after feeding. The resulting difference will be the amount of food that the child received for a single feeding.

After two weeks of age, daily allowances apply. From this moment on, all calculations are based on the body weight of the baby. Up to 1.5 months, its weight in grams is divided by 5; from 1.5 to 4 months - by 6; from 6 to 7 months - by 7; up to 8 months - by 8; up to 12 months – by 9. The resulting value is the amount of milk that the baby should receive per day, regardless of the number of feedings.

How long should a newborn suckle?

This question worries every mother whose baby spends all day near the breast. But even pediatricians cannot give an unambiguous answer to it. Some, when asked how long a child should suckle, argue that no more than 15 minutes, while others believe that two-hour feedings can be considered quite acceptable. It all depends on many factors.

First of all, newborn babies under the age of 1 month spend at the breast much longer. During this period of life, it is important for them not only to receive food, but also to satisfy the sucking reflex, as well as to feelmother's warmth. On average, the duration of one feeding of a newborn baby is 20-30 minutes. As the child grows older, he learns to fill up faster. At the age of three months and up to six months, the duration of feeding is 15 minutes, and from 6 to 12 months - 5 minutes or less. The kid is getting older, he has other more “important” things to do: sit down, crawl, run, etc.

Thus, there can be many reasons why a baby suckles for a long time. Let's try to understand this issue in more detail.

Why does my baby take so long to breastfeed?

Most mothers, and especially grandmothers, believe that the baby can spend a lot of time at the breast for only one reason - the lack of milk from the mother. But this is far from true. To understand the question of why a baby suckles for a long time and often, consider each reason that prompts him to this action in more detail:

1. Mom's milk supply. Even if a child asks for a breast every half an hour, it means that this is how much food he needs to get enough. First, breast milk is digested much faster than artificial formulas. This, in turn, means that the baby will feel hungry sooner than after 3 hours. Secondly, milk from different women can have different fat content, so one child may need more food, and the other less. Therefore, there is no need to jump to conclusions that the baby is not getting enough milk.
2. Temperament baby. Each child is born with its own character and type of temperament. Phlegmatic children suckle for a short time and lazily, andcholeric often and intensely. It is possible that a child who spends a lot of time near the mother's breast belongs to this type of temperament.
3. The need for close bodily contact. Mom's breast is not only a means of saturation. It is also a way to satisfy the need for love, affection and tenderness, as well as another important reason why the baby sucks for a long time. It has been proven that babies who spent a lot of time at their mother's breasts in infancy grow up more emotional, friendly and open than their peers.
4. The decor in the room. If there is no rush and fuss during feeding, the baby can be at the breast for as long as the mother wants. The baby will eat as much as he needs to be completely satiated.

How can I check if my baby is getting enough milk?

If a mother expresses strong concern that a newborn baby suckles for a long time, she can easily check if the baby is getting enough milk. To do this, do the following:

1. Calculate the number of urination per day. Normally, there should be 12 or more. Urine should be light, without a characteristic odor. To check the number of urination within 24 hours, you need to give up disposable diapers for this time, do not supplement the crumbs with water and do not give him any medication.
2. Calculate weekly weight gain. As practice shows, a child who is breastfed at different times sucks out unequalamount of milk. Therefore, it is not practical to calculate how much he ate in one feeding. It is enough to calculate the weekly weight gain. On average, a newborn baby, with the exception of time spent in the hospital, gains 120 g per week. The monthly weight gain is normally from 500 g to 2 kg.

But even if the baby really does not have enough milk, this is not a reason to run to the nearest supermarket for formula and a bottle. Most likely, lactation can still be increased. The main thing is to make every possible effort.

Lactation crisis and other causes of milk shortages

One of the reasons why a newborn baby suckles for a long time and often, indeed, is not enough milk produced. But in no case should mom be upset, even if this is true. One of the principles of successful breastfeeding is that every he althy woman, without exception, is able to feed her baby, regardless of breast size, physique and age. This means that all the reasons why yesterday there was a lot of milk, and today it is not enough, are temporary. They can be caused by the following factors:

1. Lactation crisis. Sooner or later, every nursing mother faced this physiological process. The causes of the onset of the lactation crisis are still not fully known, as well as its timing. Some women go through a crisis once during the entire period of breastfeeding, while others experience it every month. On average, its duration is from 2 to 4 days. One of the signsthe onset of the crisis is a sharp decrease in the amount of milk. But as you know, frequent applications will help increase its production. Let the baby suckle the breast for a long time during this period, as much as he wants, and in a few days the crisis will pass. The main thing at this moment is not to panic and not offer the child a formula.
2. A sharp jump in growth in a baby. As a rule, this happens quite unexpectedly. The baby begins to breastfeed faster and more intensively, but the whole system does not have time to adjust to his new needs. Frequent and prolonged application will help to establish lactation. Do not tear the baby from the chest if he has not yet had enough. Mom, in this situation, can be advised to be more patient.

Signs of overeating in babies

If a baby suckles for a long time and at the same time the mother notices that he is constantly swallowing milk, and not just holding the nipple in his mouth, this can lead to the fact that the baby will eat much more at one feeding than he should be for his age. What are the signs of overeating in newborns? First of all, they include frequent and profuse regurgitation. Despite the fact that breast milk is digested much faster than formula, if the baby spends all day at the breast, his stomach will be constantly full. Hence the frequent regurgitation.

Another common sign of overfeeding is too much weight gain. As a rule, if a child suckles for a long time, his body weight increases monthly by 1.3-1.5 kg. In this way,by six months, the weight of the baby can be 10-12 kg. This is a very high figure. But you will have to adjust the weight, on the recommendation of a pediatrician, after the baby is 6 months old. Usually, such children are advised to introduce complementary foods with vegetable purees, and give cereals after 7-8 months. In addition, when the child begins to move, he can lose some weight on his own.

In order not to overfeed the baby, mom is not recommended to offer him a breast every time he starts to cry. You need to try to distract the child, play with him, and not soothe him with the breast. It is important to adhere to a certain daily routine from a very early age. In the future, this will greatly facilitate the life of both mother and child.

What should I do if my baby is breastfeeding for a long time?

For a mother, it can be a big problem that the baby spends at the breast for 2 hours a day. Most women do not have assistants to do homework, prepare lunch and dinner for the whole family, take time for the second child, etc. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that a nursing mother begins to get nervous and panic because the baby sucks her breast for a long time. What to do, how to find time for yourself and not harm the baby? Breastfeeding experts recommend the following in this case:

1. Get ready for successful breastfeeding. To do this, it is important to enlist the support of loved ones who, at least for a while, can take on all household responsibilities.
2. Don't try to be perfectly clean andorder in the house to the detriment of breastfeeding. In a few months, everything will be fine, mom will have more time for those things that she did not have time to do immediately after the birth of the crumbs.
3. Still feed your baby on demand when he starts to get anxious. This will ensure that the required amount of milk is produced, and the intervals between feedings will gradually become longer.
4. Sometimes babies fall asleep while feeding but keep sucking. If this happens, do not tear the baby from the breast. It's just that the baby gives mom a rest, and daytime sleep is very important for lactation.
5. Enjoy breastfeeding and motherhood in general in spite of all household chores.

Why does a 1-year-old baby constantly ask for a breast?

It's one thing when a baby suckles for a long time, and quite another when a one-year-old baby does it. The reason for this behavior lies no longer in the lack of milk and the feeling of hunger. A child after 1 year of age receives complete complementary foods, consisting of solid food. The chest remains with him only as a means for complacency. As a rule, the child is applied to it either in the evening, while falling asleep, or at night in a dream.

If a one-year-old baby does not release the breast from his mouth, the reason for this behavior may be stress, lack of communication with mom or teething. A woman is recommended to analyze the actions that have happened to the baby recently. Perhaps someone hurt him in the sandbox, or he hurt himself and now wants more.affection from mom. One-year-old children especially acutely endure separation from a woman who left the decree for work. At this time, it is important to spend more time with the child, walk with him every day, read bedtime stories and, of course, do not refuse him if he wants to breastfeed.

Doctor Komarovsky's advice

Deserved pediatrician, whose opinion is listened to by many famous mothers, agrees that mother's milk is the best food for a baby. Komarovsky E. O. advises women who are lactating adequately not to supplement their baby with anything until they are six months old. At the same time, the baby during the first year of life should be under the supervision of a doctor who monitors whether the child has a weight deficit, whether he has enough milk, etc. From 6 months, the baby gradually receives complementary foods. Thus, the number of breastfeedings is replaced by normal food. After a year, the child practically does not need mother's milk. But if a woman can and wants to continue breastfeeding, then this is only encouraged. This is a kind of biological form of communication between mother and baby.

As for the question of why a baby suckles for a long time during feeding, Dr. Komarovsky does not address this point in his articles and TV shows. But the opinions of other pediatricians on this subject are divided: some are in favor of feeding as much as the child requires, while others categorically do not accept this approach. The task of the mother is to find such a pediatrician who would advocate breastfeeding.breastfeeding and didn't give the woman stupid advice on how to feed her baby with formula or give him a pacifier.