So for the past week and a half or so Dylan has not been pooping everyday with every diaper change, as he had been, instead we get one really explosive poop diaper every other day or so. In addition to this, right around the same time he started eating and sleeping poorly. He went from BF about 20 minutes each side to maybe 10 minutes per side & sometimes he will only take one side. When it's nap time he will only sleep for 45 minutes or so & then he's awake and hungry. He's also waking more frequently at night. :gah:

Could all of this be related?

I'm pretty sure the sleeping - eating thing is related but does the poop factor into this as well?

The only thing I can think of is that he might be going through a growth spurt. BF babies will only poop what they don't use. In the beginning, Jeremy would only poop every 3-4 days and when he pooped, it went everywhere. Now he seems to poop whenever I put him in the exersaucer. :lol: I have no idea if they're related.

As for the sleeping and feeding, I don't have an idea. We're battling sleep issues still and he's 6 months old. :gah: So I feel your pain. :hug99:

Yeah...it sounds like its related. It sounds like he's not nursing long enough to get the good, fatty hindmilk that helps his digestive system and helps satiate him.
It could also be growth spurt time, as well. I forget when those happen :scratch:

I'd suggest putting him back on the same breast until its totally empty and then trying the other. Its not uncommon for babies to prefer one breast over the other....many times, one is faster flowing or whatever.

DEfinitely a growth spurt - they happen at 3's and 6's (3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months). I doubt that he isn't getting the hindmilk, babies become much better nursers and can more effectively drain the milk ducts and spur more milk production as they get older. During a growth spurt though, you want to nurse on demand, even in the middle of the night. It'll all go back to normal before too long...as soon as he has increased your milk production to match his growth! Good luck!

:up: What Suzi said!

Could be a growth spurt or he could just be a little indecisive :lol: Owen seems to be quite the little cat napper, too and it's annoying, but we've just learned to deal. :dunno: Either way, I'd say it's just a phase and while it may be hard on you, it will be over w/shortly and things will get back to normal. Hang in there!

DEfinitely a growth spurt - they happen at 3's and 6's (3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months).

He's only 2 months old, though. Not that it means that he couldn't be having a spurt. Not everything happens according to text.

Erica - generally when a baby goes through a growth spurt, it only takes a few days (2-3) of lots of frequent nursing before your milk supply increases and they should go back to eating less often.

As far as pooping, there is no "norm" for breastfed babies. Usually around 2 months, their digestive tracts mature and they don't have to poop quite as often as before.

I agree that babies become more efficient nursers and take less time, but Dylan isn't huge and he's only 8 weeks old. In my nursing experience, none of my 3 children (even adjusting the ages of the twins) were done in 10 minutes at such a young age. Especially during growth spurts. At that time, they nursed often and long.

So :dunno: I was just giving you my :2cents: , since I had a hindmilk issue with my first, and he became irratable, didn't sleep long stretches, had a change in his poop, and wasn't nursing long periods. As soon as we figured it out and got him to fully empty my breast, we were AOK.

I had a similar problem with Jackson, Karri. :nod: Once we switched to one side per feeding, things really improved. The fatty hindmilk really helps fill them up and keep them full longer. Which means longer sleeps, usually. :aok:

Also, if they're getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk, they can get really gassy and grumpy. There's more lactose in the foremilk.

As for the poop, that sounds pretty normal. They get a little more spaced out as the baby gets older. I remember worrying about Jackson going (er, not going :awink: ) a few days with no poop, and then the poosplosion hit. I learned to get fearful when the poop hadn't come in a while, because I knew it was going to be messy when it did. :lol:

I originally thought it might be a growth spurt as it was right around 6 weeks when it started. Now that it's been a week and a half I'm starting to think it is something else.

How do I get him to feed longer? :dunno: After he pulls off of one side I have a really hard time trying to get him to relatch.

Also, how do I know if he's emptied one side?

Thankfully, he isn't grumpy or more cranky than usual. :)

Erica, I'll just add that Nikita was always about 1-2 weeks of the "schedule" on his growth spurts...in other words, his 6 week one started right around 7-8 weeks.... His 6 month one was long, i thought I was having milk supply issues because I felt empty for over a week, but lo and behold, it WAS just a growth spurt...and then milk supply increased to meet his demand.

As long as he is happy and active like he usually is, i would feed him on demand and not worry too much. Do try to do one breast per feeding, b/c of what Karri and Nichole said. (i don't have any suggestions how, i'm much help eh?)

Don't force it if he doesn't want to keep eating. Just offer that same side at the next feeding (or whenever he's hungry) and keep offering it for the next 2-3 hours or so. Then switch to the other side after that. Your supply will adjust to that pretty quickly, but you may get a bit engorged at first. Eventually, he'll get more efficient at eating and you won't have to do the every 3 hrs thing.

I did this with both of my boys and it was easy. The nice thing about it is that not only do they fill up on the fatty hindmilk, but it gets to be super easy to tell which side is up next by the fact that the used one is soft and the one on deck is full. I would just feel myself up to figure it out. :lol: No special keeping track needed. :aok: Oh, at first before my supply adjusted, I either put a bracelet on the side I was on or a safety pin on my bra on that side.

or, if you consider my two girls.........one is okay with milk, but hey-we-don't-overworkourselves-here, and the other boobie is a freaking milk geiser! It's milk happy. It fills up way faster, way fuller, all the time. Even if I feed N on the other side more to be sure to give them both a chance to fill up, the right one is still faster....and is the reason i'm getting up at 6 am now to pump and not explode to pieces, even though Nikita is happily snoozing away all night long. Ok, that was TMI, wasn't it? Sorry.

if you consider my two girls..........

When I first read this I was like, Lena doesn't have two girls? :scratch: It took me a second and then I got it. :lol:


I would just feel myself up to figure it out. :lol: No special keeping track needed. :aok:

I love what we share online here. :giggle: