baby nursed every 1.5 hours last night

we truly attempted to give the baby a bottle at some point last night as she awoke every 1.5 hours to eat.
she refused a bottle and only wanted me. i had to feed her every hour and a half. needless to say I'm a walking zombie at the moment. i did not BF the twins at night; we supplemented them with pumped BM and formula to get us through the nights.

when does this 'end?'

my milk really seemed to come in last night as i was dripping a lot.

 

It's a growth spurt. She's eating a ton and telling your body that all the extra milk you thought you had yesterday is her's. Feed, feed, feed and more feed her for a few nights and she'll settle down. I also would feed every hour from 4-9 during this time which usually bought me a little sleep as it was usually 3 nights - just when I wanted to tear my hair out they'd stop and I would plan to leave them with Dh and be alone for a couple of hours. :youcandoit:

 

Unfortunately, very normal! Now that your milk has come in though, I expect it'll get better. Hang in there!

 

Have you attempted side lying nursing? It can be hard to get the hang of the first two weeks, I think I wasn't really able to do so with Drex until he was 6 weeks, but I did it earlier with my twins. That way you can doze off while feeding the baby and get more rest.

 

when will it begin to lengthen?
anyone have an idea?

she's nursing every 2 hours during the day....

 

Daytime nursing doesn't usually lengthen out much - every 2 - 3 hours throughout your nursing relationship is pretty common. You may find as she settles into a good nap routine that you'll get a 4 hour stretch in the morning, with the time between nursing sessions shortening as the day goes, but every baby is different & every set of breasts is different. Emmett is nursing every 2.5 hours on average at 3 months. Sometimes he wants to eat more frequently, sometimes not. Something I read once from another mom that gave me a new perspective on all the nursing was that, when you have older kids, nursing frequently forces you to sit & be calm for a little while with your baby, just hanging out with her/him. I really like that because I find that so much of my other time is still focused on my older two.

 

Emma will be 8 weeks tomorrow and she nurses every 2 to 3 hours around the clock. Good luck, the lack of sleep is a killer!

 

Unfortunately, this is going to continue for a while.
My son is 3 months old and still nurses every 2-3 hours during the day. I get one stretch of usually 4-6 hours (6 is rare) at night, but we're still doing that middle of the night feeding.
And, yes, I'm exhausted because I have to get up early with two toddlers!
I think this is just the name of the game. I keep telling myself that in a few more months, hopefully, I will be getting a bit more sleep!

Just out of curiosity, why do you think that bottling is quicker during the night than BFing?
I have done both (my older boys were mostly bottle-fed BM) and I personally think it's quicker to BF in those wee hours. No bottle preparation.

Hang in there! You have lots of company.

 

My 3.5 month old is still eating every 2-3 hours during the day. He is sleeping for 8ish hours at night.

The only advantage I can think of to giving a bottle at night is that someone else can do it and you can sleep, which can definitely be helpful!

 

But it can also be harmful because every feeding that isn't from the breast needs to be replaced by a much less effective pumping session. If the breast arent drained/stimulated then breatmilk production starts to decrease.

This will pass and things will get better. its her job to ramp up your supply to where she needs it - healthy food digest quickly and you're giving her the best nature has to offer!