lazynurser

“The lazy nurser” is a baby that would rather drift off to sleep instead of eating.  It typically occurs in younger infants, usually during the first couple of months.  A lazy nurser will suck a little then begin drifting off to sleep needing to be awakened in order to finish nursing.  This cycle can often result in long, marathon nursing sessions leaving mom a wee bit sleep deprived.

My daughter was a lazy nurser for the first couple of months of her life.  She loved to fall asleep nursing, which was great when she ate enough before falling asleep because it meant I could just lay her down and fall asleep myself.  However, often she would only nurse a little then quietly drift off to sleep and I would have to wake her up.  At first it would result in 1-1.5 hour long nursing sessions, a lot of frustration and a very tired mommy.  I learned a few tricks to dealing with my lazy nurser that I wanted to share with those of you out there also dealing with a little lazy nurser.

Nursing your lazy nurser:

  • Change the baby’s diaper before you start nursing, or in the middle of the nursing session if your baby tends to fall asleep part way through.
  • Don’t nurse your baby all wrapped up, a swaddled baby is more likely to fall asleep instead of nursing.
  • Nurse your baby in nothing but a diaper.  The cool air will help keep the baby awake.
  • Tickle the baby’s feet as you nurse him to help keep him awake.
  • Compress the breast to increase the flow if your baby begins to fall asleep, the increased flow with usually awaken them.
  • Use a cool, damp cloth and rub it across the baby’s forehead and cheek to help awaken a sleeping nurser.

The trick is to make sure you start out the nursing session with a baby that is fully awake and then to keep the baby awake enough to get a full tummy before he or she falls asleep.   You’ll figure out as you go what works best for you baby.

If you are worried that your baby isn’t getting enough to eat just keep track of their diapers and make sure they are wetting and soiling enough diapers each day.  You could also take the baby into the pediatrician to get weighed to make sure he or she is gaining weight.

I always knew that Maya’s tummy was full when none of the tricks worked to wake her up :)

Care to comment