The First 3 Months of Breastfeeding Your Newborn

You need sleep! By now, you have probably set up a pretty consistent routine for breastfeeding your baby. This most likely means feeding your baby every 3 hours around the clock. You may still have some discomfort with breastfeeding – I know I did! The first few moments of the latch on especially where difficult. Sometimes, I found that I just had general soreness. Continue to work with your lactation consultant or seek out a new one if you aren’t getting what you need. And of course, rest when your little one sleeps!

As your little ones grow, new challenges arise. You probably haven’t had a good night of sleep in awhile and the sleep deprivation may be getting to you. These two months are big months for growth spurts, fussy time to begin and babies to break their first teeth.

New Breastfeeding Milestones in Months 2 and 3

Months 2 and 3 of breastfeeding bring some new successes and challenges that we begin to experience. As a new mom it is always a great idea to be prepared for how your baby with change throughout these early months. Then take a moment and prepare for those changes. Discover a few strategies to try, but know that you will surely need to develop more as you go.

Growth Spurts and Cluster Feedings

There will be days when your little one seems to want to nurse all day, every day! Just as your body is changing, so is your little one. Babies tend to grow in spurts. This means that they will spend a few days rapidly growing and then settle back down. As they grow, their body needs more milk. Plus, growing hurts and nothing matches the comfort of mommy.

If you find your little one wanting to nurse more frequently and/or for longer times, your baby may be experiencing a growth spurt. These generally occur around 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks. However, every baby is different so don’t be surprised to see a change in week 5 or 9 either. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that this won’t last forever.

The change in frequency of nursing is your baby teaching your body to make more milk. By breastfeeding more often and for longer periods of time, your little one is naturally telling your milk supply what is needed and your body should make these changes without intervention. The constant demand for milk from your baby will inform your body to produce more and wondrously, your body will do just that.

These cluster feedings (feeding closer together in frequency) generally last for about 3 days. They may be as frequent as every hour and nursing for almost the entire hour. It may seem like your baby either nurses or sleep nurses the entire day. After a few days, your little one should settle back into a breastfeeding cycle of about once every 3 hours and the time of feedings should shorten. Be sure to check out the Breastfeeding Must Haves if you haven’t already.

Sleeping Longer at Night

During these months, your little one may begin to sleep longer over night as well. Instead of waking every 2 hours to feed, you may see your little one every 3 or even 4 hours. Some babies may even begin to sleep 5 or 6 hours in one stretch at night. Changing their sleeping habits may also change their feeding habits during the day. I always thought this was one of the reasons my little ones had an early evening fussy time.

While you may still wake up overnight, try not to wake your baby if they begin sleeping longer. Getting into a pattern of stretching out their night time sleep develops towards sleeping through the night. Now there are times you may need to wake your baby because you feel over full, that is okay. Try to pair this as near to wake up time as you can and eventually your body will adjust to your newborn’s new schedule.

Also, it’s good to recognize that while your baby may start sleeping longer stretches at night, this does not mean that your baby will do this every night. You may have nights where your little one will want to nurse every 3 hours still and there will be nights when you baby wakes up more frequently. Many times these correspond with getting their shots or when your little one is sick.

If you are planning for a return to work, now is a great time to work on storing up some expressed milk for your little one. As you begin this transition, be sure to check out Pumping at Work – Before You Begin to help you ask good questions and develop a solid plan. Returning to work is never an easy feat with a little one at home.

Fussy Time

All my little ones seemed to have a fussy time during the evening. Usually 4pm – 9pm was deemed fussy time in our household. My husband knew this time well and when he was home, he knew that dinner was on him. My children also knew fussy time and would let mom have time with the baby during these blocks.

During this time it seemed that all my little one wanted to do was breastfeed. Nothing else was acceptable! There was no way that we could put our baby down and asking other adults to hold our little one never lasted long. Try to enjoy this time with your little one as the day will soon come when they no longer want to snuggle.

I always viewed this as cluster feeding when it happened at night because our little one was preparing to sleep for a longer stretch over night (even if it is just 2 sets of 3 hours each with a feeding in between). As babies begin to stretch their nighttime sleeping, they may want more milk right before bed or even just additional comfort because they will be away from mom for longer and longer.

The Fussy Time Plan

If you know your child has a fussy time, plan for it! Know that you will be nursing most of this block of time and will be able to do little else. Do as much prep as you can so that their is little else you need to do. For us, this usually meant dinners that I could just throw in the oven or microwave. I would need a few moments to start the over, put the dinner in, and then take it out of the oven. Then I would only need a short pause to serve dinner to my older children. Often times I ate with my little one nursing, you have to do what you have to do!

My nursing chair was right next to our couch so that my older ones could read to me or work on their homework and get help if they needed. This was always a little tricky, but we managed through. You will be amazed at how flexible your older children can be. And the side laying position was nice so that we could all lay in mommy’s bed and read stories together.

Bath times became a little more tricky! So we moved these to the morning or even during one of baby’s naps would work. If things can be rearranged for your other children to accommodate your little one, that can greatly relieve your stress and give you the mindset to enjoy this time with baby. Yes, some days you might get frustrated. That is normal and perfectly fine. Just remind yourself that this soon shall pass.

Teething

Many little ones break their first teeth in their first few months as well. When your baby is teething, they may also wish to use mommy as their pacifier more often to help them with the pain of teething. New teeth can encourage babies to want to nurse more frequently for longer periods of time to help them to soothe their pain. They may not even get any additional milk, but just want the comfort that only breastfeeding and mom can provide.

You may also see other changes with teething. Your little one may have more runny diapers and lots of extra drool. These may even lead to developing rashes which can cause some discomfort. During this time you will want to check your baby’s diaper more frequently to help keep her dry.

My three older children all had their first tooth by 3 months of age. Yet, my youngest didn’t get her first tooth until 9 months. I sure felt lucky to breastfeed without teeth for so long! Teeth are not a race and will come when they come. It’s just another thing to look out for while nursing.

My Breastfeeding Go-To’s During Months 2 and 3

There are a few strategies that are true life savers for these first few months.

Side Laying Nursing Position

Try out the side laying nursing position. If you haven’t already, look this up. Then practice. Try to find times when you are calm and ready to try something new. I would use this when baby and I would first wake up in the morning. It’s a good time to practice because your little one is usually hungry. Plus, you have some patience after getting some sleep. Once you and baby become a little more comfortable with this position, it is great for overnight nursing because you don’t even need to leave the comfort of the bed for long (if at all for those with a wonderful partner who can bring you your little one).

The side laying position basically involved both you and your little one laying on your side for the baby to breastfeed. If your little one needs to nurse on both sides, just switch positions so your baby can have access to both breasts for a full tummy. As your little one begins to sleep a little longer over night, this position will help to keep you from fully waking up while nursing your baby.

Chocolate

Before nursing your little one, have a piece of chocolate (or even a hard candy if you aren’t a chocolate fan). I would suck on a piece of chocolate as baby was latching. This helped my mind with the pain of the first few moments of the latch as well as helped relax my body to allow my letdown to begin. By the time the chocolate was gone, we were usually comfortably breastfeeding together with no more pain. It seems so simple, but find something that helps you to relax. Plus, chocolate definitely helps when your little one begins to learn cause and effect through biting during breastfeeding.

Having the Right Mind Set

The absolute best tip that I can offer to any new mother is to remember that everything is temporary. You embarked on this journey with your little one to provide them all the best nutrients that you can. You want to give your newborn only the best. There will be hiccups along the way, but try to remember your why for breastfeeding and your end goal. These little hiccups might seem like the end of the world now, but they won’t last forever.

Mark today on the calendar, then mark a date three weeks out. You know you can survive anything for three weeks. Majority of the time I wouldn’t even remember why the star was there when we hit the three week mark. I would just see the star and think, wow, my baby must not be doing that anymore. And this would help me to view the next hiccup as a temporary blimp in our breastfeeding journey.

Remember, as your baby grows and changes, their feeding schedules will change too. Just because you were able to breastfeed successfully for a period of time doesn’t mean that you will never need help or need to try new things. At any time that you are worried or just want some peace of mind, seek out a local lactation consultation, an experienced mom, or your pediatrician. Find someone to help you or listen to you through all these changes your little one will undergo.

Drop us a comment below and let us know how breastfeeding is going for you. While I’m not a lactation consultant, I have worked with many and have four wonderful breastfed children of my own.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.