How long should breastfeeding sessions be?

Question

My son turned one week today (3/28) and he cluster feeds a lot. Each nursing session is somewhere between 5-10 per breast but he often falls asleep at the first breast so I then have to wait 30-60 minutes for him to wake up and nurse on the other side. His pediatrician, the LC at the hospital and the nurses all tell me to undress him to make him uncomfortable so that he’ll be awake enough to nurse but that hasn’t worked. Any tips? Should I try harder to wake him up? Here’s a screenshot of our nursing sessions so far. Just about any time he’s not nursing, he’s sleeping.

Answer

At 1 week my son was doing the same thing. He’d fall asleep almost immediately and undressing him seemed to make him even more comfortable. But he wasn’t cluster feeding, really. He’d eat for ten minutes max and then fall asleep and let my boob fall out  I’d try to wake him up and relatch but he just wouldn’t do it, he’d stay asleep for a couple hours and I’d have to wake him up to try again later and it would be another ten minutes max. But when I would make a cold bottle he’d gulp it down. I started pumping instead and letting it get cool in the fridge because then he’d eat more and wouldn’t want/need to eat so often.
I tried a couple things before doing that though. I tried changing positions, having him basically in a sitting up position, slightly bouncing him when he would start to fall asleep, poke at his face, tickling his feet. Nothing except pumping and letting it get chilled started working.
But I stopped breastfeeding completely recently, but even with formula I have to have a cold bottle for him to actually eat till he’s full. If I use warm water for him then he will eat like maybe an ounce before falling asleep and then waking up again shortly after for just another ounce and so on. But cold bottles he’ll eat a full 4-5 ounces and then won’t be hungry again for hours. 
Maybe try that, if it’s something you’re comfortable with? Pump, chill & bottle feed the breast milk?
Hope that helps!

Answer

My baby is the same and he is nearly 4 weeks. I play with his ears, cheeks, feet and tickle his neck to keep him awake but sometimes that doesn’t even work. Usually I do a diaper change when I switch boobs and that helps some. He is gaining fine so I try not to worry but his average nursing time is about 12 minutes on one side. I’m lucky if he will follow up the other side at all. Usually it’s 5-10 on the other side before he passes out.

How long should breastfeeding sessions be?

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