Does he sound aggressive to you?

[Israel]

OK, DS is only 12 days old and I hate to say this about my precious little man...but he seems so angry and mean sometimes (mainly when he is about to eat). He will kick like crazy and pull at my breast and punch himself in the head and face with his free arm until he is latched and settled. I am only able to nurse in the "football hold" right now so holding his free arm while trying to latch is not so easy. I have to put mitts on him or long sleeves so I can hold the sleeve with my mouth to try and control that strong little arm of his! Plus, he seems to have such little peace...he fights sleep and even when he is asleep seems to be uneasy. I'm probably expecting too much, but DH is constantly asking me if everything DS is doing is normal. I have to keep reminding him that I am new at this too and need to seek advice from my favorite board of mommies.

Also, at this stage are babies mostly sleeping if they aren't feeding. On average, how long is a newborn awake?

Thanks for ANY input.

[JeanineAnne]

Your posts make me smile :) Only because they remind me of myself 11 years ago ;)

Yep, that is okay and normal behavior. I'm not sure if you are trying to establish scheduled feedings or feedings on demand; but I was an on-demand nurser so I just tried to latch on the babies before they overly hungry - that could also explain why I felt like I was nursing 20 hours a day :mrgreen:

[plaid]

Aww, do not worry you are doing an awesome job. He is hungry and does not have good control of his arms yet, just brand new and still adjusting. His way of letting you know he is hungry now! Very common for babies to scratch themselves. About sleeping ~ Every baby is different. Seems like if they were not fussing, eating or sleeping, getting 5 min just looking and awake was my kids max at this age. There is a huge range of normal.:-D Good job!
Hope that helps?

[JRBL]

I laughed too, not *at* you but... umm... "at" you... because my first was like that... she would get sooooooo excited she would flail all over the place, grunt and almost GROWL while I was attempting to get her on the breast... she would actually start to cry if the process took too long, and I would mumble something kind like, "Well, if ya would HOLD still....." :) She would "cat nap"... she would sleep for five minutes and be awake to nurse again... it was frustrating at times, but did NOT last forever. :)

ETA: By the way, my infants did NOT sleep a lot until we had a good, steady, hardy nursing routine down... and my milk was completely in and the babies had all "learned" their nursing roll. It takes time for them to figure out how to nurse "quickly" and efficiently; they want to get the milk just as quickly as you want them to, but they are learning as they go, just like you. I'm struggling to think of an actual "time frame" when they would sleep... three to six months maybe? When they would actually sleep really well. By then you really appreciate that *Good* sleep and actually feel like a NORMAL human being again... and the baby goes from being this needy (dare I say annoying at times) little thing to being the precious little bundle of joy you expected. Not to sound like I didn't enjoy those first few months because I did, but come on, they ARE hard. :)

[4HisGlory]

Been there too, It could be he is getting too hungry before he lets you know. You might want to figure out about how long he goes between feedings (mine was every 2 hours...still is some days) and feed him before he "asks"

[JRBL]

ooo good idea!! I'll bet that was my daughter's problem too!

[~Tara~]

hehehe

yep, me thinks he just likes his momma's milk and can hardly contain his excitment
I ditto trying to latch him on a wee bit earlier..trying to catch him before he gets to that 'frantic' moment.
Nothing to fret. He just sounds hungry and excited :)

You're doin' a good job momma!