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are you sure that she is hungry? sometimes when they have a little belly ache they will give signs of hunger, i.e crying, hand sucking, etc...they don't know any better, their stomache just hurts. you might want to talk to your doctor about that part (it might be a case of colic). about the constant holding...my son wanted to be held all the time until about 8 weeks or so, i don't know what that was about (maybe he was spoiled) but that did pa__s after a while. sometimes when you put a baby down (when they are sleeping) they will startle and that is the moro reflex that they are born with but that does pa__s also. try swaddling her really good, that might help with that, if that's what the problem is. at 4 weeks they still eat A LOT but it's not a constant thing, at least not for my son...he ate every 3 hrs and he was b___stfed. what i did was let him nurse for an hour...30 minutes each b___st and i made sure he drained at least one completely. if your daughter falls asleep, make sure you get her to wake up and finish eating, otherwise she will wake sooner than she should to eat, but each baby is different, yours may be 2 hrs. try undressing her a bit, take off socks, burp her, or change her diaper in between b___sts to keep her awake. good luck.

THEY USUALLY GO THROUGH GROWTH SPURTS.

Sounds like a growth spurt. They last a few days, and they come quite often in the beginning (every 2 weeks.)

Wow! You have a very smart baby! She is clever. She has already figured out that the best place for her is right near her mommy. It's a tough situation, but take it as a sign that she knows what's best ; ) Do you have something to rock her in? Fisher Price has a little chair that you can hand rock or they have one that swings, and usually that motion will help baby sleep somewhere other than your arms, chest. It's nice you don't let her cry. That's a nice warm way to teach your baby to trust you and know you love her.

also, are you open to the idea of supplementing with a couple ounces of infamil or isomil? One little bottle every now and then is ok. Some people are "hell-bent" on only b___stmilk, but supplementing is very safe. It'll give your b___sts time to replenish, too.

It's very normal but it does get better!! They usually get on a better feeding schedule as they get older. My dd is very similiar. She won't sleep unless she's being held. Don't forget when you supplement w/ formula that is just how much less milk you will make. The more your baby sucks the more you will produce! Look at kellymom.com for for some other tips to increase your supply.

My five week old is doing that today. The last four days she was sleeping non-stop and now last night she started eating more often than 3 hours. I figure it's a growth spurt too and I just keep letting her feed. I know what you mean about pumping. I don't get to pump every day either to build up for storing cus she eats too often lately. I'll lay her down cus she falls asleep on my b___b and then she wakes up ten minutes later to eat. Snacking I call it. Ha ha!

Thanks all, it is getting a little better, but now she exchanged the nights for days, she sleeps a lot during the day, and up during the night. She can't seem to go back to sleep after a feed. Any ideas??? Sarah, thanks for the website, it is the best that I have ever read about BF, it is just great. Thanks again.

I am glad you posted this. I am having similar trouble the last couple nights with my 10 day old. He is getting into this back-to-back feeding thing now (we are doing feeding #3 right now counting from 11:30 PM to now 1:30 AM.) I tried to give him a pacifier but he seemed a little freaked out by it. He spit up three times, so i know he's not just hanging on my b___b for the sake of it. I dunno, maybe he is in a growth spurt. BTW- the little beast gained 11 oz in 6 days! I guess we're doing something right.:)

I'm glad you liked that web site. It's my fav for b___stfeeding info! I went through the same thing. Getting on a schedule is so hard. Right now my dd won't take a nap longer than 10 min during the day. At night we give her a bath, lotion, pjs, nurse and then she will usually fall asleep in her ba__sinet and is now sleeping for up to 6 hrs. We at least have a schedule at night and it seem to be working.

Sarah- I just looked at that site you recommended. It looks good. Thanks for sharing the info. I am reading a book I got from one of my friends, a pediatric nurse. The book is called, "On Becoming Baby Wise." I am totally into it. I guess 96-97% of parents that use the methods they recommend end up with babies who sleep through the night by 12 weeks of age. I am going to try to follow their guidelines and use the Parent-Directed feeding approach they discuss in the book. It is cross between using a schedule and looking to the baby for hunger cues. It is up to the parent to a__sess and initiate feedings based on this info. I'll let you know if it works. :)