Am I over-feeding 2 week old breastfed baby?

[fuzzyfelt]

Hi,
I am breastfeeding my 2 week old baby on demand. He feeds aboutevery 2-3 hours apart from evenings when he feeds all evening. I was quite happy with this until today when he was weighed. He has gained nearly a pound in one week and the MW was making 'ooh what a little piggy' type comments. Also, yesterday evening he was very unsettled, seemed windy and was getting very cross at the breast - colicky type symptons do you think?

Question is - am I feeding him too much so that he is gaining too much weight and getting colic? I thought you could not over feed a breast fed baby? There is so much conflicting advice around, is hard to know what to do for the best!!

Thanks in advance.

[SoupDragon]

You can't over feed a breastfed baby

[fannyannie]

NNo don't worry you can't over feed a breastfed baby - they take what they need.

DS1 was breastfed and used to put weight on in a similar fashion to yours. He also used to get colic (something I didn't realise until later than breastfed babies do get!).

[SoupDragon]

You're clearly doing a fab job. All mine have been "piggies" who piled on the pounds . Carry on.

[DizzyBint]

sounds fine to me. my understanding is that if you are breastfeedng on demand then you can't overfeed. your baby controls his own intake. if he doesn't want any more he won't suckle anymore. at 2 weeks i would totally expect him to feed feed feed!

[beansprout]

You can't overfeed them, it's that simple! Good for you for feeding him enough for him to put on an impressive amount of weight. It's possible that he may want to be winded a bit more, but please don't let this silly HV make you think you are doing anything wrong!

If he wasn't putting on weight, she would be making comments as well - you can't win!

Remember, HVs use charts based on formula fed babies and B/f have a different weight gain pattern.

[bobsmum]

Sounds like you're doing brilliantly! My ds put on a pound a week for ages and was about 25lbs at 5 months! And breastfed! He lurked about the 91st-98th centile but now aged 4 is a skinny so and so!

I don't think you can overfeed a bf baby - you'll only make as much as they need.

But he could just be greedy in the way that he feeds (not in quantity though) and gulp in air if he's so keen to feed. I used to find that both ds and dd would be bulgy round their middles just under their rib cage so until that went squshy and "empty" feeling I would assume they were still windy and keep burping them. Also is they were cross eyed they still needed burping!

ds wasn't ever very windy, but dd was a nightmare because she's tongue tied so her latch was pants. Sounds like your wee man doesn't have that problem though

Just keep him upright after a feed for as long as possible. If that doesn't work I found that if I lay dd down and waited for her to cry that would be that last of the trapped wind trying to escape. If I burped her then, we would have spectacular results.

I think your HV is trying to be complimentary, but as seems to be v common is being far from reassuring! Ignore her (and the charts in your red book if you're bfing) and keep up the good work - your ds sounds really healthy

[twickersmum]

congratulations!!
at 2 weeks they often start to get windy
try using infacol before a feed, make sure you wind him well, during a feed if need be.

try drinking fennel tea and cut down on your dairy/caffeine etc at the first sign of this (no more lattes!!)

[pooka]

Both mine gained at least a pound in this period. Also neither of them lost any weight after birth.
Both fed at about the rates you describe. they're both in proportion in terms of weight/height on the centiles.
As others have said, this is the time when babies regardless of how they are fed can get a bit windy - I'd also maybe think about Infacol - didn't work with dd, but did with ds (but think they were older when I introduced it). I made more of a conscious effort with ds (second baby) to wind him sometimes during a feed, but for longish periods afterwards. But he, I think, just happened to be better at bringing wind up.

[bobsmum]

Ooh - yes agree about caffeine!

It never bothered ds so it didn't occur to me to be careful with dd, but I had so many cuppas it seemed to affect her. I switched to decaff tea and coffee and it seemed to make a big difference. Caffeine is harder to process in a baby's tum and can accumulate in their system making them a bit cranky sometimes. Infacol worked too but only as a last ditch attempt - wasn't that keen to pump her full of parabens at such a young age, but it did the trick

[fuzzyfelt]

Aaah thanks everyone - that's really reassuring. I will carry on the same then - and buy some Infacol. I'd better cut down on the cuppas too as I am doing a lot of sitting around breastfeeding and drinking tea!

[pooka]

Just get decaff! Sounds like you're doing brilliantly. I found the first 6 - 8 weeks pretty tough although feeding went reasonably well, just because of the wind/colic crying.
It passes though, and then things just get better! (until they argue back that it )

[Gemmitygem]

fuzzyfelt, as 1st time mum to 12 week old DS I can only go on my own experience (breastfeeding only), but would suggest that you encourage him to take bigger feeds more spaced apart (like 3 hours rather than 2). I found it made my DS less colicky than constant feeding (like someone feeding you biscuits all day as opposed to a plate of roast dinner!!)

The feeding all gets so much easier, now at 12 weeks it's like falling off a log, so keep going, sounds like you're doing really well, and just think, it will get even easier!

[Twinklemegan]

Beansprout - Tiktok will be on here to tell you off! Apparently the charts are based on a x-section of babies, not just formula fed ones!

Fuzzyfelt - I'm sure I read somewhere that b/f babies have a tendency to put on weight quickly in the early weeks. I wouldn't swear to it though. But it sounds like you're doing brilliantly. Keep it up!

[hunkermunker]

Fuzzyfelt, it sounds like you have a very abundant supply - the fussiness you describe could be linked to that.

When he's unsettled, is it like he's struggling to keep up with your letdown? If he unlatches at the start of a feed, do you spray everywhere in a comedy-yet-not-advisable-if-the-vicar's over fashion?

You can't overfeed a bfed baby though (and the charts are based on a cross-section of babies fed in all different combinations of breast/bottle/early-weaned/late-weaned).

[sar123]

Fuzzyfelt know how you feel - health visitor took one look at my dd at 8 weeks and said "oh my, this one doesn't miss many feeds does she?".

My dd was still feeding every 90 mins to 2 hrs at 3 mths!!! But don't forget they have little tummies and breast milk is easily digested.

She ate frequently and was v. colicky too and some of the things we did that helped were to prop up the head end of the moses basket (we used a telephone directory and wedged it against a wall but just make sure the whole thing is v. stable!!), winding after every feed without fail, keeping her upright for as long as poss after a feed (either on my shoulder or in bouncy chair), and also baby massage was really successful for releasing trapped gas (there are special anti-colic massages for the tummy). We tried all the remedies (infacol, corelief, gripe water) and found gripe water to be the best for us - just try everything until you find one that works.

Also you could try drinking fennel or peppermint tea? There's a really good aniseed, fennel mix you can get in health shops (for you - not baby!).

Anyway just remember you are giving your baby the best start possible - i found demand feeding v. demanding physically and emotionally on me but don't regret it for a minute. Just look after yourself lots of rest and eat well.

[Swizzler]

Sounds completely normal - the frequent feeding, the weight gain and the fussiness starting at 2 weeks. DS is now 13 weeks and I found weeks 2-6ish difficult with bfing but it will get better . Try Infacol for the wind. Also, if your LO gets extra fussy and feeds more in the next week or so it's a growth spurt and will soon pass

[Swizzler]

BTW, DS has more than doubled his birth weight at 3 months and the only comment I got from the health visitor was than it was good to see such a steady weight gain

[fuzzyfelt]

Thanks again everyone for the tips. So helpful.

I think winding him for long enough is definitely something to try. I don't wind him for long and he still seems fidgety sometimes so perhaps he's one of those babies where it's hard to get it up!

Hunkermunker - no I haven't sprayed yet! I look forward to that one! He does seem a bit surprised sometimes when he starts feeding - can't keep up with the let down - but it doesn't seem to upset him.