Did/does your 5 week old have a breastfeeding pattern?

[Marshmellow]

He's gaining weight really well and seems to feed every 2 houra or so during the day and he has no long period of sleep at night. When did your baby sleep for a longer stretch at night? Fed for 40 mins at 1am and then back up at 3:30am Am demand feeding so no real pattern but just wanted some advice as to what i should be expecting at this stage.
Most p[eople i know with similar aged babies juat report things like their little one sleeping for 4 hrs at a time at night. are they the minority or am i?

[Tommy]

I think they are - or not telling the whole truth

At 5 weeks, demand breastfeeding is just that - on demand

I hope someone who knows about these things will come along and give some good advice soon but all I can give is sympathy and tell you that I wenrt through exactly the same with mine. It is hard but this phase doesn't last forever!

[MrsBadger]

doesn't matter what the rest of the world is doing - feed ds when he's hungry and you will both do fine .

If the repeated wakings are really giving you trouble have you considered co-sleeping, so you can feed him without having to get up, sit up, or even wake up?

dd is 10wks and sometimes (sometimes) manages 4hrs at night... but my sleep patterns seem to have adapted to cope with it, so I actually feel quite human most of the time.

[tibsy]

no pattern at all to dd's feeding at that age. she was and still is to some extent, more of a grazer (now almost 14mths)
the helath visitor kept insisting that i try to space feeds out, but both dd and i ended up getting stressed, so i decided to ignore her and go with what dd wanted. we were both much happier.
i totally agree with MrsB's suggestion to consider co sleeping. it saved me from complete sleep deprivation and its just so lovely too, so much so that we're still doing it now!!!
sounds like youre doing a great job

[tibsy]

health visitor, obviously

[Marshmellow]

That is so reassuring to hear that other people are getting up and down in the night and have no pattern! I have been doing a bit of co-sleeping and returning to my bed when i wake and he's stopped feeding and then putting him back down in moses. I don't want to rush away his early weeks and i'm not really that tired but i just wanted to make sure that i'm not the only one who has a baby that is demand feeding and waking lots at night.

[EffiePerine]

Sounds completely normal - DS was feeding every 2 hrs day and night at that age and sometimes less. You may find the feeds get closer together in a week or so - this is the 6 wk growth spurt and also completely normal, so just go with the flow

Any attempt to space out feeds failed for us too. DS just got the hang of going for (a bit) longer as he got older.

[Marshmellow]

Thanks so much for your reassurance that we're both doing ok!