2.5 month old bf frequent snacking habits. Normal or should I try and spread them out?

[eightyone]

My 2.5 month old seems to have turned into a snacker.

He feeds in blocks of 1 to 10 minutes throughout the day. I have never been one to watch clocks so I cant remember how long his feeds used to last before but he used to feed for a lot longer each time.

Now it is 2 to 5+ snacks over a 2 hour daytime period when he is awake. The longest snack would be around 10 minutes but usually they are around 5 minutes. He then has a nap for anything from 1/2 an hour to 2 hours and then wakes again for another snacking session. Sometimes he has sleeping marthons in the afternoon and wakes a few times for literally a couple of minutes of feeding and then goes back to sleep.

Night is the only time when he feeds for a good 20 minutes. He wakes twice during the night.

He still has plenty of wet heavy nappies and does 2 to 3 dirty nappies a day (I know dirty nappies can decrease with age anyway) and he is growing well so Im not worried about him getting enough but it can be a problem when we go out as I can no longer fill him up before we go.

I went to breastfeeding group and one of the mums was talking about how she was planning on spreading her DD's feeds out to every 3 hours. Would this work????

Also is snacking like this common? How long did it last for?

[sc2987]

My six month old feeds 20-30 times a day. This is completely normal behaviour for babies with unrestricted access (carried by day, co-sleeping by night) to the breast.

[DecapitatedLegoman]

It's normal. Spreading feeds over long periods could reduce your supply. Go with it if you can, it will soon pass. Then you'll miss the cuddly tv-watching tea-drinking biscuit-munching days!

[Ulysses]

Its normal for my 24wk DD too. I have tried spacing out the feeds but it takes so much more effort and is never guaranteed to happen at a convenient time. My friends DS seems to be in a much more predictable feeding routine but hey they are all different.

[Jojay]

It depends if it bothers you or not. He's obviously doing fine, but if it bothers you, it wouldn't hurt to gently try to stretch him out a bit, by taking him out in the buggy, or distracting him some other way.

It's very normal though. My 7 wk old twins do it too, and it feels like I constantly have one or the other on my boobs! I (usually)get a long stretch at nioght though, so i can't complain

[PrimaBallerina]

My brilliant BF counsellor once told me to think of babies eating patterns as similar to ours. So when they want milk it could be for a drink, a snack, a light lunch or a big dinner. That made sense to me.

Your baby sounds like they're doing well so don't worry. The pattern will change and evolve as they grow anyway.

[eightyone]

Good to hear it's normal. I was a bit surprised to hear the other mum say this as I had thought breast feeding was demand feeding. Doesnt bother me at the moment as Im on maternity leave so have no real need to for it change.

Was a little surprised to hear about the 6 month olds though. I had
I'm assumed it will change as he gets older and when he's weaned etc as I dont think it will be an easy habit to transition to bottle feeding when I go back to work at 7 months. Will have to see how he goes!

[PrimaBallerina]

My 6 month old only feeds about 7 times in a 24 hour period but it's obviously different for that poster (rather her than me! ).

I don't know anyone who breastfeeds any other way than on demand but it is possible if you read Gina Ford.

[RitaMorgan]

I would worry that restricting day time feeds will mean he wakes more at night to make up for it!

I found feeds spread out/fell into a pattern more around 4/5 months for my ds, but that was mainly because I instigated a napping routine (he was getting harder to get to sleep in the day, never really showed tired signs, but I discovered he would fall asleep every 3 hours on the dot if I fed/rocked/slinged him). So feeds basically became predictable as they were before naps and upon waking.

Then again by 6 months when he was on 3 meals a day, feeds were predictably in between naps and meals.