4 weeks old, quick breast feeds every three hours. Should I be worried?

[PeaceLillyDoge]

DC1 is nearly four weeks and we're slowly getting the hang of breast feeding. The thing is, she does quite short feeds, most are around 10/12 mins and she always falls asleep before I can offer the second boob.

We asked the hv of this was ok and she said that anything over five mins counts as a feed, however when we asked jet whether it was fine if most (80%) of the feeds were short then she couldn't really answer.

Anyone know of this is ok? She trends to have about three hours between feeds, less at night and I've been giving her a bottle of expressed Breast milk before bed mostly because I'm paranoid she isn't getting enough.

Plenty of wet nappies and yellow Poos, weight wad an issue at the start but we're back up to birthweight now.

[CMOTDibbler]

Some babies are fast and efficient feeders, and it sounds as if your baby is one of those. Try not to worry about it, and remember things might change as she grows too

[NotQuiteCockney]

You're saying her poo is yellow - how many poos has she been doing per day, counting only the poos that are at least as big as a 50p coin?

If you want to squeeze more breastmilk into her, here are some things that might help:

• breast compression (google it, and Jack Newman)
  
• skin to skin
  
• cosleeping (if you're not already)
  

She sounds like she's probably doing just fine though really.

[Gen35]

I'd keep an eye on her weight. If she is gaining as per normal expectations, in wouldn't be worried. Really the nappies and weight gain are the keys to telling if she's just super efficient or if there is an issue.

[CuteLittleToes]

If she is gaining weight ok I wouldn't worry. But you also can try and keep her awake during the feeds - when you see her dozing off, rub her cheek, palms, back, pat her bottom, etc. Or you could switch her to another side so that she gets faster flowing milk and would be more awake for that.

[PeaceLillyDoge]

Thanks for your replies. She has some mighty fine Poos so am not worried about that aspect. Mw is coming on Monday weigh again so will keep going and revaluate after that.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

No feeding "problem" is a problem if baby is thriving and gaining weight and Mum is comfortable.

There are wide differences in the way babies feed, the timings, tghe duration etc. At 4 weeks some babies are feeding very fequently and for a long duration, other may sleep long stretches and feed infrequently for a long or a short time.
At 4 weeks my first baby could take a whole feed in about 4 minutes, he was very fast (and was still gaining 10 oz a week) - some babies are very efficient quick eaters, that's all- like adults.

The key to whether it's a problem is the weight gain.