Hi, new baby and a few BF questions.

[wickedwitchofthenorth]

My son is nearly 3 weeks old, gaining weight (born 8lb 9oz now 10lb)and thriving. Feeling quietly very proud of myself!! Really happy with BF so far but have a few questions I hope you can help me with.

He is cluster feeding (is that the right term?) in the evenings. How long will that last for roughly?

Sometimes very windy,(the baby, not me!) are there any obvious foods to avoid?

I have low iron levels, will my milk be affected? Taking iron supplements when I remember but not always daily.

Also, why do people seem to think that because I am only little (5ft 3 and a size 8) I wont be able to BF for long? BF my first son for a month then stopped due to mastitis but I really want to go for longer this time, especially as it makes night feeds so much easier! am I right in thinking that my size/weight will have no bearing on the quality/quantity of milk.

Thanks for any replies!

[twinkle5]

Can't help much with your other questions, but my ds is 7 months and still cluster feeds between 7 and 10.30 every evening. Sorry!

[StealthPolarBear]

Congratulations! Wow to the weight gain! I don't think your size/weight will have anything to do with quality of milk - ignore!
My DS cluster fed until about 6 or 7 months. It didn't seem to decline, one day I just thought "hang on, he doesn't do that any more". Might have coincided with him eating tea and having bed time porridge.

[TreadmillMom]

Hiya BF both of my boys, now 2 and 4, they both cluster fed like mad in the evenings from about 7pm before settling at around 11pm. Cannot remember exactly when this stopped but reckon it was around the 3 month mark.
Babies get wind, full stop, their digestive systems are immature so avoiding certain foods will not make a massive difference unless you notice a particular food greatly aggrivates his wind.
Re your capabiltiy to BF ignore all comments re quality, quantity and length of time. Your body knows what it's doing and adjusts depending on your sons requirements.
Its all about supply and demand, his cluster feeding is builing up your production to meet his future requirements.

[weeglenny]

Congratulations wickedwitch - just to say that I'm about your height and a size 8 and am still bf'ing DS who's almost 4 months - his weight gain is right on average so am sure that quantity/quality of milk is fine

[empen]

My 11 week old baby has stopped cluster feeding recently as I now give him a bit of Infacol (he was getting upset and windy) he has a dummy (I waited and waited, resisted and resisted and now wonder what all the fuss was about - I was his dummy before) and I give him a bottle of formula at 11pm and he sleeps through the night.

I found my baby was windy and when I asked the HV about it she told me avoid too much fruit but I found the thing that was causing it was all the tea I was drinking - now I have decaffinated and he is fine.

Hope this helps

[kelbel]

hi empen, which dummy do you use?trying to get ds to take 1 as its currently me x,but he's not having it, altho he takes ebm out of bottle no probs x