longer feeds and switching sides?

[fernie3]

my daughter is now 4 days my milk has come im yesterday so today has been quite nice only thing is most of the time she is waking between 1 and 3 hours and feeding for around 20-30 mins or so each time. I was told at the hospital to offer one side for one feed and then offer the next at the next feed BUT when the feeds are further apart she is not satisfied with one side she gives up after a while and starts fussing and only seems happy after she has had a smaller feed from the other side. Is it ok to do that?and then the next time do i do the same in reverse?

also she has a few hours in the evening where she is constantly wanting to feed (has been abour 4 hours but no amount of feedning seems to satisft her - after a while is she actually getting any milk? or is it just sucking but getting nothing? i s there anytghing I can do to ease this?

Hi Fernie,
congrats on your new DD- sounds like things are going well.

Waking every 1-3 hours is completely normal for a tiny wee thing like this. It's completely fine to offer one breast and then the next if it seems like this is what she wants to do.

The constant feeding in the evening is again, normal. There's more on cluster feeding on kellymom...see
here.

There's not much you can do apart from get comfy on the sofa and go with it!

fernie - what a shame the hospital have told you incorrect info about 'sides'.Of course it is fine to offer the second side - in fact, it is important to do so in the early days (it doesn't matter if she is too zonked to take it, BTW).

As badger says, the evening feeding is 100 per cent normal, and in fact is a wonderful thing as this need for closeness and contact with you is an important part of early relationship-building as well as early feeding.

Breastfeeding is more than just the milk. It really doesn't matter if she is not taking much milk during this time, and this control (sucking and yet not getting huge amounts of milk) is an important part of the baby's learning to regulate intake.

(Obviously, she will need to get sufficient milk overall - but it is normal for small babies to enjoy quite a lot of 'comfort sucking' or to use the technical term, 'non-nutritive sucking'....it's lovely for them )

Thanks for that link crikeybadger I was just doubting my supply as baby fussed yesterday evening and that bit about different fat content of evening milk makes so much sense.

Now I am really worried! the midwife came to do the 5 week check today and said she was worried about her weight loss, she has lost 7% of her weight aparently, she was 7 pounds 13 at birth and was 7 pounds 3 today. She has told me that i should only offer one breast per feed as she is worried that if I switch during a feed my baby wont get enough hindmilk?

feeling a bit depressed about it today as my baby is very unsettled and has started with the wind, and sickness that my son had (he had reflux) so I am panicking it is reflux part two for me :(

I'm assuming you mean 5 days, not 5 weeks? Your MW sounds like she has unnecessarily panicked you. Anything up to a 10% loss of bodyweight by the 6-day check is considered normal. My baby had lost 12% by day 6 because he had huge troubles latching on and it was a very hot week, so he was probably a little dehydrated. But he's more than made up for it now! -- he has put on two whole pounds in the first four weeks of his life!

The advice IS very confusing. I would recommend an excellent book called "Breastfeeding naturally" by the Australian Breastfeeding Association which is matter of fact and practical, and so far has proved to have the best advice for my problems with feeding.

As far as I can work out, currently they recommend attempting to drain one breast first to ensure the baby gets the hind milk even if this means putting the baby back on the same side a second time and then offering the other breast if the baby is still hungry. Even if, at first, this makes it feel like you are feeding for hours on end.

Not that I'm an expert -- my nipples are still bloody sore after 4 weeks!

ah yes 5 days not weeks!
the midwife was asking if they feel empty after she has fed but they dont? they feel MORE empty but not completley even if shes been on there over an hour!
so far my nipples are not too bad, it is painful when she first goes on but then its ok - during the evening she is constantly feeding and last night I was quite sore by the end so hoping thats not a pattern for her!

thanks I am going to have a look at that book!

fernie - 5 day check, yes? :)

Horrible to be anxious like this :9

7 per cent off birthweight is well within guidelines - truly. I would seriously doubt your midwife's competence if she is expressing concern about this. In addition, she is misinforming you about using only one breast per feed.

Can you speak to another midwife? Explain you are confused and anxious, and have heard information that conflicts with what you have read about offering both sides - offering one side only routinely and deliberately reduces the amount of milk and calories available to the baby. It's what women who are plagued with over-supply and its attendant nuisances are supposed to do. As a routine, new babies need to feed frequently off both breasts - there is no argument about this, and someone telling a mother on day 5 to deliberately not do this needs stopping As it happens, your baby's weight is just fine, so it looks as if there is no harm done at all.But she should not be telling you this.

A call to any of the bf helplines will confirm what I have said.

This referenced article may help:
www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/milkproduction.html

I do hope you get it sorted.

beanlet - I would be amazed if the ABA recommend trying to 'empty' the breast and to keep on putting the baby on the same side again and again to achieve this.

It's quite wrong :(

Just checked - ABA say 'let the baby finish the first breast and then offer the second'. That's fine...they do not mean 'finish' in the sense of 'draining/emptying', but 'finish' in the sense of 'baby appears to have had enough of'.

When the baby indicates he has had what he wants of side one, then that is the time to switch, by offering the other breast. If he is zonked out, he may not want it, or may not want it straight away. That's ok :)

I didn't mean drain completely (apparently even if you think you've "drained" the breast it's still 60% full or something); I simply meant exactly what ABA suggest.

What you shouldn't do is what they used to recommend years ago, which was a timed 10 minutes on the first breast and then a timed 10 minutes on the second. That might be where the midwife was confused -- but I think we're in agreement that Fernie's midwife is really quite misinformed about breastfeeding and baby weight!!!