newbie - advice please?!!

[surprisearrival]

Hey there - I became a Mum 3 weeks ago; without actually knowing I was pregnant! SO I havent read any of the books, or gone to any antenatal things.. I'm a bit lost! I'm breast feeding but confused! keep seeing things that rrefer to a set length of feed; and switching boobs in mid feed.. how long am i meant to feed her for?!! I just leave her there until she stops sucking! (about 15-20 minutes at 1.5 - 3 hour intervals). Shes putting on weight well (was only 5lb15 at birth and they think 3 weeks early). Am I doing it right? Or is there a better way?
Oh and I've given expressing and my mum feeding her from bottle ago.. but she drank all I expressed and was still hungry.. I'd filled the little cup that came with the pump!)
THANK YOU! xx

Hi there. Wow what a shock for you! Only advice I can give is that I basically let my dd feed for as long as she wants on the one boob, which can be up to an hour. Once she is off I re-offer the original boob but if she seems uninterested in it I then offer the other one. It may be that she is only on it for about 5 to 10 mins but sometimes that's all they need. Not sure about the expressing side of it as I am not at that stage yet but if she is coming off after 15-20 minutes I would definitely try changing boobs. There is no set time - sometimes she feeds for half hour, others for over an hour. Try the swapping sides and see what happens.

Sounds like you're doing fine - let the baby stay on the breast until she comes off herself, then offer the other side. You don't have to worry about set length's of time or swapping mid-feed, just be guided by what your baby wants.

As for expressing, babies tend to drain bottles whether they're hungry or not as they like sucking - with a breast they can control the flow of milk and comfort suck, but with a bottle the milk keeps coming. As a rough guide a baby will need an oz for every hour you leave them, plus an extra oz just in case.

You are doing the right thing - the set times idea is very outdated. The only thing I would say is when she is finishe on one side, offer her the other as well. She may not want it, or only want a bit, but she may. The best advice I had, on here, was don't look at the clock at all, your baby doesn't! She's hungry when she's hungry, and it might only be half an hour after the last feed, but it's important for your supply to let her feed as often as she wants to for as long as she wants to.

Congratulations on your surprise arrival!

Congratulations on your surprise LO. Don't worry too much about not reading any books or having any antenatal classes, I was too ill whilst carrying DC1 to do either and he's survived quite well .

Agree with the others, downing a bottle of expressed milk is no indication that the baby is hungry or that you aren't producing enough.

Everything you are doing seems to be fine. Also agree with the other that maybe you could offer the other breast when LO comes off the first.

Kellymom is a useful site that many Bfing mums use, there is some good information here on what to expect in the first 6 weeks.

One thing I would highly recommend is mixing with other bfing mums. Have you managed to find any bfing support groups local to you? Try your local Children's Centre, Baby Cafe, NCT (although many groups the NCT run are for anyone, you usually get to meet some bfing mums there), La Leche League and the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers has a list of breastfeeding support groups on their website, but unfortunately I can't get the link to work this morning.

Most of all though don't forget to enjoy your surprise, you sound like a great Mum who is doing a fantastic job