Couple of questions for bf experienced people...

[LaCiccolina]

Hi, I have a couple of questions I'm having little luck on my own with, everyone I know r bottle feeders for various reasons. I've tried midwife/health visitor but found them quite futile which has been very disappointing.....

Will a bf baby sleep throughout the night (say 11pm -6am) or does it always wake for a feed? If I'm lucky she is down to one or two a night, don't know if it gets better than that.

Does milk change as the baby changes age? I'm returning to work but if I start stock piling now is it nutritious enough for a few months time in the freezer? She's presently 5mths so if I use it at 8mths is it good enough?

She will go 3-4hrs for a feed but still prefers 2hrs roughly most of the time. I'm demand feeding still but am I supposed to regulate more like bottle feeders seem to as she gets older? Just interested here rather than it being a problem....

Think that's it for now! Thanks alot everyone.

OK, I'll have a go...

Will a bf baby sleep through the night? Some will, some won't. Fewer than FF babies, I believe but it doesn't prevent them sleeping. Only a month to go till your introducing solids anyway, which will have an effect all of its own.

Does the milk change? Yes, all the time. As the baby ages, throughout a feed, in warm weather. You can still use frozen stuff from earlier on. I can't remember how long you can freeze if for though.

Am I supposed to regulate like bottle feeders as she gets older? Up to you really. I always demand fed my two, their demands changed over time. For me the challenge was to not just whip the boob out for everything but to have a go at other solutions to pain / distress / boredom as they got older. Which was hard as they loved nursing so much, and it did work.

Have you found the Kellymom site? It's absolutely full of excellent info and advice, I used it a lot.

www.kellymom.com/
here you go - it's not very sophisticated looking but the information is excellent.

At 5 months ds was down to two feeds a night (11pm and 3am) and I thought that was pretty damn good!
Around 6.5 months (once he had three good meals a day) we cut the 3am feed and he went 11pm-6am.
At 8 months we dropped the 11pm feed - at 9 months he sleeps 8pm-6am.

You can still demand feed - my ds started going longer between feeds once he was on solids, but I still pretty much feed when he wants.

Sleeping through has little to do with feeding IME. My DD usually sleeps through (not when teething or ill, but that's normal I think) and has done since about 6 weeks old. But her Dad apparently slept through as a baby from a very young age.

Some babies will need night feeds until at least 9 months old and it's even longer before you can expect a child to go 12 hours without a feed.

No, you're not supposed to enforce a feeding schedule. FFers almost have to do this as they can only give their babies a certain amount of formula in a day so need to keep track of it and demand feeding with formula means chucking a lot away as it can't be kept if they only have a small feed.

Ds1 slept through from 14 weeks, ds2 slept through on and off from 24 weeks but still wakes some nights. Both fed and went straight back to sleep when they woke up. Had no relation to food being introduced as I started feeding ds2 earlier, just personality I think.

Milk does change with time but it will depend on how many feeds are from expressed milk whether it matters too much but if you've got milk left over from 5mo until 8 mo it suggests that she's not having a lot. You can keep it for 3-6months depending on your freezer.

I have fed on demand for both of them but they have settled into some kind of routine themselves. Ds1 was very rigid with feeding times very quickly whereas ds2 is pretty much in his own routine but some days has more and I will always feed him if he wants milk.

Brilliant! Thank you very much ladies, I really appreciate the advice. Had not heard of Kellymom, have now reviewed it. Agree it is a good source of info and has also helped considerably.

Thanks again! :0)