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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Help - 5 week old is "eating too much" (breastfeeding), I don't know what I should do

59 replies

Bartimaeus · 01/11/2011 10:40

DS is 5 weeks. We've had no problem breastfeeding since birth. He latches on fine and although is a very messy eater (loads of milk misses his mouth - goes on his chin, his clothes, my clothes...) he is putting on lots of weight.

I started off demand feeding, which meant about 10 minutes every hour. I got told this was far too often and to space it out to 2-3 hours. Thanks to an osteo, I managed to space out to 2 hours (4 at night), partly because we identified that he has silent reflux so some of his "I'm hungry" sticking out of tongue etc. were actually reflux signals (bad mummy!) and partly because she fixed something or other to do with his thorax so he can eat more without throwing it all back up. he still can't eat more than 20 minutes at a time though, and often its less than 15 minutes.

Last time I got him weighed however I was told he is gaining too much weight. Since leaving hospital it's an average of 50g/day whereas apparently it should be 25-30g/day...

Thing is, although I'm mainly spacing out his feeds to at least 2 hours, sometimes he really cries and cries and the only thing to stop him is to feed him. DH worries whenever I feed him with less than a 2 hour gap, but I feel so sorry for DS when he's chewing my arm (for example) or screaming the place down that I have to feed him.

Yesterday evening I ended up feeding him every hour for about 5 hours. He then slept for 11 hours without needing to feed (an anomoly - it was only because he hadn't slept all day).

Just realised this is really long, but I'm so confused. I'm told if I feed him too often it will give him more reflux plus he's gaining too much weight. But if I don't feed him when he wants it he cries so much it's horrible and I can't stand it. I don't know what to do - space out the feeds? Or demand feed?

OP posts:
Eglu · 01/11/2011 13:39

I'm just going to say similar to BBB. Over the past 4 mths since DD was born she has worked her way down from the 75th centile to the 25th where she has settled. You say your ds was born small so he is most likely doing the opposite. Please just feed him when he wants it and you will both be happier.

crikeybadger · 01/11/2011 13:46

OK, I think I have the answer....

Don't go and get him weighed Smile

Well, not every week anyway.

Napdamnyou · 01/11/2011 14:24

I stopped getting him weighed at 6 weeks and just fed on demand, reasoning if he was pooing and seeing and growing and sleeping and playing he was fine. Which he was.

Weighing is just a hassle.

Napdamnyou · 01/11/2011 14:24

Weeing, sorry, silly ipad

tiktok · 01/11/2011 17:02

Barti, no wonder you are feeling low and underconfident with all that rubbish advice whirling around :(

I have never heard that sticking out of the tongue - which all babies do at some time, unless there's a really marked tongue tie - means reflux and I don't believe it, either. Acid foods that you eat will have no effect on your milk, and any change you have seen in your baby is likely to be coincidence - unless your osteopath can explain how acid foods go from your digestive tract into your milk, unchanged.

Now's the time to listen to, and watch, your baby and to respond to what he seems to be asking you to do....and to regain your confidence in your mothering. His weight gain is irrelevant at 5 weeks - the only worry would be if he was losing weight.

mountaingirl · 01/11/2011 17:21

I have 3 dc and I breast fed them all. I always fed on demand if I was sure that that was what they needed: having winded, changed nappy etc first. I felt like a milk machine at times especially around growth spurt times. I am afraid I have never been one for the waiting 4 hour feed time. If you are thirsty/hungry you can get a drink/food, your baby cannot and relies on you. If he doesn't want the breast he won't take it. My dd put on loads of weight, the paediatrician was astonished at what a little round bowling ball she became. She is now 13, tall, slim and beautiful!

Feed your baby on demand so that he feels happy, contented and loved and so do you. If you need a break: express and let dh feed him or top up with a bottle.

If you think he might have colic because he cries a lot then take him back to the osteo for a treatment. You are doing a fantastic job so well done. Xx

mercibucket · 01/11/2011 17:33

Do you by any chance live abroad? Usually such overwhelmingly crap bf advice needs an almost deliberately obtuse attitude to bf - with more places in the uk training people in bf these days you'd hope the chances of meeting so many people talking crap would be low but perhaps not. You can't overfeed a bf baby, don't space out feeds unless it suits you - it's certainly not necessary. Enjoy your baby

SirHumphreyAppleby · 01/11/2011 17:41

TBH I would stop getting him weighed as long as you are happy that he is growing and can see he is alert and content. It's easy to get panicked by some of the things that the hvs say at clinic, and start to doubt yourself. I stopped having ds weighed for this reason. Or if you really want him weighed at clinic, "forget" your red book, then they won't be able to see how much weight he has put on, ant therefore can't comment Wink

Napdamnyou · 01/11/2011 18:13

Grab some tasty snacks and a pile of DVDs, cuddle your baby and flump about and enjoy the snuggling stage.

Mine is so active now I have to bf in a dark room and tickle his toes nonstop to stop him escaping. I quite miss the nonstop sucking stage.

Anyway, don't they have a growth spurt at six weeks?

mercibucket · 01/11/2011 22:49

am rofl Grin
sorry - just stalked you and searched some posts and you are in France!!! I knew it!!!
ah, m'dear, you will have to come to terms with the fact that for bf advice, this is as good as it gets in that wonderful country. they have many many good things going for them, the smelly brie in particular and the medical care in general, but for breastfeeding advice 'meh'

gluttom · 02/11/2011 02:32

My nearly 4 week old is doing exactly the same - she was born at 3.7kg and now weighs 4.6kg at 26 days which although is just over 30g a day all happened in last 2 weeks. Am embarrassed to get her weighed now so won't for a month and hope she settles down before 8 week check.

nectarina · 02/11/2011 06:23

I thought you were in france too - osteo and haptonomy being the clues. I live in france too and have had lots of terrible bf advice - lots of it from the osteopath. People's attitudes to bf can be quite funny too - dd is 6 months old and i'm getting a lot of 'did you breast feed or give formula?' - 'err... I still breastfeed.' looks of veiled astonishment.
Was quite interested in a friends exPlanation that after the may '68 riots it was seenas anti-feminist to be so tied to your child. This is also why women over here don't tend to feel guilty about putting babies in a creche young. Its seen as more important to have your own independence. My friend told me that her dad forbade her mum to bf because it looked so backward and infeminist!
Good luck with everything!

Original poster
Bartimaeus · 02/11/2011 16:14

yup I live in France Grin at being stalked!

think i will stop getting him weighed except at the monthly checkup. am feeding him from only one side for 3 hour blocks to see if that makes a difference.

I'm not quite strong enough to stop noting feeds yet though...(which just fuels my obsession...)

OP posts:
tiktok · 02/11/2011 18:28

Agree that French breastfeeding knowledge seems very poor indeed - I have some indirect experience of this. They seem to have no clue at all...and of course French bf rates both initiation and exclusivity are way below the UK's.

What are osteopaths doing advising on infant feeding???!

usingapseudonym · 02/11/2011 19:11

Ah being abroad makes more sense. If it was the UK I'd have said to report the HV as she obviously needs retraining which they should get here!!

My antental visit with a hv has been to encourage feeding on demand and to say that weighing is now a lot less often and there are new charts and not to worry too much if we don't fit them!! Babies are all different.... bf on demand is the best possible way forwards!

NotJustClassic · 02/11/2011 19:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nectarina · 02/11/2011 19:20

Have to say that I have had very good advice in France at a breastfeeding workshop that I went to - emphatically said that the only way to go was feeding on demand. Also at the PMI (don't know what the equivalent is in UK - protection maternelle et infantile) they were very pro breastfeeding. It feels like all the medical professionals are very pro-bf, but society hasn't quite caught up.
Tiktok - yes! my osteopath told me to just feed on one breast at every feeding. I told him that I'd been told the opposite whilst my baby was struggling to gain weight. He insisted that I wasn't giving my baby enough nutrients. I ended up telling him he didn't know what he was talking about...

paranoidandroidwreckmyownlife · 02/11/2011 19:25

It is possible to overfeed a BF baby, one with reflux! DD3 was a comfort feeder, she misinterpreted the reflux pain as hunger and would want to feed constantly.
The block feeding helps as might cutting dairy out of your diet. Ask your peadiatrician to try ranitidine or omeprazole to reduce pain for baby. I did eventually try to keep a couple of hours between feeds and it did help, but she needed a dummy and a fabric sling to stay settled.
Reflux can be awful and normal rules go out the window. DD is/was v chubby as she is/was a milk monster but it would have been far worse had I have not controlled it slightly.
Good luck.

FutureNannyOgg · 02/11/2011 20:03

DS grew like this, started on 50th centile, was past 99th by 6 months. He is tall and stocky, his height centile always roughly matched his weight. The hv was always saying he was too big and didn't believe he was bf.
He's a smashing, healthy, active 15 month old now, not chubby at all anymore.

iskra · 02/11/2011 20:22

I had a couple of HV tell me I was overfeeding Dd1. She went from 75th centile to off the chart quite rapidly. Dd2 is doing the same judging by today's weigh in. I always bfed dd1 on demand & she is a tall slim 3 yo, not a bit overweight.

Fumblefawkes · 02/11/2011 20:52

OP - it may be worth looking for some of the reflux support threads on here. I seem to recall 2 symptoms of refluxers are that they either struggle to gain weight or gain more than usual. (mine was the former)

They feed more frequently as the sucking movement keeps the movement down the throat, and the milk helps soothe it at the same time. But then of course, they vomit what they have just eaten and it hurts. And repeat...

Have you tried propping the cot, popping him in a sling and generally keeping upright after feeds to help reduce the acid coming up. DD spent her first 4 months in the sling for naps after feeds, usually sucking my finger at the same time.

PessimisticMissPiggy · 02/11/2011 22:12

My Gdad put it really well yesterday when I BF'd my 6mo x2 in one hour in his presence. He said, 'you've got a lot of patience, you have to when you BF'.

He then explained how in the 50's formula was pushed as a way of freeing up women's time and how he thinks we've forgotten that babies aren't made for our convenience. Wise old man with a lot of granddaughters! My cousin had a 'hungry baby' and was told to supple me

Feed on demand, it's not natural to clock watch.

PessimisticMissPiggy · 02/11/2011 22:15

Ooooops, meant to say my cousin had a 'hungry baby' and was told to supplement then was told she was over feeding but her BM supply had been reduced from not giving enough time at the breast so she had to switch to FF completelyband was very Angry at the advice given.

cruelladepoppins · 02/11/2011 23:06

Just to say I too do not think you can overfeed a bf baby - my two DSs both put on a pound a week (60g a day ish) following birth and many years on they are not fat at all!

PetisaPumpkinHead · 02/11/2011 23:17

Stop weighing baby, feed on demand, hide the clock, ignore everyone else except baby (and kellymom), as others have said get loads of books/dvds and snuggle on the sofa/bed. Mine used to do 5/6 hour feeds non-stop in the evenings at that age, sometimes it seems like they are permanently attached!

Know nothing about reflux, but my dd2 used to comfort suck when not hungry and then throw up the excess milk. Good advice on here about oversupply. Have you got a sling? Great for a break from all that sucking, if you suspect he is just unsettled/tired and not hungry, pop him in a sling and go for a walk outside or around the house and he may well drop off.