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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

How many bfeeds in 24 hours for five month old baby?

21 replies

yay4twoboys · 13/11/2011 08:20

Anyone able to tell me how many times in 24 hours I should feed my ds2 who is five months? I have also got him on two tiny meals a day (baby cereal & fruit or veg purée).

Thanks.

:)

OP posts:
tiktok · 13/11/2011 09:13

yay - the answer to this question is 'as many times as your baby seems to want/need' :) :) Which isn't much help if you are looking for a definitive answer.

If your baby is happy, healthy, growing and thriving, and you respond to his feeding cues consistently, then you can be pretty sure he is getting enough.

Babies of five months usually feed anything between 7 times to 15 times in 24 hours....if that helps :)

Booboostoo · 13/11/2011 09:29

According to my 5.5 month old DD...a million times!!! Honestly she seems to be attached to the boob! Last night she fed at 19.30, 23.00, 2.30, 4.30, 5.30, 6.30, 7.30 and has just finished a 45 minute feed!

KD0706 · 13/11/2011 10:08

I agree it totally varies. My DD was probably on the upper end of the scale and I would estimate she had at least 11 feeds at that age, sometimes more if she had a particularly bad night. On that note, sympathies booboostoo

LittleWaveyLines · 13/11/2011 10:44

Ha Booboostoo I was going to say about a million times! Grin

I can remember yesterday 4pm, 5pm, 6.30 7, 7.30, 8.30, 9, 11, 12.30, 3am, 5am, 7.30, 8.30, 10am and currently napping... will feed again on waking, then probably again at 12.30, 2.30, etc.... so that's 16 times.....?

LittleWaveyLines · 13/11/2011 10:45

She's not quite 5 months and on no solids yet though

RitaMorgan · 13/11/2011 10:52

Before weaning, mine was on about 8 I think - around 2 hourly in the day and 4 hourly at night. Didn't really drop any until he'd been taking solids for about a month.

AngelDog · 13/11/2011 13:18

What tiktok said. Mine is stil on about 8 I think despite being established on solids for nearly a year and a half (he's 22 m.o.). :)

poppygolucky · 13/11/2011 13:34

My DD only 20 weeks so not on solids yet, but I reckon she feeds 10-12 times easy. She is a total boob monster. I love it though, as she's now taken to gazing up and smiling at me mid feed. And blowing raspberries on me, which she finds hilarious. So adorable at 3pm. Slightly less so at 3am.

Original poster
yay4twoboys · 13/11/2011 13:55

Thanks so much everyone! Thanks

Thought I was feeding him too often as we are on 7 or 8 in 24 hours. In books it says 4 hours between feeds through the day??!! Hmm Boobs are just too tasty for babies for that I think!

OP posts:
RitaMorgan · 13/11/2011 14:26

4 hourly feeds for formula fed babies maybe, but I don't know any breastfed babies that go that long. I eat or drink more frequently than 4 hourly Grin

Original poster
yay4twoboys · 13/11/2011 18:33

Thanks, Rita. I always say that formula fed babies can go four hourly but bred ones are more like three hourly. It is just when you read books you loose confidence in yourself, well I do anyway.

OP posts:
ElaYar · 13/11/2011 18:37

My DD ( ebf at that time ) had 6 feeds - around 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00 and 19:30-20:00.

RitaMorgan · 13/11/2011 19:32

Even 3 hourly is a bit of a stretch for a lot of breastfed babies - ds didn't go 3 hours in the day til he was eating proper meals in between!

tiktok · 13/11/2011 19:37

Which book these days says four-hourly, though?

I haven't seen this advice in a long time.

PavlovtheCat · 13/11/2011 19:40

at 5 months, around 3 hourly as an average, sometimes as long as 4, but not often, 4, and often 2hrly. But definitely no longer than 4 hours before another feed, not even at night time. I fed on demand, never attempted to install routine into his feeding, if he wanted it, he had it.

Ellefabulosa · 13/11/2011 19:41

Yep a million- if we were at home - if out she probably would wait for a reasonable time - but if the boobs just sitting there then she thought that was a cue to keep coming back

BlastOff · 13/11/2011 19:54

Yep, ds2 is 5 months and as above! Feeds often and no particular pattern, but definitely two hourly in the day. Sometimes more frequently, although if we're out and about has been known to stretch to four hours. I just feed on demand. At night max is three times, but sleeps through too.

RitaMorgan · 13/11/2011 19:58

tiktok - I think GF and Baby Whisperer both recommend 4 hourly routines after the first couple of months.

tiktok · 14/11/2011 08:38

Rita - yes, I was forgetting those books, neither of which should be taken at all seriously, and which I have just looked at again and read rubbish in them I had forgotten about!! GF sort-of-says the four-hourly thing.....her feeds are timed at certain times on the clock, and a couple of feeds have 3.5 hours between them. Of course elsewhere in the book she may say four-hourly precisely - she is so inconsistent and unclear, this may well be the case.

Baby Whisperer (who I note, having forgotten, has a routine for the first four days...Shock ) seems to suggest three-hourly though she doesn't seem to lay this down in stone.

Both books - even on this quick perusal - have so much misunderstanding in them, it grieves me again that mothers are still reading them :(

OP - which book says four hourly? :)

RitaMorgan · 14/11/2011 13:54

BW starts on a 3 hourly cycle but doesn't she suggest a 4 hourly cycle by about 3-4 months?

tiktok · 14/11/2011 15:50

Rita you may well be right :)

There is so much crap in that book, that could be part of it!

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