breast fed 4 month olds...how often do you feed?

[cheapandchic]

I just need some reassurance really.

Some annoying lady at a play group mentioned that my baby should be able to make it through the night by now.

and recently my baby seems to have increased the frequency of feeds!

how often do you feed your 4 month old?

Both mine fed about two to three hourly at that age. Also through the night. She's probably having a growth spurt, carry on as you are and ignore the daft woman.

Some babies sleep through at that age but AFAIK most don't.

It would be quit an unseal BF baby who slept through at 4 months. Neither of mine did. DD fed around every 2hours in the day at that age then when 5hours overnight with two night feeds. DS fed around every 3hours sometime 4 but that was 24/7 so we didn't get that longer block of sleep untill he was older.

Hope that make you feel like it's totaly normal.

Same here. My 4 month old dd is still feeding every 2-3 hours around the clock. My ds was doing the same at this age too. I agree with HettyKett, carry on as you are and ignore the daft woman!

my DD had a massive feeding frenzy around 4 months - 4.5 and was feeding nearly every 2 hours day and night. shes 5 months now and its settled a lot but she has still never slept the whole night through. She is breastfed though which might make a bit of a difference :) maybe she just had sleepy babies.
Its normal and your doing fine! Ignore her :)

I think all babies are different. My DD is 9wks and has been sleeping for anything between 8-11hrs at night without waking since 4.5wks old but she feeds VERY frequently though the day. She woke at 10am this morning and has had 2 full feeds already and is now asleep again. She'll feed every 1-2hrs now until we go to bed tonight. The house is a tip because even if I had time to get anything done my section wound is still open and being packed and dressed daily. Sorry to hijack, my wound is really pissing me off at the moment, I'm very grateful not to be sleep deprived anymore, my sympathies to those that still are.

thank you. its just nice to hear others with similar patterns.

I think it may be a growth spurt, because she actually was sleeping pretty great at night, feeding at 10pm, 4am, and 8am..

but for two days now has been eating non stop. every hour yesterday in the afternoon! by evening my husband kept wanting to give her a bottle, thinking that would help settle her?! in some ways I am worried too that my breasts can't keep up..they are so floppy and empty she could barely latch, I am hoping they fill up today, or that this passes.

DS has a feed every 2 and a half to 3 hours during the day (about 5 feeds) and has been sleeping through the last 2 weeks from about 7pm to 7am. However, before that he was feeding once a night.

All babies are different. I'm not a supermum, I'm just lucky. The annoying lady at playgroup is exactly that...annoying.

Perhaps she's teething (baby, not annoying lady) and that's why she wants to latch on to something? My boobs have also been through stages of feeling really floppy and empty sometimes.

It's really really common for 4 month olds to suddenly want to feed more often, probably a growth spurt, certainly nothing to worry about. Your milk supply should easily keep pace if you can go with her for a while. Usually things settle down after a few days or a week.

Boobs are never really empty, they make milk as the baby is feeding (like a combi boiler!) so you don't have to wait for them to 'fill up'. Quite the opposite in fact - you'll make more milk if you feed more frequently.

Good luck, and please do a loud raspberry to the lady at playgroup from me

I guess I am just worried that my milk is keeping up.
Did you ever worry about that? I feel like I am not making enough. I am also losing weight despite eating a lot.
Some may say I am very lucky in that aspect, but actually I don't want to be this skinny...my baby feels like she is draining me in every sense recently!
having a young baby is so hard!

Sorry to hijack but my issue is related... DD is 14 weeks this sunday and i am considering bringing in a formular feed soon. I am worried my milk supply is dropping as my boobs are softer and i now struggle to pump as much as i used to (which is a concern as i am working part time and need pumped milk for my nanny to give when i am out). are there any bebefits to introducing a little formula now or will i risk losing more of my milk supply? on the other hand is it better to get DD used to it now rather than risk her rejecting formula later? i planned to BF for 6 months and then retain the morning and evening feeds for a year.

This is exactly why it used to be thought that babies needed solids at 4 months! Have a google of 4 month sleep regression and you'll see it's perfectly normal for a previously settled baby to suddenly want more food and wake more at that age.

Things will settle down. You are doing just great. (Should add here that if you want to add a bottle of formula now - then go for it - you won't stuff up breastfeeding by doing so. But equally there is no need if you don't want to !)

Ooh people like that make me so on your behalf! In the end I just said yes when asked and changed the subject when the truth was I was feeding both DCs 1-2 hourly at 4 months.

4 months really is the pits though, I remember with both feeling like I'd been steamrollered. Even though they both continued to feed (a lot ) for a long while after, it was the 4 month mark that felt the worst. Sounds like you are doing fab though!

I breast fed my daughter up until she was 6months (longer than i orginally intended to) but she refused any type of milk regardless of teet,bottle, or flavour. My daughter was the same at your childs age, she didnt sleep through the night not every child does. Have you tried giving like the very first baby food thats like watery puree? i found that feeding it to her during the day and only breast feeding at night really helped. in the end she finally just wanted food and not me!

op dd is 4 months and doesn't sleep through. Most don't at this age, ignore silly woman at group

And agree with pp. 4 month is hard, growth spurts, learning new things and needing security and comfort. It does get easier, but right now it's hard. You are not alone x

Hi there, I also have a four month old & can certainly,reassure you that she does not sleep through the night & never has yet! She has been waking up for an extra night feed for last couple weeks too so sounds similar to you.
I was also wondering/worrying about how my breasts were feeling softer so good to hear that this is normal!

I am finding it hard going at the moment but I think four months of sleepless nights does that to you, I live in hope it will happen one day....

Good to hear that soft boobs are normal and a positive sign of well established feeding. Aside from that I have no concerns about supply. Dd is gaining super well and In fact she weighs 7kilos but even so she doesn't sleep through the night. I think that is normal. However I vdo get good long stretches at night. I tend to cluster feed her in the afternoon and evening which helps.

I was feeding DS 3-4 hourly including brought the night at that stage. It's only now at 6 months that the time between feeds is starting to stretch out a bit more but he still wakes for a feed after a midnight feed most nights.
A friend did gina ford for her daughter and she slept until 7am after a 11pm feed. All well and good but I was never going to go through that level of routine so early on and I guess we've gotten to that stage now a few months later. And I expect it will all change in a few days' or weeks' time too! I tend to think ignore that woman..saying stuff like that isn't helpful for tired mummies. Not al babies are the same and I don't think sleeping all night is normal at that age anyway if EBF...!

Sounds like you are doing a great job OP. My DD2 is almost 4 months. Am not sure how often she feeds but if I counted it up and averaged it am sure it would be every 2-3 hours. The lady at the playgroup is nuts. All this talk of "should be" sleeping through by now is ridiculous. They might be, plenty do, but most won't. I think it is strange that these people seem to think that the sleep development of babies should all be the same when they can clearly see other areas of development are so different. Lots of babies walk at 10 months. lots of other babies don't walk till 18 months. Both perfectly normal.

Oh and yes, it can feel very draining when they are feeding so much. I find drinking plenty of water makes me feel a bit more human If you are worried about losing too much weight try and get some high calorie healthy snacks in. Cashew nuts are great. And cake is a bit of a life saver

Ds was like this and had about 2 feeds a night until he was 9 months old. Dd on the other hand, is current ly sleeping from 8 til 6 most nights. However, she's only really 4 months old next fri, do I fully expect everything to turn to shit.

My boobs are quite soft now and it can feel like there's nothing there, but dd doesn't seem to bcomplaining -and she's enormous, so obviously getting enough.i think it jus feels weird when you've had months of super boobs!

Ps after initial weight loss, I'm nowhere near skinny.