Has My Baby Got Hollow Legs?

[LouisaJF]

DS is now 3 days old and a pretty content little angel. I am breast feeding and the first few were only 15 minutes. This has gradually increased and today I have already fed him 4 times with the last feed taking well over an hour. He seems to break off for a breather and then goes back for more. He screams if I've put them away. Is this normal? I feel like I'm doing nothing else.

He is really good for latching on and we've had no problems with feeding. I've checked both breasts are still supplying colostrum at the start and end of the feed.

Is my milk extra tasty, is there something wrong or have I just got a little greedy guts?

No one tells you before they ate born that there will be a day in the first week where they feed ALL THE TIME.

It won't last but you will be knackered. Eat & sleep when you can.

Good luck.

Nothing wrong - they are just transitioning from passive continuous nutrition via their umbilical cord to having to actually feeling hungry and even worse having to do something about it!

Mind you a lot of bfing isn't actually about the FEEDing but about the closeness to mum, her warmth, familiarity of her smell/taste (colostrum tastes & smells like amniotic fluid apparently), listening to her heart beat and well, because it's what baby mammals do.

As a minimum you'd be looking at 8-12 feeds in 24 hours though the feeds may well merge into one big cluster feed (also common in the evening) or there may be many more feeds than the minimum. Both are fine so don't worry if you can't work out when one ends and one begins or if you lose count somewhere after 15 feeds It will get easier but in the meantime be gentle on yourself and rest and be pampered by your partner/visitors (do not run around after them while they cuddle your hungry baby!).

Congratulations and enjoy your new DS

Congratulations!

This all sounds normal -frequent feeding is great, if knackering but it will help to bring your milk in which will probably happen soon.

Also, he's probably just enjoying being snuggled in with you and feeling warm and secure. Exactly how it should be.