A couple of BF questions

[blushingmare]

Hi

Just wondering if people with more wisdom than me can clear up a few questions I have with breastfeeding?

For a bit of background my DD is three weeks today. We had a rocky start as I was very unwell post delivery having had a massive haemorrhage and them didn't receive appropriate BF support in hospital, with the result that DD barely fed on anything for the first four days of her life. She lost 12% of her birthweight. However, since getting home things have really picked up and at our midwife visit this week she was really happy with us, she's nearly at her birthweight again (about 90g off) and midwife has discharged us and just told us to continue.

My questions are:

1. her sleep is still very irratic, as is to be expected I know. When we were really trying to get the weight back on her I was told not to let her go any longer than three hours without a feed. Should this still apply? She is generally waking and feeding at least every two hours, but for the past two days has had some longer sleeps in the afternoon - like now! I'm sitting here wondering whether I should wake her to feed her or is this disrupting her natural cycle?

2. all the NHS type advice I've had is that I should be feeding from one side at a time in feeds. But lots of the chat I've read on here is about switching to the other side during a feed. What's the right advice?! If you switch when do you switch? The length of her feeds really varies from 10 mins to nearly an hour so how do I know how long to do on each side if I'm supposed to be switching? My milk supply seems to be fine - sometimes they feel really full and lumpy and I feel like I want to keep her on that side for longer to "drain" it down - is that right?!

Sorry so many questions - just really want to be doing the right thing.

We are exclusively breastfeeding by the way.

Thanks.

1. Since your baby has not yet regained birth weight I would not go too long between feeds. Once she is above birthweight and gaining satisfactorily, I would just wait for her to demand it. However, I would offer it plenty in the day in the hope that a longer stretch of sleep might possibly happen in the night.

2. I feed on one side and wait for my baby to unlatch himself. If he was on that side for a while (say 20 minutes or more) I wind him and then offer the other side. if he was only on it for a short while and it still feels engorged and not soft, I offer the same side back again one more time. So exactly the same as what you are doing really.

1. if she is feeding and seeing frequently and not losing weight I wouldn't continue to wake her. I would take her for weighing every week or two just to keep an eye on things

2. start a feed on, say, the left breast, she she pulls off and it feels empty and flat offer the other one. At the next feed start with the right and then swap. If you swap too soon she won't get the nutrient rich hind milk so if in doubt don't swap during a feed.

3. eventually, I mean after a few months, you may find you have a dominant boob. My right one produced far more than my left in speed and quantity. I started feeding on the right first every time because it made me a lot more comfortable.

blushing - great you have overcome those difficult early days.

Any advice to feed one side only routinely is just plain wrong - it is prob fine for most babies, and it's a useful ruse for mothers experiencing problems with over supply, but it is absolutely the opposite of what a mother who is trying to increase her baby's weight should be doing.

Follow your baby's lead about when to switch sides - when she seems to have a natural break, let her, and then put her on the other side. You will learn to read the signs. It's not a question of the clock.

Feeding frequency - most bf babies feed rather more often than 8 times a day, and may be up to 12-15, but it is not necessarily at reg. intervals. Longer naps are fine - but at the moment, three hour gaps are prob as long as you would wish, to ensure her weight stays up :) Later when the dust settles you will feel more confident in knowing how long to leave her.

A call to any of the bf helplines is a good idea :)

Not an expert.

1. I wouldn't wake her unless she was going at least five or six hours between feeds, or having fewer than eight feeds over twenty-four hours.

1. Staying on one side theoretically increases hind milk; switching increases fore milk. Switching can also increase wind/colic. Unless you are worried about dehydration, or she chooses to change (eg fussing and latching on and off after say fifteen minutes), stay on one side.

I second everything tiktok said - feed as often as your baby wants to or three-hourly whichever is more frequent and switch boobs whenever your baby takes a natural break. I wouldn't worry about foremilk and hindmilk - it's all just milk :) There is something in the fact that the milk gets gradually more fatty as the boob empties, but it isn't two different milks that have to be treated differently, and your body will sort it all out as long as your baby feeds regularly from both sides :)

Congratulations on your new baby