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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

7 week old BF baby and frequent feeding

10 replies

kittysaysmiaow · 31/01/2013 08:00

My DS fed happily every 2.5-3 hours for the first few weeks of his life, taking both boobs at each feed.

Two weeks ago he started what I presume was his six week growth spurt. He began feeding very frequently and I fed him on demand as advised. The trouble is he is now feeding constantly, every 30 min to 2 hours in the day and 2 hours at night. He is also vomiting a lot and I feel that he's being greedy (he is gaining weight rapidly). He has been prescribed gaviscon for reflux but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Another issue is that he no longer wants both boobs and feeds extremely rapidly from one boob only (like three minutes flat) and refuses to take any more.

Can anyone help me sort this out? I've tried delaying him between feeds which sometime works for a short while but more often than not just results in howling...

Thanks

OP posts:
BrainGoneAwol · 31/01/2013 09:09

I'm sure someone who knows more than me will come along shortly, but afaik ebf babies can't be greedy. They have what they need. That he cries if you try to delay him suggests he really is hungry.

The change to feeding fast from one side only is quite normal as they learn to be more efficient. My ds did this.

Sorry that only answers a couple of things. We also have unresolved issues with reflux, but it's got less as he's got older and mostly just means more laundry now as he doesn't seem distressed by it (only hungry afterwards Grin )

Original poster
kittysaysmiaow · 31/01/2013 09:47

Brain thanks very much for your post. That is interesting about the change to one side as they become more efficient, I didn't realise that was a normal thing. And yes the laundry, oh my god, I never believed it was possible to do so much llaundry.

Sorry I just read my post back and the bit about him being greedy sounded awful. I just meant that he seems to be trying to take on more than he needs. He has gained an awful lot of weight recently despite large amounts of vomiting and seems v uncomfortable after feeds. I wonder if he is getting his hunger signals mixed up with something else as he often seems overwrought etc.

OP posts:
halesball · 31/01/2013 11:05

Hiya kitty, i'm on the december 2012 thread on here. Theres quite a few of us BF's on it. One of the other poster's on that thread posted about having a over supply of breast milk and the effects on the baby. Things like rapid weight gain, being gassy, being fussy at the breast not going long between feeds, being sick after feeds and a few other things. The babies are often mistakenly diagnosed with colic and reflux.

She got information about it from the la leche league website. It gave her ways to help stop the effects on baby. Things like block feeding. It might be worth you having a look. Sorry i can't post a link i'm on my phone.

I had all these problems as well as having mastitis and thrush which is common in people with a over supply. After a few days of block feeding i now have a happier 7 week old baby who can go longer between feeds. Hope this helps

ellangirl · 31/01/2013 11:23

I could be wrong, but sometimes babies with reflux want to feed more often to alleviate their symptoms. This means they put on weight very rapidly despite vomiting lots. So, don't rule out diagnosis of reflux just yet. Talk to your GP again and see if they can suggest anything else.

SantasHairyBollock · 31/01/2013 11:25

Agree with ellangirl. Could be comfort feeding to relieve reflux pain - do get it checked further and let us know how you get on.

thompson369 · 31/01/2013 16:37

I will be watching this thread closely as I'm going through a similar scenario with dd3, she's only 5 weeks but wants feeding approx every hour to hour and a half, at night she goes longer though which is good. Until now I'd just thought this frequent feeding was normal and perhaps related to a growth spurt, hadn't considered reflux as whilst she does bring some milk back up its a relatively small amount I'd say.
If you manage to locate the LLL link please could you post it on here?
Thanks

halesball · 31/01/2013 16:58

When i get on my laptop i'll find it, i didn't mean to imply that colic and reflux diagnoses where always wrong. I meant if you've already had those diagnoses and the treatment isn't working, that maybe looking into over supply would be a idea

shouldIbecrossaboutthis · 31/01/2013 22:56

My DS always seems like he is hungry and does all hunger cues when he is actually over tired. Could it be that?

From 4-12 weeks I could only feed him from one boobs too. The second one always made him sick, I think because I have fast let down and it kind of overloaded him :(

Original poster
kittysaysmiaow · 31/01/2013 23:33

Hi quick post as heading to bed after another epic day of baby wrangling Smile but just wanted to say thanks for the helpful posts. I think oversupply, reflux and a mixing up of hunger/tiredness cues are all potentially in the mix for us. The LLL page on oversupply was v informative-will link tomorrow when not on phone.

OP posts:
halesball · 01/02/2013 19:42

heres the link www.llli.org/faq/oversupply.html :)

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