Is there such a thing as too much breast?

[IcouldstillbeJoseph]

DD is 18 weeks (2nd DC) and ebf. I only BF DS for 7 weeks so this is unchartered territory for me.

DD was born on 25th centile and has been tracking that line exactly. Last weight (2 days ago) she had jumped up a bit but not on 50th yet. Anyway, the nursery nurse who weighed her implied that I was feeding her too much. I dismissed this as bollocks rubbish until I went to lunch today with 2 friends who have DC of same age. During our long lunch I BF DD 3 times. One friend didn't feed at all and the other one only once.

I am basically using the breast for all comfort. is this ok or am I 'making rod for my own back'?

I bf my Ds for 18 months but was working ft, so expressing for him after 17 weeks, but back then they were weaned at an earlier age.
Dd was ebf for 6 months, but continued bfing until she was almost 5...I fed her when she wanted feeding, not to a time table and like you, I would have been bfing many more times than some of my friends. Dd also used me as a comfort source and imho, that is fine, so long as you are ok with it.

Do what you want to do and enjoy doing and certainly enjoy what you do. You sound like you are doing a great job to me. Babies don't generally take too much breast milk. :)

Tis not possible to over feed a breast fed baby! The nursery nurse is talking nonsense. The amounts babies feed varies so much that it's not possible to compare from one baby to the next. Don't let her knock your confidence

Thank you Solo - when you expressed did she feed less frequently? I ask as I have an afternoon away coming up and have visions of DH having to warm up an ounce every half hour!

If you are ok with it, I don't see the problem. Both my DCs used me for comfort and it got annoying at times, but not enough for me to stop.

I am now finished with bfing and miss it...they are tiny for such a short time!

My DD is 8 weeks and we're feeding on demand. She's gaining well, plenty of wet nappies and poo so I'm happy. The only thing I have realised is sometimes I think she was tired rather than hungry - I was always offering her breast and she often feeds to sleep. I was sent this link about sleep. Now if its been about 1h 15m I see if I can get her to snooze. If she's hungry she won't sleep! But life has been a little easier in the last week since I read this on Sunday!

The answer is very plain and unexciting I'm afraid. And exactly what you appear to think, it's no there's no such thing as too much breast.

Imagine; baby jimmy ended up in jail at 21 coz mum spoilt him with too much boob juice in his first year of life....

Now I couldn't express for Dd for some unknown reason. I just seemed to have less than for Ds and I found it quite painful which was a shock as I could've fed 4 babies when I was feeding Ds and expressing for him without any problems, but also Dd would not take a bottle or a dummy, so would've been pointless anyway for us. Good job Ds would, or he'd have gone hungry!!

Next time, challenge anyone including this nursery nurse who demonstrates their poor training and lack of understanding of normal infant behaviour - it's a very poor show when mothers are undermined like this :(

Absolutely not. If baby didn't want it, they won't feed. Simples.

My DS put on a lb in 9 days after birth - he was a dinky 6lb 15oz & went from between 9th & 25th centile to 50th in quite a short time, & now at 7mo, he's still there & hasn't carried on 'shooting up'.

Try not to compare with other babies either - as long as all bf are on demand, baby will be content, full & happy, whether its from 1 feed or 3 in the same space of time. They're all different. Your friends' babies might sleep less at night from feeding more, or cluster feed in the evening or fed a LOT before you met them...

Kids vary so much, both in themselves, and by whether they're having a growth spurt etc.

Don't worry about rods for your own back - no matter what you do, something will be hassle - it's a little baby, and it'll be demanding occasionally. If you give a dummy (or blankie, or sing a certain song, or stroke a certain way) rather than comfort feed you've always got to make sure the dummy is around (or blankie, or whatever).

My DS fed to sleep (for 18 months), my sister avoided it, but had to jiggle hers for ages or go on walks instead, my friend had a co-operative baby who just went down happy. The more babies I see, the more I think that most of the influence you think you have is imaginary! (Or perhaps I just have a particularly stubborn one)

Thank you all so much! I bloody wish all this day feeding meant she slept longer at night