Go longer between feeds?

[TheCatIsUpTheDuff]

DD is 7 weeks old, was born at 36 weeks weighing 5lb and is now gaining weight well and is happy and healthy. She's BF on demand with the occasional bottle of EBM. She feeds roughly 3-hourly day and night, sometimes a bit more, sometimes less, sometimes cluster-feeds. I'm happy with this.

At our 6-week check, the doctor suggested letting her go longer between feeds. Am I missing something, or does this mean letting a hungry baby cry when I could easily give her what she needs? Is there any advantage to this, or should I add it to the pile of well-meant but unwanted advice?

Add it to the pile. You bf on demand surely?? Especially at such a young age. FYI my 13 week old ff baby wont allow me to stretch times between feeds so its unlikely a younger baby with a smaller tummy and on bm which digests faster would be happy with that. Keep doing what you are doing!

I agree with pp,just keep doing what you're doing. 3 hours between feeds is good anyway! ds still only goes 2 hours between feeds (24 weeks) it's just what he needs x

Sounds like the doc knows very little about feeding a baby, bf or otherwise!

Young babies need to feed minimum of 8-12 times a day and more often if they want to. There is no advantage to longer gaps (except maybe convenience) and some disadvantages (more crying, colic/reflux, which is definitely not very convenient or pleasant at all).

This is in the guidelines that all NHS services are supposed to be adopting, so sounds like your doc is just dispensing his/her own personal opinion!

Oh yes add it to the pile! My DD gradually went longer between feeds but that was much later. I don't see any benefit to leaving a BF baby to get hungry. They just get upset, then you have to calm them down before you can feed them.

definitely ignore - 7 weeks is still so tiny, kept bfeeding on demand. I didn't start to lengthen the gap between feeds until about 14 weeks once she was regularly going 3hrs between, and then just distracted her for an extra 15mins to start. Goes out the window though during growth spurts, when she is under the weather or cluster feeding in evening

Wow - you're lucky to be going 3 hours between feeds. We're still waiting for that with our 5 month old, and the only way we came close to achieving that was by combined feeding. But even that has stopped working now so we're back to 2 hourly feeds again. Sometimes even a whole morning or afternoon of hourly feeds too. Exhausted.com!!!!

Thank you all. We'll keep doing what we're doing then. :-)

God god no.. what you have now sounds perfect. Don't fox what isn't broken.

*fix

Actually that doctor's advice is shit - way to go, underminining a mother like that :( You sound sensible and informed, Cat, but what about mothers who are a bit wobbly and under confident?

If you have a good relationship with your HV, make sure you tell her what the doc told you, and she may be able to inform him of what not to do.

Thank you for the reassurance. I've had to fight to breastfeed since she was 27 hours old, when a doctor appeared at my bedside demanding that I give formula because she had jaundice. Fortunately DD hated both the formula and the feeding cup so after a couple of days they grudgingly allowed expressed milk top ups, which got a whole lot easier when the BF support lady kicked a few butts for me and introduced a bottle.

My dd is 12wks old & on formula and she has only just started to go 3hrs between feeds, so 3hrs for a breastfed 7wk old is pretty remarkable anyway! I breastfed til 5wk and the most I got was 2 1/2hrs.
As said previously, if everything is fine & normal with a healthy baby, don't change a thing!