How long should feeds be?

[Tricycletops]

DD is 7 weeks old, but not quite 40 weeks corrected gestation. In the 3 weeks she's been home we've managed to get breastfeeding well established and she's averaging 8 feeds a day, of which 1 or 2 are bottles of EBM. At first she'd frequently fall asleep mid-feed and have to be woken to finish off; as she gets bigger I'd like to stop doing that and listen to her cues, but I don't really know how long she should be feeding for. Guidance I've read suggests that newborns would feed for 30-40 minutes a time but she almost never takes that long - but although she's tiny (under 6lb still) she's a much more practised and presumably more efficient feeder than a true newborn? Any advice welcome!

Firstly, congrats on your DD and getting BF well established with such a little one. My daughter used to feed about 30-40 mins as a newborn, it did get shorter as she got older and more efficient. And she did frequently fall asleep during feeds especially at the beginning - so feeds did seem to take an age because of that. I think the most important thing is that your DD is gaining weight efficiently, if she is, then there's no need to worry if she's getting enough and you can presume she is and move on to feed on demand. Also EBM will be taken much more quickly than BF alone - so she could be getting more then than u think. Best wishes.

On baby no 2 and neither has ever fed for longer than 10 minutes. As long as gaining weight adequate wet and dirty nappies there is nothing wrong with it. Now I have a toddler and a newborn it's handy not to have to sit down for long periods

At what age do babies get more efficient feeders?

DS1 was probably feeding for 40 or so minutes at that age, and never took less than about 20 minutes even at 6+ months, and only wanted 1 side per feed.

DS2 has been a 10 minutes per side, 2 sides a feed baby since the beginning.

I'd definitely go by the baby not the clock, they are all so different.

Congratulations, OP! DD (8mo) has almost never fed for more than ten-fifteen minutes apart from the first few days, and often for less than five. I think I've got fast flow, or she's an efficient feeder, or both. As PP said, as long as your baby is gaining weight and doing plenty of wet/dirty nappies, I would follow her lead.