Do you time feeds from when they start or finish?

[RaisinGirls]

I have a 8 day old baby who I am ebf. It's going ok so far but I am confused about how long I should leave between feeds. I am feeding on demand but know I should not let more than three hours go between feeds. Do I time that three hours from when the feed starts or when it finishes?

Congratulations on your new baby.

Time from when feed finishes.

If you're feeding on demand, it is unlikely that baby will go longer than 3 hours fat chance with my dd however, it is known for bf babies to go 2-4 hours, sometimes after cluster feeding and they're all filled up!

Crying is normally the last cue that they're hungry, so look out for them. I'll try and find a link

From the start. But at your baby's age, I would be as feeding as often as he/she needs it. If his nappy is clean, he has slept, and is comfortably positioned, and is crying or unsettled, feed him. Its also a good excuse to sit still and rest, which you will need. Good luck!

Thanks. Was timing from end of feed but read today something about timing from start. Given that sometimes dd takes over an hour to feed I was a bit .

Mostly I am feeding no longer than every 2 hours but sometimes she is still sleeping and i need to wake her (normally after she's had two really long feeds in quick succession).

This picture is good

Yikes, two different opinions on when to time from! Confused!

8-12 feeds in 24hrs time from the start of one feed to the start of the next

{http://www.llli.org/faq/enough.html}

From the start. And yes, a newborn will feed almost constantly. Don't worry about timings/hours etc, if the baby's crying and isn't ill or sitting in poo, shove the boob in. X

Time from start. When we talk about little babies feeding, feed length can vary quite a bit so midwives etc talk about intervals when they mean timing from start of feed to start of next.

From the start.

I can see how you see it as conflicting advice, but your concentrating on the wrong bit. The thing with bf'ing isn't just about one thing (timing). You need to look at the whole picture:

Output (plenty of wet/dirty nappies)

Number of feeds a day (like chocolate said, 8-12 per day)

Latch and position, is baby correctly positioned to extract your milk?

Length of feeds is questionable for me. Dd would inhale her milk due to me having a fast let down, she'd do one feed in less than 15 minutes and we would both be soaked in milk you will work out what time of feed is normal for you.

Like whydo has said, just feed feed feed at any cue. You don't need to time how long, just feed when you can and have a rough idea of how long since their last feed (when it ended)

Hope this helps.

Not when it ended! When it started! You can think it's important or unimportant how often they feed, or how long they feed for, or if they feed at all. But if you want to talk about feeding with anyone giving you advice you will be talking at cross purposes if you talk about the time between feeds counting from the end. Everyone counts from the start.

Another vote for from the start!

Whenever HCPs (or anyone really) talk about time between feeds, or feeding every 2, 3 hours - they mean from start of the feed.

I never even thought about timings. I just offered the breast when dds were awake. As long as you have plenty of wet nappies then things are fine!

Thanks everyone. My baby takes so long to feed - 100 minutes earlier today! She sleeps a lot at the breast but I'm trying compression this feed to encourage her a bit.

It's really normal for newborns to just feed and doze at the breast. You can try switching sides when she falls asleep.

From the start. But I'd say every 3 hours is a little overkill unless they are worried about weight gain? It should be fine to follow her cues. Try to watch out for the hunger signals that come before crying, though.

I was told at the start to offer the boob after 3-4 hours ifhe hadn't asked for it.but it was ok to wait until he woke at night. It's probably good advice to offer a feed of she hasn't asked for a while.

This stage of almost constant feeding doesn't last long, think of it as "breastfeeding boot camp" as it's setting up your supply for later. It's a really great excuse to sit down and watch loads of box sets! :) Also, don't forget the cake. It's pretty much a required food group

If she's asleep when the time is up don't wake her. I'd say at 8 days with no weight gain issues it should be fine to go totally by her cues.

Forgot to say feeds taking 1hr+ is normal too and will settle down as she gets bigger.

Personally I would always wake after 3 hours in the day to encourage longer sleeps to happen at night.