12 week baby fewer feeds.

[squizita]

My 12 week old is petite but strong and healthy.
She's bf on demand. I used to count (I have a bit of OCD/anxiety around health) so know 10 feeds a day was the norm for her.

Over the last few days I've only fed 8 or 9 times per day. She's not crying or grumbling and is alert - still wees and poos normally. I offer extra but she's just not hungry for it now.

She's just drinking more each feed right?
She says still a bit obsessed with weight gain but with no hv clinic till new year If it is whoopy I just managed 2 hr shopping with her happily asleep! No need to find a seat half way!

This is absolutely, 100 per cent normal and entirely predictable, squizita....she is taking what she wants and needs, in the volumes and at the rate she wants and needs.

It's entirely in keeping with her normal, expected development. Older babies beyond newborn tend to have shorter feeds, as well. This is because they take more of an interest in their surroundings, they spend more time interacting with you in ways other than feeding, and naturally enough, this leaves less time in 24 hours for feeding :)

Stop counting her feeds - the number of feeds means zero, zilch, nada....you cannot tell by counting feeds how much milk she is taking, so you just have to trust her that she knows what she's doing. That's how bf works :)

I'm with you. My DS is 14 weeks and has suddenly gone from taking an hour to feed every two hours, to taking about 10 minutes every 3 hours or so. It's really freaking me out....but he seems happy, so it's ok I guess ....? is that freedom I can smell?

That sounds normal to me. As long as she looks ok and not upset then she's obviously just getting herself on a new schedule.
When my ds did this he also started pooing less, so it made sense to me that his body was just absorbing more of his food, rather than things going in and straight back out, if you see what I mean.

Thanks guys - my gut instinct was it is just her getting older!! But I got quizzed so much at early hv sessions over when/how long she fed (and then told all was well ... just them being jobsworth without realising it would make me worry) I got this weird idea I could accidentally feed her too little. Of course this is nonsense, she would cry and fuss! I would know!

Reluctant yep I got way more Xmas shopping done in 2 hr than I would in an afternoon! Poor Costas manager though ... With the chilly weather my constant bf breaks were paying his annual bonus lol!

DD2 is nearly 12 weeks old and how many times she feeds varies from day to day, depending on how hungry she is and what we're doing - just like my appetite, in fact!

One of the things I like best about bf is how you don't have to count or calculate or buy or plan anything, just feed the baby when s/he looks hungry!