Breastfed baby always hungry

[Itsaplayonwords]

When I say always hungry that's not strictly true because she will sleep for 1 1/2 to 2 hours between feeds. If she was starved she wouldn't do that so it's probably more a case of she wants to comfort suck/feed to sleep. In essence I'm actually fine with this, for now anyway, and even long term if it didn't impact her sleeping habits negatively then I'm perfectly fine to let her nurse to sleep for each nap and at bedtime. But this is everything you're told not to do - "rod for your own back", "bad habit", "clingy baby", "won't self soothe" etc etc.

She is only 7 weeks and she was 7 weeks prem so I know that it won't be causing awful problems right now but I don't want to be causing her problems for the future. But what am I supposed to do? Just leave her in her cot to cry to sleep? I'm just not doing that.

All thoughts, opinions, experiences and tips gratefully received.

My DD was five weeks prem. She was like this. I mixed fed and then eventually switched fully to formula after six weeks of breastfeeding. It made a massive difference. We all slept.

Follow your instincts . I never let my oldest cry to sleep and I fed him whenever he wanted .he is now a very independent four year old and could sleep through in his own bed from age 2.

Ignore all the rod for your own back types.
Feed your baby as much as necessary, cuddle your baby, and enjoy it.
There are no bad habits for newborns. No need to leave her to cry. She needs you.
Some baby's learn to sleep well very quickly and some don't. I personally don't think that you can do much to affect which you get.

If you're fine with it that's great. Lots of newborns feed really frequently.

mom.com is a site I found really useful for "what to expect with feeding a new baby".

Just to add I breastfed and I think children learn to self soothe with age . 1 1/2 to two hour gaps between feeds is good going at this age in my experience .

Www.Kellymom.com

Thanks phone

Very normal for this age. It gets better!!

I often hear people say you can't spoil a newborn and that newborns can't have bad habits which is good to know, but I always worry at what age a baby can be spoilt and when can they pick up bad habits?

This is so normal!
Please don't leave her to cry.
Just feed when she needs it and try a dummy?
My ds had a tongue tie and pretty much fed 23 hours a day. It got better! I just went with it

blogs.unicef.org.uk/2016/08/01/infant-feeding-interval/ This is a good article.

I couldn't leave her to cry. I physically couldn't do it.

I'm trying to avoid a dummy. Mainly because I think long term it became more of a hinderance for DD1 sleeping as she'd wake because she'd lost her dummy. But I don't know, maybe I should reconsider? And just use it to get her to sleep and then take it away.

I'm stressing about this disproportionately! Everyone leads you to believe that cuddling your baby and feeding them to sleep is wrong and it's such a conflict because it feels like the natural thing to do.

Not for ages yet, she's still really really tiny. I can understand people saying babies at 5/6 months start forming habits, but anything before then just do what suits you, their behaviour and awareness is constantly changing anyway.

Ultimately, if you accidentally form a habit that doesn't suit you can work on changing it. Don't waste energy making both of you miserable now just in case you make a habit that will make you miserable in the future, IYSWIM?

I am going to echo what is written above. Still so young and catching up given early arrival. My DS was born the day after his due date, and fed pretty frequently for the first month or so, but then gradually stretched out, on his own, without any crying to sleep. We didn't finally let him cry to give up the final night time feed until he was much much older - 14 months. Some say this was too late others will still think that's mean. Anyway, core message is still so young. Be kind to both of you for the moment and don't worry about bad habits just yet!

My youngest is 1 OP and so far her only bad habits are thinking that everyone wants their nose honked and chucking food off the high chair when she's full.

The older ones have many more bad habits like not flushing the toilet and calling each other butts. I never left any of them to cry though.

Good god no of course you can't leave her to cry she's 7 weeks old!!!

My little one is 5 months and I'm only just starting to do some gentle sleep training with him as his sleep has become ridiculous, but at 7 weeks they are still so so tiny. Barely out of the womb!

Google "4th trimester" - just totally go with the flow for at least the first 3 months. I'd say closer to 6 months before you have to even remotely worry about bad habits or rods for back.

Just to be clear I wasn't actually asking if I should leave her to cry, just that that would be the only alternative to feeding to sleep at this point.

I'm feeling a lot more relaxed now. Sometimes you just need someone else to say "just go with it, do what feels right". Especially when there's so much crap out there telling you that making the wrong decisions now can cause irreparable damage for life! But realistically, having too many cuddles and being comforted to sleep isn't going to cause any harm is it? In fact it's more likely to create a secure and happy environment for her. Thank you everyone!

A great book that I always recommend
What mothers do by Naomi stadlen
Do what feels right sounds like perfect advice for a new mum. Wish someone had Sid it to me. I spent so much energy beating myself up for not following advice that I just couldn't stomach.

Op, you sounds very sensible!
Trust yourself and ignore others who go on about rods.
Congratulations by the way and enjoy every single cuddle!!

This is actually my second child so you'd think I'd have learnt by now but instead I just felt like I failed by not following the advice because after 9 weeks in NICU I just wanted to comfort my baby when she cried! No, she's not a great sleeper but she's a happy and content little girl despite making that rod for my own back.

I brestfed and cuddled my DS1 to sleep for nearly two years, and he's now an independent 5-year-old who goes to bed happily and gets himself to sleep. The 'rod for your own back' advice is nonsense, go with your instinct. It's an instinct for a reason. :)

You are not making a rod for your own back. I cuddled and bf my baby to sleep for ages. It is what they need and if it helps her sleep and calms her down do it. No baby can have too many cuddles. You make her feel calm and secure and will create a stable attachment.
my baby is 13m now, happily sleeps in her own cot and sleeps 10 hours straight (and has done for months). To be honest I didn't have to do much, she just grew out of it and I wish I had stressed less about it!!
Also at this age I find any "bad habits" you can get rid of within 2-3 days if you really want to.