20+ Feeds a Day

[MumofRose]

Hi.
My baby is five weeks old and I am breastfeeding her. She feeds 20+ times every day. Some feeds only last 5 minutes but others can last over an hour.
After my baby has finished feeding, I wait for her to fall into a deep sleep and try to put her down in her Moses basket but the majority of the time, she wakes up straight away and wants feeding again.
I spend most of every day feeding the baby, holding her until she's in a deep sleep and then repeating this for hours on end.
Does anybody have any advice as to whether there is a way to reduce the number of feeds my baby has each day?
I am considering switching to exclusive pumping but I'm unsure if that will mean she will want 20 bottles a day or if she might then take 8-12 bottles a day but take more milk at those feedings. Also, could switching to formula reduce the number of feeds so that I could perhaps give formula at night to try and get some more sleep?
Thank you

Also as someone who had a premature baby and exclusively expressed for two months before he learned to latch, you do need to sterilise for pumping. Especially for such a tiny baby.
Chucking it in Milton is still sterilising!

That sounds super extreme to me, sorry. Almost everyone I know breastfeeds/breastfed--they don't/didn't feed 20 times in 24 hours.

I would be looking at finding other ways to settle her (you've had some suggestions here from previous posters), so that she goes a couple of hours between feeds and then takes more milk when she does.

By five weeks, no, I wouldn't be waking the baby to feed at night as long as they were getting lots of milk from me in the evening (which is usual as they tend to do a lot of feeding in the couple of hours before bedtime).

When I had DD1 I found the first 6 weeks of breastfeeding really hard but slowly after that it got easier and by 2 months it was far easier especially at night than my friends who were formula feeding. Learning to feed lying down was a huge help for me, also trying a laid back position with baby’s tummy on my tummy as my arms were less tired that way.

I used the NCT helpline a lot in the early days, they were really helpful and very supportive even with what I thought were stupid questions!

As long as she’s gaining weight, no, I wouldn’t wake her for feeds either.

I’ve never heard of not being able to cosleep before 3 months either, I’d be interested to know where you read that

Sweet Sleep is a good book as it’s based on evidence, not one woman’s opinion like a lot of baby gurus, and is aimed at Bfing fsmililes.

Have you managed to call one of the Bfing Helplines yet?

I’ve never heard of not being able to cosleep before 3 months either, I’d be interested to know where you read that.

Most of current SIDS guidelines adopted in both UK and US are based on the 2013 research. It is the most comprehensive study available so far and it covered 1472 SIDS cases and 4679 controls:

bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/5/e002299

Based on this research:

When the baby is breastfed and under 3 months, there is a fivefold increase in the risk of SIDS when bed sharing with non-smoking parents and the mother has not taken alcohol or drugs.

Basically, even so called "safe co-sleeping (bedsharing)" is not entirely safe. It is possible to minimise risks and make informed risk based decisions but the reality is it appears "safe co-sleeping" with newborns still increases the risk of SIDS.

Of course, Carpenter study is not perfect and, of course, it is possible to challenge some of the inputs but so far it is the best information available.

Hi everyone :)
I had a good night last night! I changed my alarm from three hourly to five hourly and she went almost five hours without waking up :) I might carry on setting the alarm for five hours instead of every three until her next weighing and if she's still gaining fine, stop setting the alarm. Hopefully we'll have another good night tonight but it may have just been a one off.
She was weighed on Monday and has been gaining weight and is at the 50th centile. I asked the Health Visitor about the amount of feeds and she said that some babies do just feed that often and hopefully it will settle.
Kosha, I didn't mean that she feeds for 20 hours a day but that she has about 20 feeds per day. Some of the feeds only last five minutes but then I end up holding her until she's in a deep sleep for ages so that's why I feel like I spend about 20 hours of the day holding her some days! I am going to take the advice about waking her to feed for longer at each feed, so that hopefully she will then feed for longer at each feed but less often.
I keep trying dummies every day but so far she's not taking well to them. Do all babies take to dummies eventually or do some babies just not like them?
I tried putting my partner's t-shirt in her Moses basket last night as a blanket so that may have helped her sleep for longer.
I've not been to a group meeting yet but I drove for the first time today since my c-section so I think I'll go to the group next Tuesday now that I am ok to drive.
I'm not sure where I read about waiting until three months to co-sleep. I'm constantly googling things these days so it will have been somewhere on Google.
Fingers crossed for a good night tonight ;)

winter I didn’t know that so thanks for posting.

Mum how is she now? Are you still setting your alarm for 5 hours.

Hi JJJ :)
Yes, I've been setting my alarm for five hours. It didn't make a difference last night as she didn't go longer than about two and a half hours before waking.
Tonight, she last fed four hours ago so my alarm was set for in another hour but I've woken up with engorged breasts so was unsure what to do. I didn't know whether to wake her for a feed but thought she might struggle to latch on as my breasts are so full, which I think is because I'd usually be feeding more often in the middle of the night. I've decided to pump to get some of the milk out so that she'll be able to feed by the time my alarm goes off but I'm unsure if that is the right thing to do.
Does this mean that my supply will be too much if my baby isn't feeding so often during the night and I'll have to pump at the same time every night if I don't wake her? Sometimes I/my partner end up feeding her milk pumped during the night the next day but a lot of the time I end up binning it as I'll take it out of the fridge if we leave the house for anything and she's then doesn't need to feed within the hour.
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Firstly I’d stop setting the alarm. Your DD seems absolutely fabulous at regulating her own feeds. I’d take the opportunity to get sone rest if she’s sleeping.

As for expressing at night, if you’re engorged, I’d express a little, just for your own comfort. You don’t need to get up and pump if your baby is sleeping, you need to be sleeping yourself . I’d not trained though as I’ve said before. You should really talk this through with a BFC. Hace you got the BFibg helpline numbers?

If you do express, could you freeze the milk? That way you’ll have a stash of milk if you do need it.

I've contacted my local breastfeeding charity via text with questions but I've not had a response yet. They'd text me saying to ask any questions so I replied via text rather than calling so I'll have their reply in writing, as I'd prefer that as then I'll have a reminder of what they've said I should do.
I could freeze the expressed milk but I usually just take it out with me if I'm going anywhere so I don't have to breastfeed in front of anyone. The reason it gets wasted and binned is if I've taken it out of the fridge to take with me and then she doesn't want a bottle within the hour.
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Oh I see what you mean regarding wasting the milk. I was nervous about Bfing in public at first, going to a Bfing Support Group really helped as everyone was doing it.

Have you had a response to your texts yet?

I've not had a response yet. They run a support group tomorrow morning so if I get a good night sleep, I think I will go. What usually happens at the support groups?
I'm nervous about driving with my baby in the car. I've only driven once since being allowed to drive again last week and that was fine but when we went out at the weekend, my baby was sick quite a lot and I only noticed as I was sat in the back with her so I'm worried that if I go out in the car with her in the back, she might be sick and I might not notice right away or be able to reach her right away.
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Did you manage to get to the Support Group Amy? Sorry I didn’t reply before the group.

I can remember being nervous about driving with my first DC in the car. Are you able to turn the front passenger airbag off so that she can travel in the front? If not, you can buy baby mirror that you can put in your car so that you can see them.

Hi :)
I didn't go to the group as I slept late instead. The Health Visitor came today though and answered the questions I had so I feel better after today. She said not to worry about the frequency of feeds. The amount has actually been better this week and has been between 15 and 18 a day rather than 20 so it's an improvement :)
She went five and a half hours last night between her bed time feed and her next feed so I feel much better now I'm getting a decent amount of sleep. I hope this lasts but I'm suspicious of things suddenly getting better!
I've deactivated the front airbag and went out with her yesterday in the front and felt less anxious as I was able to see her. I was unsure if it's ok to put a sunshade in the window in the front passenger side. Does anybody know if this is allowed? If I bought one of those stretch to fit shades I could stretch it so I could still see in my passenger side mirror.
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