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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

How often should DS be feeding 'On Demand'?

16 replies

Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 00:29

I have been feeding DS (just over 2 weeks old) on demand since he was born, but I am worried about his feeding pattern. He has sort of settled into this routine:

8am feed
sleeps 2 hours
11am feed
sleeps for 4-6 hours, cluster feeds (fussily) for 2-3 hours at tea time, impossible to settle him, sleeps/wakes/sleeps up to late evening
11pm feed
sleeps for 5 hours
4am feed.

6 hours seems an awfully long time without a feed - should I wake him during this time to feed him? Would he settle better at tea time if he wasn't so starving? We have resorted to taking him out for a pram ride or car ride at tea time, to try and get him to sleep.

I don't know what to do for the best.

OP posts:
Twinklemegan · 08/06/2007 00:30

I seem to remember my DS was similar for a while. I generally didn't wake him up to feed him, I must say.

Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 00:31

I can't remember how things went with DD (she is 5); but teatimes are exhausting.

OP posts:
Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 00:31

I know it is early days yet.

OP posts:
bookthief · 08/06/2007 00:35

Is he gaining weight? Got lots of wet/dirty nappies? If so, then just go with it! Ds did his fussy, wouldn't settle thing in the evening but they're all different.

At two weeks I would hesitate to say that he's in a routine tbh, I know two weeks feels like forever at that age but there's a good chance he'll have changed his habits again in another couple of weeks.

If he's well and gaining then I'd just trust him to know what he wants. Don't suppose it'd hurt to wake him half way through his long nap to see if it makes a difference but oh, I'd find it difficult to disturb a sleeping baby at that age - I'd be in my bed or on here instead!

Hattie05 · 08/06/2007 00:36

Mine have always slept for 6hrs from this early, i never wake them.

The one thing i forgot when had dd2 is how quickly things change anyway, so i was worrying about one thing one week, then the next week that would be forgotten and a new 'change' to baby would worry me.

What i'm trying to say in a waffly way! [sorry its late] is that this could change!

early evening is a common time for babies to have fussy feeds isn't it. I wonder if this is due to mother being tired and milk not so forthcoming???

Will he sleep in your arms at that time? Cos to be honest, at 2 weeks they aren't going to get into any 'bad' habits, and i used to cosy up with dd on the sofa of an evening letting her sleep and put her in her cot when i went to bed. I did this until she was about 6weeks, then she was able to settle in cot from 7pm through til morning, with a feed in the middle somewhere until she dropped that a few weeks later.

Hattie05 · 08/06/2007 00:37

Congrats by the way. Do you have older children?

Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 00:42

Bookthief, yep, lots of wet and dirty nappies and he has gained weight, so not worried on that score. I think I have just forgotten what life with a newborn can be like!

hattie, he is 'velcro-ed' to my chest or in a sling at tea time once he has nodded off, I am able to put him in his moses basket for a while.
Lack of milk isn't a problem - I could feed a whole ward full of babies at the moment! Maybe he is choking on too much milk.

OP posts:
Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 00:43

Yes, DD is 5 - it all seems such a long time ago that we went through the same things!

OP posts:
Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 00:45

I really ought to go to bed. I will check in again in the morning.

Thanks xx

OP posts:
SofiaAmes · 08/06/2007 03:49

My ds fed every 2 hours day and night for the first 6 months at which point I stopped the night feeds and did cc. 2 year later, my dd fed every 5 hours for the first 4 or 5 months and then much less after that. Really depends on the child. If you are doing "on demand" then it really has to depend on the child's needs. Just like adults, they differ in their habits and needs.

liath · 08/06/2007 08:54

Ds would have a long sleep in the afternoon then cluster feed like mad in the evening from about 2-4 weeks. He's 7 weeks now and has a totally different pattern. And I'm using "pattern" in the loosest possible sense of the word !!

Amberjee · 08/06/2007 09:49

Gingerbear, hate to say it, but that sounds really good for a 2 week old. i remember the evenings being tough, a lot of babies are fussy around that time, just when you want to have dinner and wind down yourself. sounds like you are doing such a good job though, and before you know it things will change and there will be new and different challenges.
i'd go with your intuition on the 4-6 hour nap and whether you should feed him in the middle. the other things is, you could try a couple of days of feeding him in the middle and see if things went better in the evening. if not, then maybe let him sleep
xx

Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 10:33

I think you are right, every child's needs are different, I will just go with the flow for a while, and see how things change over the next few weeks.

OP posts:
Original poster
Gingerbear · 08/06/2007 10:34

I saw the midwife this morning - she confirmed that many babies have this fussy teatime, whether bottle or breastfed.

OP posts:
elsieanjoanne · 08/06/2007 10:39

my bf dd was in that sort of routine! i found if i feed her before she started moaning she would sleep better, also found bathing her helped settle her good luck

Highlander · 08/06/2007 10:48

DS2 did exactly this. Don't worry, as long as there is lots of pee and poop he's fine. Remember newborns find BF exhausting! At 3 weeks he'll probably go through a growth spurt and feed a bit more frequently.

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