do you subscribe to the 'tanking up' during the evening theory? if so, how often between feeds?

[Tutter]

for a 2 week old

every couple of hours? (normally 3 hourly)

Not heard of this...do you mean offering more frequent feeds in the the evening?

Well I never did, but the kids most certainly did! With all over mine, they were pretty much constantly on the breast in the evenings then went down at about 10pm, whcih gradually got brought more forward once they were over 6 weeks or so.

My DS does this on and off (at the moment we're on)
I feed him every hour/hour and a half, so say 7, half 8 then half 9, whereas usually he'll go 2 or 3 hours. At 2 weeks old he was only going an hour and a half between feeds and was on constantly in the evening (or felt like it!)

by constantly I mean, feed for 10-15 mins, wind, put down, and 5-10 mins later howling for more.

Tutter, my 3 week old seems to be feeding every 3 hours in the day, then come evening she's pretty much on until about 10 pm, when I take her to bed. She'll wake up once, at around 3.30/4 then again 7 or 8. Its entirely DD led at the moment, but it is working.

Am going to try to establish more regular feeds at around 6 weeks.

Hope that

helps. doh!

ooh foxybrown

yes, by tanking up i mean more frequent feeding, to help see the baby through longer at night

atm ds2 feeds pretty much on a 3 hourly cycle 24/7 - wouldn't expect too much more just yet, but interested to hear how others get on

if it works at 3 weeks old am feeling encouraged!

I did tanking up but tbh, at that age their tummies are so tiny, there is only so much they can hold so I didn't think it worked that well....

One thing I did find that worked when DS was about 2 months was the dream feed - i.e feeding him while he was asleep at 10 or 11pm...that allowed him to go until about 4am before his next feed so that was a good five hours sleep - which in those early days seems loads!!

My dd had expressed milk 3 hourly (jaundiced baby in NICU). When we got home and got onto the breast she just continued the trhee hour cycle. After a week or two I stopped waking her in the night and let her wake me, and she graudually dropped those feeds. But no 'tanking'.

lots of los do this naturally themselves and then grow out of it at about 6 to 8 weeks. It lets them have a longer sleep pattern. My ds is 6 weeks and he is starting to stop it now so I feed him at about 10 otherwise he would be awake too early!

from about 5 till about 10 on and off and on and off .. anywhere from 20 mins to 2 hours between feeds

any other time probably about 2 - 3 hourly

HTH mousie

Didn't do it on purpose...but DS wanted to feed more in the evening...he did sleep for 8 ish hours a night from 8 weeks old...but have no idea if they were related or not.

Tutter, think you are quite lucky! DS2 was feeding at least every 2 hours day and night until a day or two ago and he is 11 weeks now!
Not sure about the tanking up and if it works (neither DS1 or DS2 were like this as they both fed a lot 24/7) but if your DS wants to feed more in the evening then it cant hurt... and will hopefully give you a bit more sleep

tutter ds2 was a 2-3 hrly feeder from birth and went 3 -4 hrs from 8pm every night very fast
So I ahev always tanked him up 2 hrly, this gets us now at 19 wks a 6 hr stretch at best..
he settles at 7.30pm I feed 9.30 and 11.30 then usuall7 4.30-5.30 and up at 7-8am

my dd has just started doing this of her own accord - she is nearly 4 weeks. feeds constantly til from 5.30ish until 9/10pm, then sleeps til 3/4am. she is at this moment having an attack of the fidgets/hiccups after a 3.30 feed... ooh, look at that, the sound of me typing on mumsnet has just sent her off

Please let me know if this theory has been disproved, last time I breast-fed was 17 yrs ago!
It was thought that an especially tired mum didn't produce milk as fast in the evening, hence babies wanting to feed longer/more frequently than earlier in the day. Hence having a rest during the day is supposed to help (fat chance if you have other DC'S) as well as increasing your own fluid intake.
My DS's feeding rarely varied, anywhere between 3 and 4 hourly, 20 mins at each breast at each feed round the clock, on demand. An exeption at 3 wks when he slept for 5 hrs solid, I woke in a panic, but decided to feed him before he got too hungry, from 8 wks he regularly slept for a 6 hr stretch at night. exclusively breast-fed. (god was I lucky!)

I did wonder if that might be the case, Kittensocks - that my evening milk is just not as good/rich, so she needs to guzzle more. Certainly the morning feed (7am ish) knocks her out completely for a good 3-4 hours!

Kittensocks...

Kellymom has a good page on cluster feeding/fussy evenings that explains all the issues/ideas about it quite well:

www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html