How often does your 7 week ebf baby feed?

[FumbleBumbleBee]

My baby is ebf and feeds every 1-2 hours. I've been told this is unusual. It has been pretty exhausting, but I assumed this was normal and he'd start going longer soon between feeds. Now I'm not so sure, as I've been advised we need to see a lactation consultant. 😕
He can be a bit fussy during and after some feeds, but mostly he's not.
I'd be interested to hear your experiences of your breastfed babies around this age, especially if you didn't use a bottle. 🙂

My baby got into a natural routine fairly early on of feeds every 3 hours. Sometimes it would be less time in between, but I think by 7 weeks it wasn't as frequent as 1-2 hours. Sometimes they will feed more frequently if it is very warm, it had been hot here recently (don't know where you are)

My little one fed sooo much when tiny I couldn’t imagine ever getting an hour between feeds, just to reassure you it did get less eventually. I don’t think there is an issue with feeding being every 1-2 hours at this stage.

My understanding is that it can be completely normal to feed very frequently. If you can afford a lactation consultant, it wouldn't hurt to have some expert advice and reassurance. If it's too expensive, I have found following Olivia Hinge and Lucy Webber on Instagram really helpful, loads of great tips. I wish I had read Olivia Hinge's book on feeding earlier.

My EBF baby fed every 1-2 hours until he was about 4 months old. Evenings sometimes he fed almost constantly, cluster feeding with short spurts of sleep on the boob.

He's 7 months now and goes 3 hours so it will definitely settle down.

Mine cluster feeds twice a day for up to 2 hours at a time, then tends to go 2-3h between feeds. We had one lovely week where it was 4h overnight, but now we're back to 3. He's growing well and not fussy so I think we're ok

Probably better to ask how often she was off the breast at that age, ime. Still a milk monster at 10 months!

Who told you it's unusual?

My babies all fed constantly for the first 3 months or so, then probably averaged every 2 hours for a few more months and then eventually could go slightly longer stretches (maybe 3 hours).

It certainly is exhausting, but it does get easier. There's no "right" feeding pattern. 10-12 feeds per 24 hours is pretty normal.

If I remember correctly, more or less constantly!

@FumbleBumbleBeeWho told you it was unusual? If your baby is reasonably content, peeing and pooing and gaining weight then it’s usual for him. Hang in there-it really doesn’t last all that long.

Thank you thank you for your replies! It's been reassuring to read them so far. Every baby really is so different.

For those who have asked, I rang the breastfeeding helpline for advice on introducing pumping. (For the odd bottle here and there when we go out if needed. I had an oversupply initially and didn't want that to happen again by adding pumping into the day.) They asked how often I was feeding and said it sounded unusual for his age. They advised us to see a lactation consultant to check for posterior tongue tie. I rang my health visitor's team to ask their opinion, and they said it might be worth ruling it out. They did however say as someone has mentioned, that it could be the warm weather. But he's been like this since birth, whether it's been a warm or cool day, so I'm not sure if it's affected things too much.

He's content, usually! Other than the odd fussy point in the day. Lots of wees and a few poos everyday. I've fed him 15 times so far today. His feeds are anywhere between 5 mins to maybe 15 mins on average.

Are you counting 1 breast as a feed, or 2 breasts with a shortish gap in between? If I counted each individual breast, or the times when he pretends to be asleep for 10 minutes between breasts separately, I'd be on about 100 (maybe slight exaggeration) :D

@Paaseitjes I'm counting each feed where there's at least 30 mins between each one. I'm so tired, its been every hour at least overnight.😪

It is so gruelling.

Do you have a breastfeeding support group locally?

It’s not that unusual. My newborns were almost constantly on the boob.

Though with my second he was literally always on the boob and often screaming. At 4 weeks he was diagnosed with a tongue tie. After that was fixed, it got a lot better.

That's rough! Feel free to ignore the unsolicited advice, but I can share what was suggested at my nursing group. Have you tried changing between breasts to wake him up again? If he's too sleepy, he won't be efficient so will wake up hungry. You could also try a bit of expressed milk to fill him up fast. If finding pumping time is difficult, you could feed him one side, pump the other, pour it into him, then maybe let him finish off the pumped side if he's still hungry. That would make the cycle faster so everyone gets more sleep, and reduce the energy he's using to feed. Are you also certain he's hungry? Mine sometimes postpones his witching hour until 2am. He's not really hungry just overwhelmed and wants a cuddle and bouncing. We've also had to put him in size 3 nappies because he can't bear the weight of damp nappy touching his penis so we were changing & comfort feeding him every 10 minutes in 2s which was making everyone stressed and unhappy (and horrendously wasteful! )

@Paaseitjes You're advice is more than welcome and what I'm looking for. 💜
In the day I change him between each breast, but at night my husband will take him for a bit then pass him back to see if he wants the other side. Maybe we should try changing him more at night, we're just too worried about waking him with how little sleep we're getting as it is.
I can try the pumping in between. I haven't pumped in a couple of months, so a bit worried about upping my supply too much, but it's certainly worth a try.
I'm really starting to think I'm the issue here and maybe feeding him too much? I last fed him at 6:45 and when he started fussing I held him. I've been giving him cuddles ever since and he's stayed asleep. It's probably me getting it wrong isn't it. 😥
It's so hard to know what they always need, I just want him to be happy and comfortable.
Sorry for the essay, I'm super grateful to you for your advice.

@SlightlyWorriedMaybe yes we have a breastfeeding group really close by. I wanted to go last week, but he fell asleep just before. I really wanted him to have a good nap with not getting as much sleep at night.

If you don’t already seriously follow Lucy Webber Feeding Support on Instagram and read through some of her saved highlights and you will probably find some useful info to reassure you all is ok and you are doing nothing wrong.

Is he gaining weight well and are you doing ok on the sleep you’re getting?
If the answer to both those questions is yes, then one option here is just to ignore all the well-meaning advice about what’s normal and just keep doing what’s working for you. I stopped counting feeds and started vaguely estimating how many feeds my baby was having per day at about this age because it was causing more stress than just feeding my happy, growing baby whenever he wanted. The feeds will get more efficient and further apart as he grows.
I’m sure the norms are biased because formula fed babies tend to take more milk less often and digest it slower, and when drs first started trying to collate info about frequency of breastfeeds they used formula fed babies as a guide, and now the norms still haven’t caught up to the range of normal realities for breastfed babies because we all end up lying about it to drs because we figure out that just feeding the baby is less stressful than being told we’re doing it wrong.

As a newborn, every 2 hours ish. This extended to every 3 hours ish by maybe 6 weeks. Except for a period of cluster feeding in the evenings initially, and then from about 3am.

Then feeding increased in frequency from about 6m, in that it was 2-3 hourly (roughly ) during the day, but every 45-60m during the night. Wake ups were in double figures, except for the nights her sleep was so bad she'd be awake for 3 hour blocks as well. That lasted 6-18m. Whilst working. How I survived I don't know frankly.

Then about 6m (18m-2y) of only waking every 2-3hr which felt blissful on comparison, but was still a lot.

It was a long road.

I don't think you can go wrong at this age! They're a random number generator where the parameters change every few days. Every baby is different too. With mine I find it works better to wake him up properly to get as much milk into him as possible, then he sleeps a bit longer and more deeply. I love letting him sleep on me, but he sleeps for slightly longer in his basket or pram. I'm lucky that I have a baby that can be put down.

Do see a lactation consultant or a really good BF support group and get your baby's latch checked, is always my first advice. It might be that if you make a couple of slight adjustments your baby can feed a little more effectively and go a little longer.

Babies feed more when it's hot just as we drink more when the temperature is higher.

If your boobs are on the smaller side, your baby may feed more as your storage capacity won't be that high.

Is she very gassy?

In the day that’s what my baby does. He’ll sleep longer at night - up to about 3.5 hours but it’s normal at night. Generally if he’s gaining weight and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies then it’s fine. There’s a huge range of normal. He’s also been really fussy in the afternoon and evening and wanting to feed and not sleep. This was his yesterday afternoon - he’s gone back to very long feeds. And he’s fed anywhere between 15 and 24 times a day for the last couple of weeks.

If you have an oversupply and if you leak at a lot with it, have you tried catch cups in your bra to batch your letdown on the other side? It’s not like a Haakaa which has suction so can contribute to oversupply, it just just collects what drips naturally. I collected about 4-5oz yesterday.

Thanks again everyone. My health visitor dropped by yesterday and double checked the latch and how I was feeding. I wasn't sure what counted as a full feed and when was a good point to switch breasts. She gave me a couple of tips which I tried out and he went longer in the night between feeds. Apart from waking for a little cuddle, he went 2 and a half hours at his longest! Still exhausted today, but feeling slightly better. Its nearly been 3 hours since his last feed and he's snoozing happily in his cot. So happy! Let's hope things continue and he can feel nice and full for longer 😊

Yay! Well done. Long may it continue!