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Infant feeding

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

1st time mum-BF questions!! (LONG)

4 replies

mishkamoo · 14/11/2008 15:32

DS will be 6wks old on Monday. Is doing well and gaining 0.5lb a week! BUT frequency of feeds is the same now as it was at 3 wks-is this normal?? We usually manage to go 2hrs in between feeds (from the start of 1 feed to the start of another) during the day. At night if we are lucky we can get one or two 3hr gaps in the evening/start of the night (but feeding/changing/settling can take 1hr so only 2hrs sleeping) and then it gets shorter as the night progresses until its every 1.5hrs (so maximum of 1hrs sleep in beween). Last night he fed for an hour at 9pm and then woke again at 12. How is he ever going to go any longer if feeding for an hour doesn't fill him up?? Also sometimes when he wakes, he will be really cross and crying and rooting, and then when he latches on he sucks really vigourously for 5-10mins before falling fast asleep again. And other times he seems to get really frustrated when feeding and keeps latching on and off and head butting my boob. I'm worried he's only getting foremilk at these times and not really getting any nutrition (although his weight gain is good). I try to persist on feeding from one side til I feel a second let down and I'm sure he's had some hindmilk but sometimes he loses interest before this happens but is still hungry. HELP!!!
ALSO thinking of starting to express to see if he will take a bottle of DH to allow me to sleep-any useful hints and tips??

OP posts:
witchandchips · 14/11/2008 15:48

Normal i'm afraid but it will get better. Really don't worry about foremilk/hindmilk too much as your breasts adjust to the frequency of feeding. Just follow his lead and if he wants to swap breasts then let him.

Things that might help you get more sleep though

  1. I cluster fed in the early evening at this age, feeding more or less continously from 5ish to 9ish with breaks for bath, bit of wriggling around naked on his chaning mat etc. He would then sleep from 9-1ish
  2. Only change him if he has done a poo otherwise leave him (as he would do if he had not woken up to feed!)
  3. don't worry about feeding to sleep imo now is not the time to teach him to get to sleep on his own.
nellynaemates · 14/11/2008 15:52

You are doing so well. It sounds completely normal for that age. It drove me demented at times because you just couldn't believe they needed to feed again!!

What I will say is with the way he's feeding I very much doubt there's any problem with the amount of hindmilk he's getting and sometimes (if he's feeling thirsty) then a little bit of foremilk is all he'll want.

I believe around 6 weeks is a classic growth spurt period too, so the headbutting/latching on and off stuff could be just his way of increasing your supply and it may well settle down in a couple of weeks.

It came as a real shock to me to find just how much time I spent feeding my son for the first 3-4 months (at least) but if you just go with the flow and try not to worry about housework etc. you can begin to relax and enjoy it.

As for night-time, we only sorted my son's sleeping when he was about 9 months old (he's coming up for 1 now) so I'm probably not the best person to advise you.

Anyway - well done on the feeding, congratulations on your little boy and good luck!!

hanaflower · 14/11/2008 16:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

kathryn2804 · 14/11/2008 21:32

Sounds very normal.

Sit on the sofa, grab remote, large bottle of water, choc muffins (or cake of choice), and prepare to spend the next few days feeding.

Growth spurt will be over in a few days and all will settle down!

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