Advice needed on how often should I be feeding DS

[lardybump]

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who helped me when ds was 4 days old. He was the one that hadn't poo'd... We have gone from strength to strength since then and DS is now 2 weeks old and has just put on a whole lb in a week!!!!

The problem I now have is that he wants to be fed every hour. I have been doing this but is now too much for me. MW has told me to distract with toys etc and also that a dummy my help. Well in desperation last night I gave him a dummy and we did get some sleep....

So my question is how often should he be feeding? Should it be every two, three or four hours? I don?t want to make him wait too long between feeds but at the same time I want to try to encourage him to go more than an hour at a time....

DS is now 9lb 7oz.....

it should be however often he wants it!
it is absolutely normal at this stage for him to want to feed very frequently. newborns have teeny little tummies, so have to feed little and often.
demand feeding is really important to keep your supply up because milk is made on a supply and demand basis. the more he feeds the more you will make

I know it's bloody tiring, and sleep deprivation is sheer hell, but he will settle down I promise

I agree iwontbite. Its important that he gets the nutrition when he needs it. If he is taking the milk and swallowing then he needs his food. If he is just calm and content, sucking away but not swallowing he may just want the comfort from you. If you dont see him swallowing then you can put a dummy in.

He's a big boy so will probably wnat to feed a lot at this age to encourage supply

Just feed feed feed as often as he wants it, this WILL pass, but in the early days its bloody exhausting but its the only thing to do

You're doing really well, keep at it, he will go longer between feeds eventually

lardy, it is far easier for you (a grown up) to adjust your expectations and routines than to expect your (very young) baby to change his normal (and temporary) needs for hourly feeding....he is two weeks old, and the midwife's idea of distracting him with toys is just crackers, sorry.....

If you go with the flow and adjust to cope - using a sling, for instance - and getting help with other stuff you need to do, you will have a happy baby, confident and trusting, and less likely to cry as an older baby (there is research on this).

Thank you all for this, I didn't think that I would be able to distract a hungry baby with toys. I am so pleased with his weight gain that I dont want to mess with it really I was just worried that I might be over feeding him. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.....

I love mumsnet, I would be lost without it

don't worry about overfeeding, you can't overfeed a breastfed baby

which is good, cos it's so much easier to just pop baby on boob instead of trying to distract him and all that.

you're doing great

thank you

My DS was 9lb born and needed lots more feeding than my DD who was just under 8. It's still early daysand it is tiring but you are doing the best for him - we were feeding for 30mins then starting next one hour and a half later but it does settle down after a while. By one month we were much more in a routine - about three hourly in the day and going 4 hours at night. Don't think you can overfeed - he'll take what he wants and needs.

Keep your chin up