11 day old not feeding long enough?

[bluemousemummy]

ds2 is now 11 days old, latching ok but only staying on between 5 and 10 minutes. He initially seems satisfied after a feed although he does start rooting again not long afterwards, but if I can get him to go to sleep he will then go about 3 hours between feeds and often 4hrs at night. MW said I should try to stretch him to at least 2 hourly feeds because there is a danger that he won't get enough hindmilk otherwise. Is this right?? There seems to be so much conflicting advice. I was trying to do the whole Baby Whisperer EASY routine and I thought it was working but today it's all gone to pot! Any advice??

As far as I am aware at 11 days you should feed as often as possible, letting the baby finish the feed (i.e waiting for him to come off not breaking the suction when you think he is finished)
Until around 6-8 weeks your milk supply is still being established and regular feeding is important.
bumping up for someone with more knowledge and experience than me

The only thing I can offer is - ditch the routine - he is only a tiny little baby with a tiny tummy so will need feeding very regularly. DD fed every 1.5 - 2 hours for the first few weeks during the day and went 4 hours at night. Not sure about the feed duration as DD has only ever fed for 5 minutes at a time. Tiktok should be around soon to help with that.

both my babies fed very quickly and very frequently. As long as your baby is gaining weight well and has lots of wees and poos then it's probably nothing to worry about but hopefully tiktok or someone knowledgeable will be here soon to give the definitive answer!

I don't think you should try for a routine yet - it's more important to establish feeding and enjoy the cuddles - lots of time for routines later.

feed on demand. baby knows when he is hungry. not a book, and not a midwife.
the more you feed the more milk you will make. if he needs milk and you are making him sleep instead you will create a vicious circle of him not getting enough, you not making enough, him being too tired to feed, thus not taking enough etc etc etc

lots of skin to skin cuddles and feed whenever he roots. I personally would wake him up after two hours esp during the day, and for extra night time feeds if going too long without. But then mine used to feed for 45 mins to an hour at a time and at least every two hours.

BTW I'm not sure that's right about needing to be on 2 hourly feeds to get the hindmilk.

I am not an expert but I don't think you need to go a set amount of time between feeds - the milk is still just as good and has the same fat content if you feed frequently. In fact from what I understand going longer between feeds is likely to result in a tiny baby getting more foremilk because there will be more milk in the breast iyswim.

Sorry - not explaining myself very well but perhaps you get what I mean!

Thanks for your replies. I know it's early days yet, it's just that ds1 used to feed for 30-45 minutes so this was never an issue. Ds2 is not a tiny baby either, he was 9lbs 5oz at birth, and until the last couple of days he was on 3-4 hourly feeds no problem. Today he has hardly slept at all and has fed about every hour but obviously not for long enough to fill him up. I've been trying to settle him for bed for 2 hours now and fed him at 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:00 and he WILL NOT SLEEP!!!

growth spurt?

He's probably trying to up your supply or having a growth spurt - if you just go with it for a few days you might find it settles down.

Those early evening feeding frenzies are a very recent memory for me (my DS2 is just 3 months and has only just stopped doing that). It's really frustrating when you're trying to get the supper on and the toddler to bed, but at the same time, quite a good thing in a way because it does seem to help tank them up for the night.

It does sound like a growth spurt, and that he's cluster feeding in the evening to increase your supply. Don't panic, just go with it.

yeah, dd2 is two weeks old and been feeding loads and loads in the evening (and night) ... and day, come to think of it!

also, re toddlers etc, I have actually found my baby's fast feeds to be useful. It's much easier to occupy DS1 with a story or a snatch of cbeebies for 10 minutes than for 40 minutes. Admittedly they are more frequent feeds but I'd still rather have that than be chained to the sofa for an hour with the toddler rampaging round the house.

Perhaps see it as a positive and ditch the baby whisperer's advice?

My DS has always been a speed feeder. The longest he ever went was 20 minutes, even when he was tiny most feeds would be 5-10 minutes. Now that he's almost 8 months if they are longer than 5 mins then it's very very unusual.

Very poor info from the midwife...the fat content of milk does change with feeding frquency, but in the opposite way to how she thinks. The fat content relates to the amount of milk in the breast: less milk in the breast = fattier milk and more milk in the breast = less fatty milk. So frequent feeds tend to deliver fattier milk to the baby, unrelated to the length of time on the breast.

You can find more details about this at www.kellymom.com

Bluemouse - it's usually best to go with what the baby wants to do, and this may mean frequent feeds, and waking up and wanting more after a short time, followed by variable amounts of sleep.

Baby Whisperer breastfeeding information is utter rubbish, sorry