Is she feeding enough?

[MHill]

I'm probably being a paranoid new mum but i have a constant worry that my baby is not feeding enough (especialy at night). She is 9 weeks old. In the daytime she will probably have about 6/7 feeds with the last one starting at 9pm. She is a very quick feeder - approx 20 mins, apart from the first and last one each day whihc is more like 40 mins to an hour. After her 9pm feed, we put her to bed and (after much crying and settling) she goes to sleep and then sleeps through until about 5:30am, at which point i feed her (sometimes she wakes first, sometimes me). Is this too long to go without a feed at this age? She is generaly content/putting weight on/doing dirty and wet nappies. My DH thinks that if she needed to feed more often she would soon let us know (ie cry!), but i'm just not convinced. What do you think? Thanks for your help.

This sounds absolutely perfect.

Your DH is right - she would cry for food if she were hungry. Some babies are just quicker feeders (my DD only fed for 10-15 mins at a time) and 6 or 7 feeds per day, following her lead, is fine.

Re going for a long period at night, some babies just do this and as long as they are putting on weight etc there is no problem. My DD went from 11pm -7am at this age, completely of her own choice. The only thing is that you might find your period comes back sooner rather than later because of the longer stretch without a feed at night.

Thanks Mrs Happy - on my period coming back sooner though!!

Yes, I was horrified when mine came back at 14 weeks. Still, being able to have a decent stretch of sleep at night was worth it!

Hiya, my 10 wk old feeds at 11pm then sleeps through til 7 or 8am, so it sounds like she goes as long between feeds as your DD does.
My DD is putting weight on fine and seems fairly content (though tricky to get to sleep for day naps).
HV told me that if she is having lots of wet nappies and regular poopy nappies to not worry and she is getting all she needs.

hi, my dd has started to have all night sleep(from 9pm to 6-7am) since she was 2 months old.now she is 10 months old and my period is still not back so everybody is different

You sound like your doing great. Don't worry about baby going all night, this is what parents dream of. My DS has been sleeping thro the night from 3 weeks old 9pm to 7am and she is 5 months now and still doing it. Its great to get a good nights sleep.