how often should an 8wk old breast feed?

[littleM]

ds1 is 8 wks old and I don't feel like I have any routine at all. He usually doesn't feed for very long, often only 5 mins before falling asleep. He still wakes up at least twice between midnight and 6am and seems keen to feed - I can't remember if this is normal.

Have tried to introduce a formula feed at 10pm to see if this would fill him up and help him sleep longer but he doesn't seem particularly keen

Am trying to get a routine established that would fit in around dd1 (2.4) but at the moment feel like it is all going a bit wrong

Any tips would be greatly received

I don't have any tips but I do think your baby is a little young to try and get into a routine. They need demand feeding at this age.

do you think you are trying to hard??

ignore routines for a few days, go back to demand feeding again (assuming that you have left that in the hopes of forging a routine??), and jot down all the times he is awake, feeding etc.

you might just surpirse yourself and see that there is a routine, just not quite the one you hope for.....and then maybe adjust all of you around that for a while until he is a little bigger.

littleM, this sounds very normal for an eight week old baby - I'm assuming he's thriving and healthy.

One tip on trying to make life more predictable would be to bath both your children at the same time...probably dipping your baby in the bath first, and then taking him out and putting your toddler in (same water ) while you dry and dress and then bf the baby. This combines them both in a way that may make evenings a little easier.

possibly am trying a bit too hard - think we have forgotten how long it took to get a routine with dd that was convienient to us!

also think when demand feeding I confuse tiredness for hunger which means he is feeding little and often (poss not getting enough hind milk?)

think i had this issue with dd - when at work i know the answers / how to solve issues etc and find it difficult to get my head round the fact that I don't have the answers at the moment

No need to worry about hindmilk - little and often is fine