You can't overfeed a bf baby can you?

[Hadeda]

Sorry I know this is a dumb question, and I'm pretty sure you can't.
My DD2 is 17 days old and is a real milk monster. She was 8lbs 3oz at birth and on day 15 was 10lbs!! So she put on almost 2lbs in two weeks!! This means she's jumped from 75th centile at birth to 91st now.

Am just wanting some reassurance that I'm not overfeeding her? She feeds every 2 or 3 hours and tends to have a 10/15 minute "snack" followed by another 10/15 mins about 20 mins after that. I give her the same breast for both "snacks" - although given her weight gain I guess there isn't much worry that she's not getting hindmilk...!!

TBH, it is really ironic to be posting this as I had slow weight gain issues with DD1 and was told to top up with formula, referred to a paediatrician etc etc. So when I was pregnant with this baby I thought "that's the one thing I want to avoid" - and now I have and I'm still worried !!

Hadeda, your little girl is doing great and is feeding normally. You don't need to worry about sticking to one breast only - she can have both, but she is doing well doing what you are doing anyway, as you say

The weight gain is not enormous - perfectly within normal limits, and it is also within normal limits to go up a centile line which is what she has done. The freqency of feeding is normal, too - most babies probably feed more often than this, in fact.

Babies thrive best by having their feeding/cuddling/holding/comforting needs responded to, and for young babies, especially, all these needs are met at the breast. This is what you are doing.

She is not gaining weight 'too fast', but just being normal.

Hope this helps

oooh, thank you for such a quick reply, and for your advice. it's great to hear the gain is normal - think it's just that the contrast with dd1 is so big!
(sorry for lack of capitals - the milk monster is currently feeding )

Yes this is all familiar to me, my children were the same! My first daughter put on over 1lb and 4ozs in just less than a week! And my current baby boy whom I am breastfeeding now is 4 mths, is on 50th centile he was born on the 25th centile. Everyone keeps commenting on how chubby he is. I say you be proud! I am glowing with mother's pride. Think about it, it's all from you and it's all 100% natural!

As soon as my children crawled they become lean very quickly. I think breast-milk fat burns off much quicker than formula fat cos formula feed babies seems to hang on to their fat for a lot longer. They are different types of fat.