Five minute feeds! How to/need to prolong?

[hairband]

Need some help and advice if possible!

Baby is now 4 and a half weeks old.. he was slightly premature, due date was 2 days ago.

In the last day or so he has started to have 5minute feeds.. and is then waking up every 90mins or so for a further feed.
Every day the pattern is different and I feel a bit at the end of my tether with it all.

He is able to take bigger feeds eg last night had about 100mls of EBM from hubby via bottle - which kept him going until 12.45. Then he woke at 2.30, 4.30 5.45 and 6.45 8.00 and 9.30
All of these were 5min feeds.

When I express I get 40mls from one breast in 5mins and 60mls of the right, so could it be that he is getting adequate amounts even though he is only feeding a short time?

It's exhausting work though and difficult being so tied to the house (as don't feel confident feeding out and about as haven't even mastered it at home!)

Any tips/words of encouragement welcome!!

xx

hairband - your baby's done well to overcome the early birth and to be breastfeeding well.

Not sure why you want to make the feeds longer? He is now, in fact, a term newborn in age and this is a normal newborn frequency and length of feeds...every day it is different, as it is with a term newborn...and as he gets older he may change to something else

If he is gaining and thriving, you can be sure he is getting sufficient.

It is a lot easier to go with this flow than to try to change it, IMO.

Just to clarify - when I say 'normal' feeds, I don't mean every baby does it the same. What you are describing is still normal

Thanks Tiktok - I just was not sure if this was normal or not.. had some of my antenatal group round and the babies were at the breast for hours on end.. so wondered if what was happning here was "wrong"..

He is putting on weight ok so as you say, must be getting sufficient.I hadn't realised that the pattern can vary every day

Thanks for advice, feel a bit more relaxed now!

I always worried about this as my DS was done with 5 or 10 minutes on each side from day 1 pretty much and all my antenatal chums were taking MUCH longer.

They were jealous

Anyway, DS was fine, things never changed, and I have just stopped BF at 13 months.

hairband - long feeds can also be normal

The reassuring thing about your ds is that his feeds are prob rather shorter than many, but he is having a lot of them!

The babies who are worrying are the ones that manage to suck,a bit, for a few mins only, before falling asleep for the next 3 hours or more

You'll get more reassurance when he is weighed. Nappies are also a good sign - they should be wet, and probably he should have a poo 2-3 times a day, at least for the time being.

Your baby feeds like my ds did and he piled on weight and was obviously getting plenty and we went on for 18 months.
You are doing fantastic and with bf it can change all the time so really there is no normal.
And don't worry about what you are producing when you pump either that is not an indication of what your baby is getting out of you because your baby is far more efficient thatn a breast pump. Some days I could get loads from a breast pump other days I was lucky to get a drip.

Ds fed like that - started off at 10 minutes, then went to 5-min feeds when he was only a few weeks. He fed v frequently and piled on the weight - I always figured it was ok cos I'm a "grazer" too

don't sweat - you and he're both doing dandy!

Thanks all.
Some days he does have 3hour gaps with 5min feeds.. and also he is only doing one poo every 3 days or so.. but I guess every baby is different and the fact that he is piling on weight means I should not worry.. plenty of wet nappies though!
Thanks loads for the encouragement.. it is much harder work than I ever imagined!

DS1 was along feeder with 3 to 4 hour gaps and a failry obvious routine. DS2 was a five minute, one side only, with no rhyme nor reason to his pattern! Both were big babies (ds2 being 11 pounds) and both gained weight well and seemed to equally thrive with their very different styles.

Although I admit I was often unsure at first if what ds2 was doing was "normal"