Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

changing pattern constantly

28 replies

hairband · 20/08/2009 08:37

7week old baby - 5 weeks early..

yesterday day fed 2.5 hourly.. for about 30-45mins each time

night time fed 1.5 hourly for 15min each time..

so far today just 5min snacking..

is this usual?

every day his pattern is different.. just want some reassurance that this is normal!

OP posts:
StealthBearWipesBumOnDailyMail · 20/08/2009 08:39

I'm fairly sure it is! Unless he is ill or seems to be struggling he will just be getting what he needs - sometimes he'll fancy grazing all day, sometimes he'll fill up for a little while.
Assuming he's fairly content (as he usually is) and is weeing and pooing I don't think there's anything to worry about.

gypsymoon · 20/08/2009 08:44

Absolutely! Little ones are notoriously erratic! I know it's frustrating, and confusing!, at the moment, but give it time you and he will work out a rhythm.

Don't try to pin him down to any 'schedule'...feed on demand. This is is the best way to successfully establish and maintain bf.

I bf my DD1 until she was 3 and still bf my DD2, I can't remember really ever knowing when they wanted a feed - just fed them when they were hungry...if you think about it are we ever hungry/thirsty at exactly the same times every day?

StealthBearWipesBumOnDailyMail · 20/08/2009 08:45

No, but i eat all day every day - does that count?

gypsymoon · 20/08/2009 08:48

My DD1 certainly did - think she must get that from her mama....

gypsymoon · 20/08/2009 08:51

Just re read my post ....what i meant to say, I never had a set time when I fed my babies, just fed them when they wanted it...that'll learn me for bf DD2 while typing. Somehow she manages to feed and do gymnastics at the same time. Remarkable!

MrsBadger · 20/08/2009 08:51

normal

have you been reading babycare books that talk about schedules and patterns ?

bin 'em all, get a stack of good novels and/or dvds and plan some quality sofa time

hairymelons · 20/08/2009 08:54

Totally normal, as Stealth says if LO is weeing/ pooing a-plenty there's nothing to worry about.
My DS never had 2 days the same (and we tried to get him into a routine) so just go with the flow. The beauty of feeding on demand is they get what they need when they need it

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 20/08/2009 08:57

What MrsBadger said

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 09:00

Thanks all. Yes been reading, and been offered advice from lots of people, and getting myself confused.. but have stuck to feeding on demand and sometimes it looks as though he is making his own "pattern" - only to change it the next day!
He only poos twice a week - but there's so much of it when he does that I'm not worried.. and plenty of wet nappies too!

I like the idea of quality sofa time - but if you do this, is it hard to get out and about (been finding daily walk when I can manage it sanity saving, and also meeting antenatal group very reassuring).
Sorry to ask such simple questions, just finding it very reassuring to know what other people think/have felt... particularly in this sleep deprived state.

(Night before he woke a lot less so had a better day - so in comparison feel awful today!)

OP posts:
Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 09:01

PS thanks for reassurance about my first post, feel suitable reassured now!

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 20/08/2009 09:08

oh yes, get out and about as much as poss (obv being prepared to stop and feed in starbucks / mates house / park bench if necc - keep novel in pram basket)

but when you are home do not beat yourself up re housework, homecooked meals etc just at the moment

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 09:15

thank you Mrs B
I guess haven't got my head round feeding out and about in public on my own yet (fine with antenatal group or hubby around).. but I guess this comes through confidence or out of necessity! You just get on with it cos you have to!

And yes had been feeling a bit bad about house work as tiny flat so any mess makes it awful to be in (not normally houseproud at all but scared of tripping over stuff) and a visitor who came and said it was the messiest flat he had ever seen! But will stuff that for now.
Meals - just been getting shopping online and heating stuff up.. but perhaps more takeways are the answer too - as a treat!

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 20/08/2009 09:23

your visitor should have offered to tidy up!

and yes it is just practice re feeding out and about - if you look at yourself in a mirror you'll see just how little is on show
remember, to the general public a discreetly feeding baby is way preferable to a screaming one...

I used to do a lightning tidy-up in the evenings while DH bathed dd - theoretically this was to give me a break, but if I'd be sat on the sofa watching Homes Under The Hammer and eating biscuits all day I thought it was fair play.

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 09:37

Good idea about the mirror.. been doing asimilar tidy up thing on occasions when hubby does a EBM feed before bed.. also thought the point of that was to give me a rest so glad I'm not the only one!

Right better get off the computer and try to get some sleep
thanks for tips.. really helped!

OP posts:
StealthBearWipesBumOnDailyMail · 20/08/2009 10:58

you hear about the nasty comments and looks from feeding in public but that's not really been my experience and I don't think a lot of people encounter it - just a few who are unlucky. Most of the time other people are too busy doing their own thing to notice let alone care!

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 13:16

Having a weird morning - he's feeding for 2-3mins then passing out for about an hour.. tho in last half waking up every 5min eating 4 2min then passing out...

Surely this isn't normal. might be wind i guess. typing 1 handed sorry xx

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 20/08/2009 13:30

newborns are weird

roll with it!

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 13:50

he then settled on me, stayed asleep and I have managed to transfer him to his cot - without him waking up...

Hopefully when he does then wake he will realise he is actually very hungry and take a proper feed!
Maybe because he had several unusually long feeds yesterday he is needing less today..

As you say, roll with it!

OP posts:
chibi · 20/08/2009 14:03

as long as he is having plenty of heavy wet nappies anything goes.

my ds was also 5 weeks early and he has only 'woken up' (ie been awake for an hour at a time) in the last few weeks - he is 10 weeks old now.

i think as mrsb has said, newborns are weird, prem ones possibly even more so, as long as the signs of health are there, roll with it!

congratulations + well done bf thus far!

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 14:55

Thank you!
Nice to know this is "normal" prem. behaviour too!

He woke up and fed for 15mins and is now fully awake and playing.

I think there might be something going on with my supply - he was having a growth spurt last week (I think) and saw in last feed that boob was squirting milk everywhere by itself when he latched off crying.. maybe that is why he is needing to feed for short times as loads is coming out...

Anyhows at least he has eaten something. Nappies are always heavy wet and plentiful.. so guess I just need to stop worrying!

OP posts:
Alibabaandthe40nappies · 20/08/2009 16:41

When they are still little they can struggle a bit when it really comes jetting out - that will pass though so don't worry about it .
DS is a year old now and has a tendency to press on my boob as he latches off, which results in a huge squirt of milk spraying across the bed or sofa. We don't BF in public anymore

Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 21:43

Tonight he has been the complete opposite and drank me dry.. feeding for half an hour at 5 then from 7 till just now, falling asleep on the boob every so often then refusing to settle after being put back in his cot and waking up hungry..
Now fallen asleep just as hubby got home from work.
Maybe this extra feeding was his body's way of making up for eating hardly anything all morning.. do they "balance" themsemselves out like this?

OP posts:
Original poster
hairband · 20/08/2009 22:13

is this cluster feeding?

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 21/08/2009 08:37

yes they do balance it out - and keep doing so for a long while (see also my 2yo who will eat barely anything one day and wolf everything in sight the next...)

Sounds like typical evening cluster feeding - Kellymom has good advice on this, as well as on just about every other aspect of bfing. Worth bookmarking!

Original poster
hairband · 21/08/2009 10:12

Well this baby has got weirder.. after feeding nonstop from me all evening was still hungry after his dad got home.. and took a large feed of EBM from dad.. then slept for 4 and a half hours.. with just a few miniwakenings/microfeeds thereafter.. bizarre!
Anyhow sleeping for longer through the night is definitely something I am going to roll with.. hope he keeps doing that one!! Thanks for kellymom link!

OP posts: