Advice needed on a few BF things - mainly expressing

[jerryterry]

Hi, I'm sort of new to this and was hoping someone could give me a little advice.

My baby is 11 weeks old, exclusively breastfed (whenever he wants, don't have a GF-style routine), gaining weight well and very happy. I go to university one day a week and my partner feeds him EBM from about 10am-7pm. Do I definitely have to express the feeds I'm missing during the day? Will I screw up my supply if I don't express?

Also, he's started sleeping from about 8pm-5am, which (I think) is great, but should I be expressing when he misses a feed? Or give a dreamfeed? Or just leave it?

I guess I'm just a bit worried that my supply is going to diminish. My boobs are not as 'heavy' as they used to be.

Finally, sometimes I can't tell whether he's hungry as he seems to have stopped crying like he used to. He's started constantly sucking his fingers and thumb so can't use that as a sign of hunger. He doesn't seem ill at all. He just doesn't seem as hungry as usual - is that normal at 11 wks?

Sorry it's a long and slightly rambling post, any feedback welcome.
Thanks

[jerryterry]

sorry, meant that as he's sucking his hands all the time I can't always tell if he's doing it because he's hungry or because he just likes to do it.

[thisisyesterday]

he sounds normal to me!
my ds3 sleeps like yours and it's a real treat lol so make the most of it, no need to express or anything
i would try and express once or twice during your uni day if you can just because it will make you more comfortable, but i'm pretty sure one day a week won't do much to your supply esp if he is demand fed the rest of thet ime

[JetLi]

Sounds like DD to me (10 weeks) - it also makes me nervous about supply - she'll sleep from 10/11pm to 6/7/8am! So far all seems fine and she was weighed this week and gained 1lb in 2 weeks so I'm trying to relax about it all - easier said than done though

[aquavit]

yes it sounds very much like my dd too! She started sucking her hands (and everything else she could get into her mouth) at around that age and it didn't have anything to do with hunger. My supply remained just fine when she started sleeping through (and eventually my boobs figured out that they didn't need to produce so much in the night, so they stopped turning into agonising melons overnight...) and was still perfectly able to cope with renewed night waking during a couple of growth spurts at 16 and 20 weeks.

I also stopped feeling so 'heavy' generally - but it wasn't because I wasn't producing enough milk, I think this just happens (was a bit of a relief frankly as I stopped going through breast pads so quickly!).

But if you can express during your uni day, I would try to do that - suspect that one day a week won't mess up your supply (though am no expert), but it could get pretty uncomfortable.

It sound as though you've got it nailed really - well done to you and hooray for the sleeping through!

[jerryterry]

Thanks for your replies, I feel much less neurotic now! Will definitely express a couple of times at uni.

[GruffaloMama]

Hiya - sorry this reply is a bit late. All sounds totally normal - your supply will probably have stabilised and DS will be getting pretty efficient at feeds. My DS started sleeping well at this stage too.

The only thing i'd mention is that you shouldn't worry if you hit another growth spurt at around 5 months - I thought this was because my milk had reduced etc but it was really a growth spurt.