V short feeds at 11 weeks

[fiveweeksandcounting]

DS2 is now 11 weeks and feeds have gone from 45 mins to about 5 mins, 10 mins max. He takes about 15 mins to drink a 6oz bottle so these short feeds seems tiny. He's a drinker so once he has done gulping he comes off. I generally try and get him to have some more but he isn't interested and even his night feeds are no more than 15 minutes from wake up to back in cot.

He was a slow gainer at first, at over 3 weeks was only 6lb 10 but last weigh in at 9 weeks he was 10lb 5 in 6 weeks gained nearly 4lb and has gone from the 0.4 - 9th centile. He is only pooing once every 2 days or so and has one bottle of FF a day.

I should add that he feeds about 9 - 10 times a day. Is 9 BF's a day enough at this age?

sounds like he is feeding little and often. My DD only has about 5-6 BFs a day (when she's not having a growth spurt) and she only has one night feed.

I'm sure he is taking whatever he needs, but i guess monitoring his weight is the only way to tell.

My DS1 was like that, also feeding little and often - a real snacker! I found that because he wouldn't suck for long I didn't have as much milk as I'd had with DD who fed for hourly (comfort sucked).

If his weight gain is ok and he's going 4 hours at night then its fine.

9 BFs is loads. My DS2 feeds at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6.30pm and 10.30pm and maybe in the night. So 6 or 7 feeds.

When does he have the bottle and how much does he drink?

MumNWLondon
Today he has fed 3.15am, 5.30am, 7am, 8.45am, 12pm, 3.00pm, bottle of 4oz but offered 6oz at 4.30, 7pm and he'll have EBM at 11
and take anything from 3-6oz.

Actually, he's not feeding as much as I thought he was but I have to be honest, I do shove a boob in his mouth as soon as he murmurs as I'm still rather paranoid about his weight gain.

I think you are feeding him well. I also used to put my boob in the face of Lo every time she screamed but realised that she learnt that a bit of a suck was just for comfort. Now I find that I can comfort her by lying her down and chattering at her or singing to her and it pleases her just as much as a feed. The smiles and laughter are simply loveley(15 wks adj. age 11 weeks(5 early)) Our babies are clever beauties and just need a little entertainment...it that doesn't work then I guess they are hungry.xxx

After the initial 6-8 weeks where your supply is being established, babies are 'designed' to snack feed little and often. So, providing you're getting plenty of wet nappies, you shouldn't need to worry.

There's nothing wrong with offering the boob frequently / using it for comfort - that's what they're there for.

Sounds fine, not doing so differently here, other than less nighttime feeding (sometimes once sometimes not at all) and no bottles, although timings pretty much the same. I don't stick a boob in mouth unless its 2.5 hours since last feed or if he's obviously hungry (rather than just a murmur), although nothing wrong with offering more often.

He probabably didn't take much from the bottle at 4.30pm as he was not hungry since he'd eaten at 3pm?

What happens if you don't offer the EBM at 11pm - as you are doing 2 night wakings anyway maybe not bottle would result in 1am and 4am instead?

MumNWLondon i was actually thinking that the 11pm feed may be unecessary as DH gives it and is having trouble waking him for it and last night he only took 2oz before waking at 3.15 for a bf and then again at 6am.

Thanks for all your reassurance. This is the longest I have bf for and had planned to only do 3 months but cant think of a reason to stop at the moment as it's finally so easy.