newborn feeding

[Runnerd]

My ds is 11 days old and we're very lucky that he's been bfing well (had actually put weight on at 5 days). It's been all feeding on demand which has meant mostly gaps of 2hr but some relentless cluster feeding in the evening.

Yesterday we woke him up after 2 hrs as I wanted to make sure he fit enough food in during the day so that he might sleep longer at night which worked - I got 3 chunks of 2.5-3hrs between feeds

question is... should I stick to feeding at least every 2 hrs throughout the day or if he seems happy to go longer leave him? I read Gina Ford during pregnancy and was convinced we'd follow it, but now he's here the prospect of shoehorning my little guy into a timetable just doesn't appeal.

I've quickly learned that what worked yesterday won't necessarily work today so interested to hear what feeding principles others follow.

Thanks!

Gina Ford??? In the bin!!

I always fed mine regularly through the day. It meant some of them were doing 4/5 stretches by 6 weeks.

dd- 6th dc didn't though so it's just luck!

Good luck & well done.
Congratulations

We went for 2-3 hrs during the day, eventually DS settled into a rough pattern at about 8 weeks. I just kept reminding myself he wasn't a robot and could be hungry as much as he liked! It sounds like you are doing fabulously, well done and keep up the good work.

I woke mine every 2-3 hrs in the day but never woke in the night eventually it does work we went down to 1 feed in the night by 6 weeks then sleeping 9-10 hrs by 10 weeks

I can only go from my own experience of what worked for us and our dc.

We fed them when they were hungry, day or night; but we didn't feed them as soon as they started to stir during the night because we often found that they'd go back to sleep.

We didn't try to shoehorn them into a routine - just fed on demand, put them for a nap when tired and played with them in between. By around 12 weeks they found their own routine of feeding every 3 hrs during the day, sleeping an hour in the morning, 2 in the aft and 7-7 overnight and then playing the rest of the time.

I'd therefore suggest that you follow your baby's lead and pretty soon you'll notice a routine emerge which you can then use to bring a little structure to the day.

My midwife told me that until 6 weeks old I had to feed her every 3 hours even if that meant waking her when she was sleeping.

If bubs is putting on weight nicely, just feed them when they're hungry. In the early days 'when they're hungry' can change like the weather...3 hours to 30mins. Just follow their lead and as everyone says, they eventually sort themselves out.

The 'feed every three hours' thing is a bit outdated unless they're not putting weight on.

My mw said if their gaining weight feed/sleep "on demand".

She said whether she slept for 4 hr or demanded food every 2, to try to go with the flow and don't worry 'unless they're ill they'll let you know when they're hungry'.

I never woke mine up, not even at night - sounds like I did what squizita did. Basically I fed her whenever she wanted - although she rarely really cried for it after the first week or so once I worked out her signals for hunger. I did that until I stopped breastfeeding at almost 8 months, I still sort of do it now with formula - I wave a bottle at her (empty) and if she fancies it she'll make it obvious.

Don't do Gina Ford - my hv said it was one of the leading causes of PND in this area. Women getting depressed because their child won't fit into a schedule designed by a woman who has never experienced being the mother of a baby, and therefore probably doesn't understand how mothers and babies learn to fit in with each other.

Also, don't obsess about the weight thing. Another thing my hv said was to not get her weighed unless I was really concerned. I've only had her weighed 4 times in total since she was born, she's now 9 and half months.