EBF every 4 hours ok for a newborn?

[dingdongditch]

We went to visit lovely friends today who have had their first child. He is about a week old. The mum happily told me that he's feeding every 4 hours sometimes longer. His lips were dry and he was positively green. When my son was tiny he fed more like every 1.5-2 hours. Should she be waking him? I didn't say anything but was concerned.

I'd be concerned too. It's probably not enough for a new born. Might be ok if ff but that is a very long stretch for a bf baby at that age. I'd also worry about her supply.

I was told by the midwife to feed on demand during the day which meant as often as every hour. And to feed her every 3 hours minimum during the night even if that meant waking her. The every 3 hours at night was until 6 weeks I think. I'd feed her more often if she wanted it at night. I'd be worried about your friend's baby.

I was told to wake mine after 6 hrs if he hadn't fed. He didn't feed very frequently at all the first 2 weeks then there was no stopping him!!! Every 45 mins around 4-10 weeks until gradually settling to every 3 hrs during the day by 20 weeks.

Is the midwife still visiting and has the baby been weighed? It doesn't sound often enough to me. My son lost more than 10% of his birthweight. He was sleepy (jaundice and low blood sugar) and we were then advised to wake him every 2 hours to feed.

I was told off by the midwife for leaving my dd on the first night to sleep for 4 hours ( i hasn't slept for 2 days by that point) and was told to wake her every 3 hours for a feed which I did. That said, by 2 days old I couldn't stop her feeding!

I am 38 weeks preg at the moment and want to breast feed this time (stopped last time, partly connected with above). What I've read is that a bf newborn baby should be feeding 10/12 times in 24 hours.

I would definitely suggest they get him checked for jaundice! Mine had it and was yellow but it's so hard to judge when you are looking at them all day! And we were told to wake for feeds every 3 hours

That's worrying. All mine were jaundiced and I had to feed every 2 hours during the day, every 3 at night. It was a struggle to wake them sometimes which I think was a pretty clear sign they needed more milk. Despite this being the advice I was given by hospital paediatricians and midwives,I was still tutted at as "you should never wake a sleeping baby". I bet people are telling them similar, and that their baby is "very good" for sleeping that long...

Thanks for you replies. I decided to call her tonight and gently tried to let her know my concerns. Hopefully the HV/midwife picks it up too.

It does sound worrying. I never let mine go more than three hours as newborns, four at a stretch. DD1 ended up slightly jaundiced because as a first time mum I assumed she would wake when hungry, but she was sleepy after a difficult birth, her blood sugar levels dropped and she physically couldn't wake herself. Fortunately it was picked up by the midwives in hospital so I started waking her every 2 hours to feed and it cleared right up within a few days. Did the same with DD2 from the off but after a day or two it was clear she was getting enough and was able to wake herself when hungry so I relaxed a bit and followed her lead.

Sounds like they need a nudge in the right direction to me, hopefully the HV or Midwife will be able to help them.

I EBF my son until he was 13 months old (now 15mnths) and he was fed every 4hrs from newborn and was/is absolutely fine. When he fed, he fed for awhile but this was the routine he seemed settled in. In the evenings he would cluster feed, unless the baby was yelling and it hadn't been checked out by the MW I'd say they're fine.

Well I would be concerned he was green for sure