How do I encourage her to feed more?

[LoveDeathPrizes]

My 3 month old DD is only ever feeding from one side at a time (she's not fussed which one though). Even if I manage to rouse her, she's often not interested in a second and will only ever eat when hungry, not merely for comfort.

She's really efficient (5 minutes). Until recently, she climbed to 91st centile but is now creeping down, currently 84th. Her weekly gain is only 105 - 120g a week for the last few weeks.

She was born on the 75th at term plus 16. She's otherwise fine but I am a bit worried. She's demand fed and tends to snack every hour and half to two hours but can go 10 hours at night sometimes.

Am I naive to think she'd be grumpy if she was hungry? Do I need to routine feed to encourage a full feed? Does anyone know if gain slows at the 3 month mark?

Sorry for long post. Didn't want to dripfeed. Thank you.

If she is hunry she will let you know.
You seem quite hung up on the centiles - as long as she is gaining weight and is happy that is the main thing.

I know. I am a bit. I'm more worried that health visitors are hung up on them though and don't want it to be too late for my supply by the time she's really dropped, IYSWIM

This suggests gains drop at 4 months but I thought it was around 3 kellymom.com/bf/normal/weight-gain-metric/ - if you think she's happy I wouldn't worry to much about the hv. She's still above her birth line.

That's true, thank you. And I'm hoping there's the argument that at 2+ weeks overdue she was more like fiftieth anyway.

I'm probably fretting too much. DD1 was always eating and 98th centile so this is a bit new to me.

Keep an eye but don't fret. IMHO it is a great thing that she eats when hungry and is fast! Long may it continue I say!!

Try not to get too hung up on the percentiles - she's a good weight and she'll let you know if she's hungry! Don't worry about supply- if she has a growth spurt she'll just cluster feed to increase your milk to what she needs.

Some babies are just super efficient feeders! My DD2 is done in 7 min each time and is gaining weight faster than DD1 who fed for 45-60 min.

One thing you could try when she has finished on one side is to make sure she has a good burp, even if if takes 10-15 min to come up then put her back on the other side. Sometimes that makes some more room in their tummy to feed again. There is no need to feed from both sides though if she's content with one.

Brilliant. Thanks all for your help. She really is a happy little soul so I'll continue as we are for now. Good call with the extended winding as she does spit up a fair bit so I'll give that a go.

Both my bf babies dropped from centiles lines at 3m. One went from 91st to 75th and the other from 91st to 50th. Both normal, healthy babies. Feed on demand and you will be fine. DD never fed for comfort either and would feed quickly and often from only one side. She has been a breeze to wean though.

Thank you ODog, that's good to know. It doesn't really help that she's found her hands and she rarely cries so everything I thought were cues is out of the window!

My bloody health visitor was obsessed with my son feeding "at least 20 minutes On each side" in desperation at about the 6th different drop in and the woman said "he feeds really fast. He doesn't need that long"

Both my girls were late and dropped centiles. One was a very efficient feeder like your dd but wouldn't ever go more than 2.5/3 hours between feeds the other was a wee grazer and hardly seemed to go off the boob! At least she sounds like she is getting the fore and hind milk and if She is happy and content then just go with it.

I was told it's normal for bf bavies to go up centiles but then settle on their birth centile.
my ds was only 9th centile when born but went up to 25th and then back down to 9th and that's where he settled (and he never had feeding issues) hv said this movement was normal.

My Dd is a really efficient feeder and can drain a boob in 5 mins!

Thank you everyone!

She's actually just been really sick and she's hot. So that might explain our particularly difficult week!