8 week old still feeding every 2 hours or less and won't sleep in cot

[haleysunshine32]

Hi everyone,
First time mum here... I've been exclusively BF since my little girl was born, and she still feeds around every 2 hours (usually just under that through the day) for only about 10 minutes a feed. She always seems pretty satisfied and I let her feed until she's finished herself, so I don't think I have a supply issue or anything, but I just keep seeing lots of advice and other mums suggesting by 8 weeks the feeds should be spacing out to every 3-4 hours, and I'm just wondering why my baby is still such a constant eater! We've also been co-sleeping since she was about a week old as she has never settled in her own cot. She'll usually cry within 5 minutes of being putt down, and if not, just lay awake with all 4 limbs constantly moving for the entire time she's laying there, and I start to worry she'll get overtired as she just won't fall asleep on her own. Again, been seeing lots of women saying they have already started a bedtime routine at 8 weeks, and it makes me wonder if I'm not doing the right things!

Anyone experienced the same?I know she's very much still a newborn and we don't need to rush things at all, I'm just starting to wonder when things will get a little easier and whether we should be a introducing a routine/plan for her at this stage...

Hi Haley, you must be so tired! I’ve had two children, the first nice and easy, the second just like your little girl. I was looking forward to getting a routine second time around, but DS was having none of it.
I never did work out the answer. It was an exhausting few months I’m afraid. Feeding on demand, co-sleeping... I’m convinced that there never was anything I could do but follow my baby’s lead. Just hang on in there and don’t worry too much that others are progressing with routines. Grab sleep whenever you can. X

I had something similar. DD had an undiagnosed tongue tie stopping her feeding properly. She was feeding for a long time but her tongue tie was stopping her from latching properly and getting all the milk so she'd be hungry sooner than expected.

I asked at the hospital if they could check if she had a tongue tie cos I'd been told they can go undiagnosed for years becoming a problem first with feeding then speech

They checked and told me she didn't so went home when discharged.
Unconvinced we went private to get it checked out. They told us she was 90% tongue tied which is unbelievable it wasn't noticed first time round.

We got it sorted there and then and feedings became more spaced out, she began putting on weight faster and we were both much more happy

I'd strongly suggest going to a private place to get it checked out

You’ve just described a perfectly normal baby! I don’t know any 8 week olds that could go without a feed that long unless they are formula fed. It’s healthy for babies to feed often. I think we have this odd conception in the UK that babies should be down for naps in their cot and feeding every 4 hours after only a few weeks. I think that’s because we have a massive formula feeding culture.

If you have Facebook I suggest you follow the milk meg, she helped me understand normal Bf baby behaviour.

DD couldn’t be put down to nap by herself until she was at least 9 months. I know it’s hard but try to enjoy the cuddles!

I have an 8 month old who wakes every 2 hours (some periods wakes every hour), and won’t be put down. Some babies are just like it. It’s shit. It’s really fucking hard. But you’re not doing anything wrong and it’s important to say- don’t compare to other babies!!
Bit of advice tho- does she take any milk from a bottle? I’d try and introduce a bottle maybe once every few days so your partner can do a feed whilst you get a longer break to sleep... my DS stopped taking a bottle after we didn’t bother for a few weeks and has point blank refused ever since, meaning all feeds are my responsibility no mater how tired I am!

We also paid for the private tongue tie fix, also cranial massage also something to remove lactose from breast milk. All to no avail in a difficult baby. To be honest, he’s still skin and bone at 6 years old and still struggles to enjoy eating.

Perfectly normal for a breastfed baby op. Neither of my dds ever went more than two hours between feeds during the day. They would do a six hour stretch overnight by the time they were about 10 weeks I think.

Have you tried swaddling her before you put her down to sleep?

My babies were the same. It was exhausting. Everyone kept talking about ‘getting into a routine’ and I didn’t know how to do this. Felt like I was failing somehow coz I couldn’t make my baby like that and couldn’t get them in a cot no matter what I tried. But now I know that I wasn’t failing at all. You have a baby who loves milk and loves cuddles. Just cuddle her up and try to get as much rest as you can.

Completely normal. Remember to offer both breasts.

It's exhausting but completely normal. And when she's older you'll look back and miss this. I'm currently going through it second time round and appreciating it more as I know it won't last forever and they won't want as many cuddles before you know it! Hang in there. You're doing an amazing job!

@selfsettling3 the advice has changed re offering both breasts. I was told to do that with DD1 but told not to this time!

Your baby is behaving normally op. She is still in the 4th trimester and feels safe and secure being close to you, hearing your voice etc.

The frequent feeding is very normal. Babies nurse for various reasons including pure comfort.

I personally found the 8-12 feeds per 24 hours thing on the nhs (or whatever it was!) unrealistic and when I dug a bit deeper and did my own research realised it's normal for young babies to want to feed more. I fed newborn ds 10-20 times per 24 hours. I know that might sound ridiculous to some but it's what he wanted and once cluster feeding was over and done with he fed much less (it doesn't last forever!).

If in doubt could you phone the National breastfeeding helpline for some support? They are very good.

You sound like you're doing a great job

Well done for persevering. Do you burp her when she comes off? Or ever notice you’re spraying milk? I am on my third and underestimated the necessity of winding a baby, until a big belch comes out (can take 10 mins to achieve). I really wish I knew this earlier as commitment to the burp has really helped my baby settle to feed and go longer between feeds at night. Maybe three and a half hours not nine hours or anything!!

That’s interesting. LLL told me to offer both. I always offer the same boob again a few times until I know she is finished as she keeps rejecting it and then offer boob2. I stopped offering boob2 as she was nolonger interested and then she hit 5 months and was only going an hour and a half between feeds.

@selfsettling3 my baby is only 5 weeks old so maybe it has recently changed? That's the information I was given by my health visitor anyway. But as I say I was always told to offer both with my first

My baby is 4 weeks old and I was told to offer both breasts

Hmm not great that different advice is being given!

Both of my children fed every 2 hours until they were weaned. They did go longer overnight at some point, I can’t remember when. But during the day, 2 hours.

Also I never offered a second breast. The thick stuff that comes after the watery stuff is more filling. Only when cluster feeding did the second one come out but I always classed that as another feed.

There's no universal breastfeeding advice so you probably just both received different opinions from different people.

Generally you follow the baby, so if they have finished/come off/begin to root around for more, try winding and then offering the second side but if they don't want it, that's OK too.

My DD is 6 weeks old and during the day can go 4 hours without a feed but could also feed every 45 minutes for 10 minutes over a 5 hour period. She tends to wake 3 times in the night for feeds, usually one long sleep followed by two short. From what my HV has said, this is all totally normal. She's gaining weight and has cleared her prolonged jaundice so I'm happy to let her do her thing!

Sounds pretty normal to me.

Every baby is different. Feeding every 2 hours is normal, however if she’s only feeding for 10 minutes at a time and falling asleep I’d try and wake her (nappy change, wind her ect) and offer the same breast again for another 5-10 minutes so that she’s getting the more fatty milk, then if she comes off that breast offer the other.

Most babies also don’t like being put down to sleep, so again that’s normal. Best thing to try and do is try to put her down whilst she’s in a deep sleep.

The whole my baby feeds every 3-4 hours ect again may be normal for that persons baby, however you need think of BF like how we eat. Do you go 3-4 hours throughout the day without a drink or snack? Probably not no. So a baby feeding more frequently is then needing a drink/snack ect. Also the first part of the feed is more a watery drink as the feed goes on the milk gets fattier and is the babies equivalent of having a 3 course lunch ect, so yes at times a short feed is what baby will want but in general a longer feed is the more calorific feed.

Also babies can cluster feed and feed more regularly during growth and development spurts, it’s more noticeable in BF babies as they feed more and it’s nature’s way of increasing your breast milk supply.

I could have written this when DD was that age, in fact I think I did write a very similar post here! Worst thing I did was obsess about how often she 'should' be feeding based various so-called expert guides - as someone here told me, those every 3-4 hour guidelines are generally based on FF and can't be applied to BF babies. So I decided to ignore all that, go with the flow and be baby led. She is now 5 months, healthy & happy. Feeds can still sometimes be every 2 hours or less but she can also go much longer. As far as sleeping goes, she will spend most of the night in the cot now but nearly always ends up in the bed at some stage! And will only co-sleep for naps. Decided not to worry about that until she gets to 6 months and we can try non-cry sleep training methods.

Do you have a breastfeeding support group near you? I found the one I went to absolutely invaluable in those early weeks when I felt like I was doing everything wrong!

@benandhollyagaaain the guidance hasn’t changed about offering both breasts, the other breast should be offers once the baby has finished on that breast.

To help him get a balanced meal let him finish feeding from the first breast before offering the second

www.laleche.org.uk/is-my-baby-getting-enough-milk/

@benandhollyagaaain I’d ask your HV her rationale about why she’s telling women not to offer the second breast, it’s totally bonkers advice! if the baby is still hungry after finishing one breast does she expect to leave the baby hungry?