Breastfeeding help, please!!

[otterbaby]

Hello, we welcomed our daughter into the world on Thursday morning. I am attempting to EBF and she is latching well - so said the midwives. The guideline they gave me was that she needed a feed every 3-4 hours. I realise that with BF, I am essentially feeding on demand, and my goodness is she demanding! I'm just wondering if anyone has any input as to whether the below is normal? She is feeding so often, I fear that my breasts aren't producing enough colostrum for her and she's struggling to get enough. Or is this the cluster feeding that happens before your milk comes in? My nipples are very tender, even with loads of nipple cream between feeds 😓

So between 7am this morning and 9pm tonight, she's had:

-25 min feed
-11 min feed
-24 min feed
-29 min feed
-35 min feed
-15 min feed
-38 min feed
-9 min feed
-43 min feed
-25 min feed

Is this excessive or normal? This doesn't even cover a 24 hr time period. I am switching breasts between feeds and sometimes even during with the longer ones.

Thanks for your help!

This is normal, really normal!

I’m sorry there’s no f2f support at the moment. I only managed with my lockdown baby as a family member is a lactation consultant. My baby is six months old and only now starting to go three hours between feeds, and he’s weaning!

The cluster feeding now brings your milk in properly. Relax, stay fed and hydrated and sleep when you can. Congratulations!

Very normal! She’s working to bring your milk in. Both colostrum and breast milk are made to exactly meet baby’s needs with very little waste so they will need more again quite skin after, plus tummies are tiny at that age (where babies are bottle fed and not paced their tummies stretch hence a lot of bottle fed babies taking a lot and stretching out linger). The short term pain is worth it for convenience and health benefits to baby imo

Feed off both breast per feed, it is very very normal (most newborns feeding every four hours are too sleepy and not feeding well).

How are your nappies - amount of poo / colour

When my nipples were sore a mix of lanisoh and breast shells to keep anything from touching them helped hugely altho I needed a latch tweak - went to a local help group and sorted it

Normal. Try some hydrogel pads and keep your nipples exposed to the air too. Keep working on improving your latch, it’s very unlikely to be perfect yet.

Your doing an amazing job.

You’re

Congrats on your baby!

That looks pretty normal to me though I'm wincing in sympathy with your poor nipples 😅 DS didn't feed quite that often in the first few days though he fed for over an hour at a time sometimes, so probably about the same amount of time overall. On day 3 (I think) he fed for about 4 hours almost nonstop, my milk came in that night.

Does your baby seem content at the end of a feed? Does she fall asleep when eating & get that lovely milk drunk face? Are you getting wet nappies? If yes I would assume she's getting enough.

I found La Leche League incredibly helpful & supportive with breastfeeding. There's loads of info on their website and I think most local groups are doing regular zoom meetings. Good luck

Very normal. Not sure when the nipple soreness disappears but it definitely does, just hang in there. I’ve got a record on my phone somewhere of DS feeds at the beginning, I’ll dig it out.

Oh and congratulations

Normal when feeding is going well. Plenty of Lansinoh on,air them as well and if they are still sore there’s other things you can get, silver somethings. I’ve got nipples like old boot leather now but first time round it was about two weeks when they stopped hurting.

Congratulations on your new baby, and yes, perfectly normal. Breast milk is more easily digested than formula and they feed little and often. It can be sore at first but will get better. I found lansinoh ointment to be the best, and their breast pads are really soft and comfortable. Make sure that you have a couple of 'nests' where you can feed in comfort with drinks, snacks, blankets & the remote control within reach. Breastfeeding takes a lot of committent and a lot of time and isn't as easy as it could be if more people did it and more help was out there.

I used to find 3am the worst time - so tired and so alone, but there's lots of mums out there all doing the same, you're not alone.

There will be times when you feel as if you do nothing but feed, and times when you think that your boobs are going to explode when baby sleeps a little longer than normal. Good luck and don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

This was day 5 and I think my milk had come in for the most part by then:

00:20 R 2 min
00:25 L 1 min Total 3
03:13 L 7 min
03:29 R 8 min
03:50 L 3 min Total 18
05:10 R 6 min
05:21 L 3 min
05:43 L 3 min
06:03 R 5 min
06:11 L 3 min Total 20
07:01 L 3 min
07:12 R 5 min
07:22 L 5 min
07:30 R 4 min Total 17
08:56 L 6 min
09:05 R 6 min Total 12
10:10 R 2 mins
10:17 L 7 min Total 9
11:24 L 5 min
11:35 R 4 mins Total 9
12:00 R 6 mins
12:09 L 4 mins
12:16 R 2 mins Total 12
12:35 L 5 mins
12:40 R 3 mins Total 8
15:40 L 8 mins
15:52 R 5 mins Total 13
18:15 L 15 mins
18:45 R 12 mins Total 27
19:52 L 6 mins Total 6
20:00 L 12 mins
20:20 R 4 mins Total 16
21:45 L 5 mins
22:00 R 5 mins Total 10
23:00 L 10 mins

Congratulations!! That's totally normal; settle in with snacks and a few box sets and enjoy xxx

Oh you've all made me feel so much better! I've just done my first middle of the night Amazon purchase - hydrogel pads, shields and some lanisoh (I have some organic nipple cream but sod that).

Plenty of wet and dirty nappies and definitely some milk drunk faces! Dirty nappies are still black with dark green in. Sometimes I will feed her and she'll act like she's finished and 5-10 mins later want to be straight back on. I'm going to ask my health visitor to assess my latch again because I'm not entirely convinced it's correct.

Thanks all you lovely people.

Whichever professional is saying a newborn BF baby only needs a feed every 3-4 hours needs reporting! Madness.

You are doing fantastically!!

For the first few months of life it is completely normal for babies to feed every 2 hours, sometimes even more frequent, and as many posters have said it’s all about building up your supply. The more your baby feeds the more milk you will make. Feeding on demand is exactly what you should do.

My first son had to have his feeds monitored as he was jaundiced and sometimes he fed 15-16 times in 24 hours, sometimes up to 40 minutes at a time. It’s draining but necessary.

Congratulations on your new baby, nest in with her and just let her feed when she wants for as long as she wants

@otterbaby

Oh you've all made me feel so much better! I've just done my first middle of the night Amazon purchase - hydrogel pads, shields and some lanisoh (I have some organic nipple cream but sod that).

Plenty of wet and dirty nappies and definitely some milk drunk faces! Dirty nappies are still black with dark green in. Sometimes I will feed her and she'll act like she's finished and 5-10 mins later want to be straight back on. I'm going to ask my health visitor to assess my latch again because I'm not entirely convinced it's correct.

Thanks all you lovely people.

I feel your pain its hard work at the start!! Nipples will feel better soon I promise. Sometimes the milk will get baby sleepy so they'll come off after a short time and then want feeding again soon after so it might not be a problem with babies latch.

When my milk was coming in and my nipples were really sore my midwife said 20 minutes is plenty for baby to feed and don't kill yourself trying to do more han that when you're in pain. This was helpful for me to be able to keep going, although feeding every 1 to 2 hours, sorry totally normal when they are that little. My 6 week old still doesn't often go more than 2 hrs between feeds.

So you are day two and already your nappies are going from black to greenish black which is good. You are getting lots of nappies and more than one Poo which is good.

I know it feels bonkers that this is normal but it really is - little and often is the magic

Totally normal. It does calm down eventually but in the early weeks u really do have to hang in there! If you have a partner / husband, they need to step up by bringing you stuff e.g food and drink and doing as many nappy changes as poss. Phone the National breastfeeding helpline for support

Very normal. 3-4 hrs isn’t very often at all. My 5 month old still eats every 2-3hrs.

And, the tracking of feeds, I used an app to track the first 3 weeks, and I can’t tell you how stressful it made it! I would panic baby ate less minutes than the day before or at wrong time or wrong gap. Once I ditched the constant logging of data it was much more relaxing.
He’s now 5 months and growing well so he must have been taking in what he needs over the last few months

FYI I don’t think my milk came in until day 3/4 and he was fine on just tiny bits of colostrum I guess he had. Their stomach is about a cherry stone at a week old so filled quickly

Normal.
2-3 hourly for breast fed baby they also cluster feed so constantly on at times. It's like putting a food order in for tomorrow.
5-40 min is normal feeding time.
They should have fast sucks to begin with then slower and you should notice swollowing then often fluttering at end of feed ( don't assume because they may appear asleep that they have finished they are getting high fat milk) .
Check you have regular wet and dirty nappies, poo should look like chicken korma.
Baby should come off breast naturally on their own, do offer 2nd breast if still hungry.
Sit back ensure you have drink and food within reach and welcome to motherboard X

Totally normal. It will ease up op. As a mum of 5 my best advice is to try and stay in bed as much as possible for the first couple of weeks.

Very normal. Your nipples will adjust very quickly. Congratulations on the baby!

Another one saying normal! Mine fed every 1-2 hours. Put your feet up and feed, feed, feed. Eat well, drink lots and don’t worry about trying to get too much else done. X

Newborns have teeny tiny stomachs. Currently your baby’s is the size of a ping pong ball. So feeds little and often are SO normal. 15 mins quite often is well within the realms of normal.

Fwiw Dd didn’t start going 3-4 hours between feeds until she was 5-6 months, no way a newborn can go that long.

Newborns feed for far much more than just sustenance. Breastmilk is a drink, a meal, comfort, safety, a way to be close to your heartbeat, your smell is very soothing to her.

She doesn’t know she’s not a part of you yet, so the new sudden bright lights and sounds and different temps and feelings like hunger and cold and scary for a newborn. So she feeds because that’s where she feels safest. It’s all part of the 4th trimester.

As long as she’s having wet and dirty nappies, is alert when she’s awake (even for 5 mins!) and her soft spot isn’t sunken she is getting enough milk.

3-4 hours?!? What!!!! Definitely not! My DD was exactly the same, actually every 15-30 mins. Don't worry about it at all, totally normal!