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!

Totally normal. My daughter fed round the clock on day 2. It settled a bit when my milk came in on day 4 but she still liked to cluster-feed all evening for a few weeks. 3-4 hours is not realistic for a newborn still on colostrum. Maybe the midwife meant as a minimum.

Just to add I was over the moon the other night when DD went 4 hours between feeds as it’s so very rare. Even during the day she eats food or has a breast feed more regularly than every 3 hours. She is 14 months.

She was 4 months the first time she went hours between feeds, the next night she went 4.5 hours and the next night she went 5 hours and then she was back to 3 hours from start of one feed to the start of the next feed. It was enough to kick start the return of periods.

I don't think my six month old has ever gone four hours except at night! He can go three hours during the day now (but has solids twice a day).
I remember once in the early days he fed every single hour for a day, I'd lost a whole kg the next day!

I recommend coconut oil for sore nipples, I found it loads better than Lansinoh.

Leaving sore nipples exposed to air after feeding really helped mine. Also some expressed breast milk helped heal them up. Might take a couple of weeks but they will toughen up!

As everyone else says, absolutely normal and....well done, you're doing a fantastic job! As for the nipple soreness, Google 'laid back breastfeeding', otherwise known as 'biological nurturing'. It's really interesting to read about newborns using their natural reflexes to seek the breast, and the self-seeking, plus gravity itself in that position, can help with a really deep latch (the deeper the better for preventing pain and really effective feeding).

Also, try hand expressing a little colostrum or breast milk onto and around your nipples after each feed, as this will be very healing and soothing x

Completely normal. You will probably have days when she is going through a growth spurt when she will feed that many time in one evening!

Babies need to eat nearly constantly in the early days. Their stomachs are super tiny. You can look up a guide to newborn stomach size online and it’s quite illuminating.

She is getting the food she needs and establishing your milk supply. It calms down eventually. Just give it time. For now, accept that you are doing exactly what she needs.

I feel much more reassured! Her poos are turning yellow-green now and still pretty regular so I think she's definitely getting everything she needs. We had the health visitor round today and she did upset me a bit - she said that if I want to keep my sanity, I should start pumping ASAP but when I told her my concerns about that possibly affecting my supply, she didn't seem too concerned. Just said it'll be helpful if I want a drink or to sleep, which I totally get (and planned on getting a pump in a few weeks) but day 3 before my milk even comes in seems way too soon for that....I'm possibly just being hormonal but it frustrates me that I seem to get so much conflicting advice from professionals!

Pumping won’t do anything but increase your supply (certainly shouldn’t decrease it) but you don’t sound like you have a supply problem. I wouldn’t be giving a bottle to such a young baby personally - I think the official advice might be to wait until 6 weeks but I have a feeling we introduced bottles at 4. Ignore the HV, sounds like you’re doing well.

You have had poor advice twice - get connected to your local bf groups as the people associated with them will be more consistent.

It sounds like everything is going really well

This sounds pretty normal. Shes trying ro bring you're milk in so feeding lots to increase your supply. Try not to get too hung up on how much shes feeding and whether thats 'normal'. I would feed both of mine every time they squeaked. For the sore nips, try working on getting a nice deep latch, you can find some vids on you tube. Biological nurturing positions are great for helping you get some rest whilst feeding. Look after your back. I second la leche. They have a phone line for advice and the local groups are offering zoom support. If you can stick with it, it gets super handy once they are older. I fed my first til 2.5 and my second for a year , alrhough would happily have fed longer if she'd kept going.

Most HVs and midwives have v little training on breastfeeding. Seek out a lactation conultant or a breastfeeding cafe for consistent advice

very normal, congratulations youre doing an amazing thing! It does get easier, babies tummies grow quickly and can accommodate more milk and so feeds will be less regular in time. Well done mama.

No need to pump, OP, unless you’re planning to decant milk into a bottle, but why give yourself twice the work? Once breastfeeding is established it’s so efficient.