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Parenting

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Original poster

Rampant feeding in newborns...

13 replies

Sickboy · 27/10/2004 20:00

Agh. Our 6-day-old, Josh, is sending my poor wife loopy. He's been feeding voraciously for the past two days. She can hardly put him down before he cries and wants another feed.

Here's an aaaaaage-old question for ya:

Is this normal?

We also have a four-year-old and I don't remember this happening with him.

Although perhaps I've repressed it.

Oh - supplementary question:

When does it stop? When does he settle down and decide he's getting plenty of nourishment from each feed and that it's maybe time for a two or three-hour nap?

Bleeeurgh.

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hercules · 27/10/2004 20:06

What about introducing a dummy?

motherinferior · 27/10/2004 20:09

I have a horrible feeling that pretty well all awful behaviour in newborns is normal. Which is not much help. Like Hercules, I'd suggest a dummy. You may (or may not) regret it later but hell, tomorrow is another day, my dear.

handlemecarefully · 27/10/2004 23:15

Totally normal, and if your wife is breastfeeding its nature's way of increasing milk supply. It's a pain isn't it - can literally be just 60 minutes between feeds at times eh?

From memory I think for both my two it started to settle down after about 6-8 weeks.

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Clayhead · 27/10/2004 23:17

I agree with HMC, both of mine started to settle at 6-8 weeks. It sounds perfectly normal to me, in my expereince, as HMC says, he's getting a lovely milk supply going for future use!!

I think you may have repressed it...now you know why!

Good luck

linnet · 28/10/2004 00:00

My dd2 fed every hour on the hour for the first few weeks. dd1 never did that so it was quite a shock to my system. We introduced a dummy at 6 days but she never really took to it and once she'd found her thumb the dummy was redundant.

Chuffed · 28/10/2004 09:14

This started at 3wks for me and continued to 6-8wks. I actually felt that all I did all day was feed dd. It will pass...just remember to spoil your wife by getting drinks and keeping her company as it can be really lonely just sitting down and feeding all day.

stringbean · 28/10/2004 09:21

Yup, I had this too. Dd is now four weeks old and fed ravenously for the first ten days, especially in the evening and at night, so much so that I averaged about two hours sleep a night at most for that time. She's since settled down and will sleep for a 4-5 hour stretch at night, but will feed a lot in the evening if I don't get enough into her during the day. If you think about it, your baby will have lost a fair bit of body weight (I think about 10% is usual) and has to make it up somehow. I can't remember such excessive feeding in my first child either, but was probably so shell-shocked by the whole thing that I don't suppose it would have struck me as unusual. Hang in there, it will get better - honest.

vicdubya · 30/10/2004 21:52

Totally normal I'm afraid. Josh is just getting the supplies in. My son did hourly feeding one day a week every week for the first 8 weeks (it was always on a Thursday?!), and two hourly on the other days.
I agree, be nice to your wife & get her drinks & snacks & make sure the TV remote is handy, so she hardly has to move off the sofa.

If mine's anything to go by Josh will be piling on the lbs and very contented, so don't worry

Merlot · 30/10/2004 21:55

Agree, 'twas my experience too - never off the boob!

highlander · 31/10/2004 17:40

I've got a 7wk old and he needed fed every hour for the first 2 wks. It was a pattern of feeding for 30 mins, sleeping for 1hour, feeding....
He put on a pound a week until 6 weeks and grew almost 1cm every week as well!

Please don't give him a dummy - he's feeding cos he's growing (I'm assuming he's not just tickling the niplle!). When's he's older and stronger he'll be more efficient at extracting milk and the feeds will shorten and sleep times lengthen!

It is a drag - make sure you pamper your wife. What a lovely DH you are writing in to her some advice!

highlander · 31/10/2004 17:42

aaargh, still got a sleep-deprived brain! That should be:

what a lovely DH you are writing in for her for some advice

SofiaAmes · 31/10/2004 22:36

My ds bfed every 2 hours day and night for the first 6 months. Then I started solids and did controlled crying. I had to repeat it when he got sick and when travelling, but generaly he slept through the night. Good news is that he is now almost 4 and sleeps like an angel and even a brass band wouldn't wake him once he sleeps.
My dd was much easier and often slept 5 hour straight (even the night she was born) without feeding. Ironically she took a lot longer to settle into sleeping 10 hours straight in a night.

highlander · 01/11/2004 17:26

oh dear, I was a bit smug with that last post, thinking 'thank God that frantic feeding is over'

Guess what - DS is going through a growth spurt and we're back on a 2 hour schedule again - arrrrrgh I'm knackered!!

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