Breastfeeding routine confusion

[ButterscotchWhip]

Help me, MNers!
My 5 week old dd is EBF and I’ve been feeding on demand. She’s been eating every hour (exhausting) or 1.5 hours in the day, but miraculously goes for 3 hours on the dot each night. She’s been spitting up a bit and getting cranky at the boob, particularly in the evening, so I took her to the paediatrician.

He told me off, basically. She’s put on too much weight too quickly and the generous gobbling is making her reflux. He said I must get to a 3 hourly feed routine, only ever feed for half an hour each time, and only feed from one breast per session.

She simply will not go that long, so I’ve tried to aim for every 2 hours, at least for now. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Today I’m back to every hour or so. I just can’t not feed her when she’s crying and crying (and I think I know hungry cries vs reflux discomfort - my son (FF) had chronic silent reflux and I know the signs pretty well).

Also, sometimes she wants to ‘finish’ a boob and then get some more off the other. She is inconsolable til she gets this.

Spent many an hour attempting to get her to take a dummy but she’s not into it. Will keep trying.

I can’t get my head around stopping a baby who isn’t yet satisfied from finishing her feed.
But equally, I do want to get to a routine and for less obsessive boobing from DD.

What to do? Any thoughts gratefully received.

The information the paediatrician has given you is very outdated - current advice is that you should bf on demand and that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby. You also won't have caused any reflux!

When babies go through growth spurts they will feed more. They will use the milk to help them grow, and that will signal to your body to create more milk. There is a big growth spurt often at around 5-6 weeks and cluster feeding for a week or so around then is common.

The kellymom website is excellent, and if there are any breastfeeding sessions local to you there will often be people who can help.

I know it's exhausting in the early days, but hang in there. Before long you'll both be pros at this breastfeeding thing and she will become far more efficient at feeding, so she will need to do it less, and take more at each feed.

Speak with a lactation consultant if you want breastfeeding advice rather than a paediatrician, that advice is ridiculous and outdated.

Please feed your baby as and when she is hungry.

Yes, on demand feeding when exclusively breast fed is best in those early weeks. I’d not try and establish a routine until around 3mos old at the earliest and only then if they’re going to a nursery.

A little bit of spitting up is normal. They can also be tired and hungry in evening so cranky at the boob. If it’s reflux, what can help is to burp them in the middle of a long feed so the trapped air doesn’t build up.

Is this doctor from the stone ages? His advice is decades outdated, and he's just plain wrong about everything, including her weight gain. Feed your baby on demand and get a new doctor.

Like the other posters said, the advice you have received is very outdated. You cannot over feed a breastfed baby and you really must feed on demand.

Bollocks.

Feed on demand. If she’s going longer at night you are doing something right as it means she is getting enough in the day. The “obsessive boobing” is again entirely normal and it’s how she stimulate supply to keep up with her growth and increasing requirements.

Your paed needs updating. Reflux isn’t taking to much milk, it’s when the muscle at the top of the stomach isn’t mature enough to do its job.

Are you in the us btw? It would be fairly unusual in the Uk to see a paed for spitting up and being cranky- that would be a gp or hv who would weigh, and as long as the weight is going on tell you you’re doing great. Or maybe tell you to try a bottle of formula to see if that “helps”, because generally that is hcp solution to any problem with bf.

Talk to a lactation consultant. She may be showing the first signs of cmpa.

I've nevet met one of those mythical babies who feed every three hours.

Both of mine rarely went longer than 1.5 hrs, unless we were out and about.

That sounds like very poor advice - you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby!

Some babies are just refluxy - it doesn’t mean she’s having too much milk. I would carry on feeding on demand.

No. That's not NHS guidance. Feed on demand, reflux babies actually benefit even more from frequent feeds as otherwise their tummy gets empty and full of acid and they gulp milk and cry and make it worse.

My god! I feel so much better after reading your responses, thank you all very much. I’m going to find a lactation consultant and permanently sack off Dr Dinosaur, as he shall henceforth be known.

@Reallyreallyborednow I’m in London - agree it’s not really a paed problem but I had such a nightmare with ds’ extremely bad reflux I wanted dd seen sooner rather than later.

@BrownEyedSquirrel You could well be right about cmpa. I’ve been dairy free for a few days now anyway because of the reflux.

Thanks again x

Was your paediatrician a man? Also
paediatric doctors literallly have no training in breastfeeding nor do GPs

Feed on demand and ignore the shit advice you were given. Feed from as many boobs as you like, never disrupt a happy baby if u and they are comfortable

I literally pull my boob out whether baby seems cranky sometimes that’s 20 mins after last feed sometimes that’s 3 hrs sometimes they sleep on the boob sometimes they don’t

You cannot overfeed a breast fed baby

I have very healthy and happy older children for whom weaned off the boob not long after 1st birthday who are happy healthy and no worries. Had no routine with them when was breast feeding and now as weaned toddlers they sleep 7pm- 8/9am every night with no wakes. No strict routines followed it just all falls into place as they get older.

So yes goodby dinosaur hello relaxed mum doing whatever she and baby wants to stay happy!!! Good luck!!!!