Constant feeding

Sallyrose · Jan 12, 2010 10:24AM

I have a 1 week old baby who seems to want to constantly feed. half of the time she feeds normally- every two to three hours, for between 30-60 mins. and the other half of the time she will feed for about 30 mins, come off the the breast and fall asleep, and then as soon as i put her down, she crys to be fed again. Before feeding her again each time i try all the other obvious thing like nappy change and winding her, but nothing will stop her crying unless i feed her. This constant feeding has been lasting for over 6 hours at a time, its absolutely exhausting. Am i doing right by keep feeding her everytime she crys to be fed? Is it really possible for her still to be hungrey after 6 hours of this type of feeding?

Chiara · Jan 10, 2010 5:19PM

Hi hun. You poor thing. Recovering from birth and all that goes with the first week is hard enough huh!! I remember my LO did exactly the same. The first night we were home from hospital she fed for 9 hours straight. What I discovered was that she was simply putting in an order for lots of milk. BFing works by demand and supply. The more she asks for the more there is, which is actually a good thing in the long run!! I tried so hard to not feed her all the time. Especially with various bottle fed family members around me saying "oh, just put her on a bottle" but actually, when I gave in eventually and just did what she wanted, life was much better. But it's so hard to be doing this....make sure you eat as and when you fancy, drink loads and PLEASE do what I didn't do and sleep when your baby sleeps. Has your midwife shown you how to feed whilst lying down. This was a life saver for me as during mamouth feeding sessions I could still sleep.

You're doing such a brill job, honestly. I had such a hard time with recovery from birth and then crazy feeding patterns and mastitis, but it's all so worth it, and it really wont last forever. Honestly!! Even though it feels like it will. Please feel free to e-mail me if you want. Hope i've been of some help. All the very best and look after yourself. You're really doing a fab job for your baby.
Chiara x

overjoyed · Jan 11, 2010 6:16AM

Ah bless u love, i remember it well.
Its all very normal i havr to say!
Keep feeding on demand (it aint called that for nothin love) she is getting your supply good and strong for herself.
my ds fed every 1.5/2hrs 24hrs a day for 40mins at a time and at about 3/4pm he would just eat for england,till about 10/11pm. At the time i cried so much and hated it,was convinced i didnt have enough milk (why else wud he be on me so long?)but alas its normal cluster feeding and at about 6weeks old it started to change and by 10weeks stopped and he started SLEEPING THROUGHT!!!!
I would recommend u expressing if you can,thats how i got a rest, i expressed a few oz out throughout the day and my husband gave it in a bottle,gradually i cud express more and untill this day (7months on) i still express 8oz and my husband puts ds to bed with it and im free to make tea or watch telly for a bit.
My advice to you is this, get some water,food,remote control,mag/book/phone and a cosy blanket and just go with it,and relax, let someone run around after you, getting you everything you need, it will b totally worth it hun,try to enjoy it and remember you are doing a wonderful thing feeding your baby your liquid gold.
take care and good luck ;\)

Sallyrose · Jan 11, 2010 7:10AM

thankyou both so much for the replies. I'm so glad to here that this type of feeding is normal. I do keep getting people say "put her on a bottle", and other people keep suggesting there is something wrong with my baby or my milk supply. Yesterday was the worst session by far- i fed constantly from 10.30 am until 12.30 midnight. Both me and my husband are exhausted and feel like we're doing a bad job being parents. After reading both of your advise- i will definetely just keep doing what i'm doing. Thankyou xxx

overjoyed · Jan 11, 2010 7:20AM

put him on a bottle was all i ever heard!!!
dont if you want to continue successfully breastfeeding it wud spell the end my love.
oh and there is certainly nothing wrong with your baby/milk supply so long as she is gaining weight and pooing/weeing well.
You r doing the BEST job at being parents,please feel free to ask anything else at anytime x x

babypie · Jan 11, 2010 2:52PM

just to say both of my sons have fed exactly like you describe ie non stop. Just seems to be the way it is with breast fed babies. hang in there as my youngest is now 11 weeks and it is getting much easier. There was many a time with each of them that i could of given up as it can be very demanding bt also very rewarding when it goes well.

Peony1980 · Jan 12, 2010 10:24AM

Hi, not much to add from what the others have said but had to reply as if I had known how normal the constant feeding is when my baby was born it would have saved me so much stress and upset! Forget the feeding every three hours thing - that wont come until a few weeks time. For now feeding is what you will be doing as your full time job!

A couple of tips I can offer is remember you need extra calories when feeding so just keep eating! Don't even worry too much about being healthy right now - just get those extra calories in! Also, if your baby seems to cluster feed at a certain time of day, be ready for it. My bubs liked to feed constantly from 10pm-2am at first which left me in tears so when she slept in the evenings I would sleep too while hubby looked after her so I wasn't quite so tired through the night. She ten changed to 6pm-10pm which wasn't so bad - I just went to bed with her at 10pm to sleep.

And finally - dont fight it! Just feed as your baby wants to and dont try to control it, its only a few weeks I promise. My baby is now 18 weeks and feeds for 15mins every 3-4 hours instead of for 1 hour every 2 hours!

And sorry to keep waffling but if you do decide to express - dont panic if you can't get much, it doesnt mean your supply is low. I could only get about 1oz at a time cos she was feeding so much they were never full! I gave up in the end as found it more stressful - if I wasnt feeding I was pumping!

Good luck and get yourself some good box sets!

Constant feeding

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