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How much formula??
Can anyone help me?
I am combine feeding as after 20 mins on each breast Imogen is still wanting more, at birth we started by topping her up with 1oz bottles and it got gradually increased to 2oz as she was always hungry due to my milk not come through at that point. Now she is 17 days old and as the HV said to increase time on the breast she is on each one about 25 or so minutes and still wants more, sometimes i only give her 1 breast as feeding takes over the day so i give in and give her a bottle, the most we have given her is 3oz at a time but she would still want more, we would manage to settle her without more though as she is a contented baby. She only cries when really hungry or nappy change.
Last night though was a different story. She was on the breast for what seemed forever but i only gave her 1 as i expressed the other dry. After about an hour she wanted more so we gave her a 3oz bottle and thought that may settle her for about 4-5 hours. then about an hour after that she started searching again and so we gave her a 2oz bottle but after that she created when it had finished. As she had had so much we tried to settle her, changed her bum, checked her temp, gave her cuddles, winded her more etc but nothing would settle her so again we gave in and gave her another 2oz bottle. it got to about 1.30am and in the space of 6 hours she must have had about 7-8oz of milk plus whatever she had got from me and finally settled at 2am this morning. granted she slept right through til 8.30 this morning which was heaven, we fed her and changed her then and she slept right through to 12.30 so we took advantage of the lie-in.
She used to start kicking etc in the womb from 10.30 at night but i used to fall asleep through that so it weren't too bad lol but i just can't believe how much she had last night feed wise. we looked on the internet as we were worried about over feeding her but if she wanted it we thought we would rather her be full than crying, also if she doesn't want it she usually pushes it out with her tongue, we even tried her sucking on her dummy incase she wanted the comfort but that was to no joy either. Yesterday we had to get her stage 2 hungrier babies milk as she was greedy before but last night took the biscuit really lol.
Through the day she goes a good 4-5 hours at a time and sleeps so she is such a good baby but we can't settle her at these times.
Anyone else having this? Am i being paranoid? Am i over feeding her or am i doing what's best for my baby?
xx
I am combine feeding as after 20 mins on each breast Imogen is still wanting more, at birth we started by topping her up with 1oz bottles and it got gradually increased to 2oz as she was always hungry due to my milk not come through at that point. Now she is 17 days old and as the HV said to increase time on the breast she is on each one about 25 or so minutes and still wants more, sometimes i only give her 1 breast as feeding takes over the day so i give in and give her a bottle, the most we have given her is 3oz at a time but she would still want more, we would manage to settle her without more though as she is a contented baby. She only cries when really hungry or nappy change.
Last night though was a different story. She was on the breast for what seemed forever but i only gave her 1 as i expressed the other dry. After about an hour she wanted more so we gave her a 3oz bottle and thought that may settle her for about 4-5 hours. then about an hour after that she started searching again and so we gave her a 2oz bottle but after that she created when it had finished. As she had had so much we tried to settle her, changed her bum, checked her temp, gave her cuddles, winded her more etc but nothing would settle her so again we gave in and gave her another 2oz bottle. it got to about 1.30am and in the space of 6 hours she must have had about 7-8oz of milk plus whatever she had got from me and finally settled at 2am this morning. granted she slept right through til 8.30 this morning which was heaven, we fed her and changed her then and she slept right through to 12.30 so we took advantage of the lie-in.
She used to start kicking etc in the womb from 10.30 at night but i used to fall asleep through that so it weren't too bad lol but i just can't believe how much she had last night feed wise. we looked on the internet as we were worried about over feeding her but if she wanted it we thought we would rather her be full than crying, also if she doesn't want it she usually pushes it out with her tongue, we even tried her sucking on her dummy incase she wanted the comfort but that was to no joy either. Yesterday we had to get her stage 2 hungrier babies milk as she was greedy before but last night took the biscuit really lol.
Through the day she goes a good 4-5 hours at a time and sleeps so she is such a good baby but we can't settle her at these times.
Anyone else having this? Am i being paranoid? Am i over feeding her or am i doing what's best for my baby?
xx
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Replies
One thing I would say is a friend of mine saw a breastfeeding specialist recently because her little boy was constantly hungry and they told her she was swapping breasts too soon. They told her she needed to be feeding from one side for around 45 minutes before swapping over or they don't get the more calorific hind milk which fills them up, they just get the watery fore milk which only quenches their thirst. Try feeding her on one side for longer and maybe she will be more satisfied by it.
I also googled cluster feeding recently after hearing someone refer to it and it sounds very similar to what you described. They fill themselves up taking little top ups in a short amount of time at night and then sleep for a long time. I don't know about you but I would rather spend the entire evening feeding him and then have a proper nights sleep!!
I hope she settles down soon, if you can share tips on how to get him to sleep through the night that would be fab lol!
I have always gone with the if they are screaming/hungry then feed them and if they dont settle, feed them more!!
one idea is to try and feed him more through the day. Maybe every 3 hours so he gets more and increases the supply??
Im sure he will settle down once his growth spurt is over
Gemm x
xxx
Miss I i did think about increasing the breast but at hospital they said 20 mins was ample for her, now you have mentioned 45 mins is about right i will try again (sometimes it feels like BF takes over everything)
You have all reassured me that she is having a growth spurt though and nothing to worry about so thanks ladies