Bf question from a newbie on how often

[Mrs Doddy]

Got a bf question for you - mw said to me to put baby to breast every 2 ish hours even if it doesn't ask, that's ok in the day but do you do that at night to .. So setting an alarm clock and waking baby up ??

 

[Jayneypops]

No my MW and breastfeeding support worker both said not to wake a sleeping baby and ive never heard of a MW advising to put the baby on the breast whether they "want it or not".
Seems odd. I know the recommended time between feeds is 2-3 hours but most experts now advise baby led feeding. So basically you put baby to the breast as and when they want it. Sometimes that might be every 1 hour (during growth spurts etc) and other times they may go 3-4 hours. My MW did say a newborn shouldn't really go more than 4-5 hours between feeds but on her 1st night my LO slept for 6 hors so they're all different.

 

[Mrs Doddy]

That's what I thought ... Maybe she meant to get the supply going to start with ??

 

[Jayneypops]

That's what I thought ... Maybe she meant to get the supply going to start with ??

Maybe? Although saying that in the first few days my LO was on the boob more often than 2 hourly which my MW said was her way of getting my milk in. She basically cluster fed for 8 hours one day and I had to just keep switching breasts! Hard work.
I dont think you can really stick to a "schedule" at such a young age.
OP should maybe get a 2nd opinion or bit of advice from a support group/worker. Mine was a god send.

 

[HappyHome]

Due to Jessica having slight jaundice I must wake her every 4hrs regardless, I haven't actually had to though as she wakes on her own before this.
She tends to feed every 3 hrs roughly, it doesn't always work like that, sometimes she has a mini cluster session.
In the first few days you may have a sleepy baby that does do long stretches without BF which as far as I am aware is ok (though like I said my MW advice was for jaundice)

 

[halullat]

Similar to HappyHome my LO had mild jaundice so did have to wake him every 3 hours to feed but once it cleared up the midwife said not to anymore and feed him when he wants it. So I would ask another opinion too x

 

[NoodleSnack]

They say there's no need to wake LO up at night once he's gained his birth weight back. I don't like the idea of mine going more than 4 hour without a feed though, but he always woke himself up for it so I never had to.

There are some who think bf at night/early morning is the best way to establish milk supply.

 

[Marythefairy]

My lo has lost too much weight and I am currently on a feeding plan from mw supposedly as lo is very sleepy in the day and will wake for a few sucks then go back to sleep. So I try to encourage her to wake up by putting some expressed milk on her lip and changing her bum doing skin to skin etc. But I have found that you just cannot wake my lo if she doesn't want to there's no way!! Last night she fed much better than the day so I think she's just night feeder. I'm gonna trust her but keep encouraging at the same time just to see if she fancies it if that makes any sense. Probably not after a night of no sleep!

 

[patch2006uk]

Once LO is back up to birthweight, then leave them to sleep. Until then, you should certainly keep disturbing them, as they might be too sleepy to wake for a feed. A newborn won't always wake and cry in hunger, or they will and to drop back off to sleep to conserve energy, which can become a downward spiral very quickly.

 

[liz1985]

When I was in hospital the midwifes said that feeding on demand was also When you felt you needed baby to feed (full, achy breast etc) and also everytime baby wanted to feed. They didnt put a set time on it though.

However my lo lost 10% body weight, was jaundiced and not weeing so I had to then wake her up after a max of three hours even through the night. Maybe they just mean for you to do this until they are back to birth weight. I stopped waking her in the night when she was just over birth weight.

 

[Rachel_C]

With my second, after seeing how sleepy a jaundiced baby can become with my first LO, I made sure to offer the breast around every 2 hours during the day. If she didn't want it that was fine but I at least offered. During the night I offered every 3 hours. If she went for 4 hours without any feeds, I made sure to wake her for a proper feed. That was just for the first week. After that, I was happy to let LO go 5-6 hours overnight because she was feeding a lot during the day (not that she often went 5 hours but I would have let her!).

All babies are different and it can take time to really be able to tell when they're hungry - if they're crying with hunger, you might have missed more subtle clues for quite a while. In that first week when baby can be sleepy and you don't know their cues yet, I felt it was best to offer rather than waiting. Not really because I didn't trust my baby to know when she was hungry - I did - but because I didn't trust myself to be able to pick up on all her cues!

I also think it's worth checking the baby's nappy that often anyway - every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night - because newborns can do lots of little meconium poos that don't really smell. Until LO starts pooing more predictably, you'd probably want to be up every 3 hours during the night anyway - you may as well offer a boob at the same time. If you don't, you KNOW you'll just doze off after checking the nappy and they'll cry for milk

 

[Popples1]

Similar to HappyHome my LO had mild jaundice so did have to wake him every 3 hours to feed but once it cleared up the midwife said not to anymore and feed him when he wants it. So I would ask another opinion too x

I'm on a feeding plan like this at the moment - he's slightly jaundiced and very sleepy. It's nerve wracking trying to get food into him when he's half asleep.