Daughter feeding every 2 hours at 3 weeks

[Michelle1704]

My daughter was quite small when she was born so I was encouraged to feed her every 3 hours which was fine, but since yesterday she has been waking up grumpy and crying every 2 hours to feed. I'm wondering whether this is normal around 3 weeks? And if so how long does it last? I don't mind at all during the day, but I'm only getting a few hours of broken sleep in the eve.

 

[Literati_Love]

Yes this is normal. The newborn sleepiness may have worn off and now she realizes how hungry she really is. Frequent nursing has health benefits for baby and some babies prefer this to going longer for a larger feed. It could be a growth spurt and only last a few days or your baby may be a frequent feeder. My baby nursed every hour until 2.5 months old. Now at almost 4 months she nurses every 2-3 (mostly every 2) hours and I count myself lucky. Also- just be patient with nighttime. She will eventually go longer at night.

 

[sue_88]

It's normal. Sleep doesn't really exist with a newborn breastfed baby.

Go with it, your baby knows what she's doing. She doesn't need a timed schedule.

 

[ready4num2]

Oh yes deff normal! My DD would feed every hour if not sooner! She's gotten better and will go longer now.

 

[staralfur]

Yep, the first six or so weeks are pretty full-on... my LO fed constantly at 3 weeks old. Some babies just have a few days or a week of clusterfeeding during growth spurts, some (like my LO) pretty much just have one loooong growth spurt for the first two months.

 

[SarahBear]

Babies needs vary when it comes to nursing, but with the exception of rare medical issues, babies know when they need to nurse.

 

[SarahBear]

It's normal. Sleep doesn't really exist with a newborn breastfed baby.

Go with it, your baby knows what she's doing. She doesn't need a timed schedule.

Sleep does exist if you sleep when the baby sleeps! At least that's the case with the first one... I'm dreading what sleep will be like with the second one and a toddler!

 

[luna_19]

Normal! Every 3 hours is the bare minimum for ebf babies should be feeding minimum 8 times per day but ideally at least 10-12 times. We did the same 3 hour feedings until my lo "woke up" then he fed every 1-2 hours during the day until probably around 8/9 months. There is also a 3 week growth spurt (and many more.to come) where it is normal for baby to feed pretty much constantly, she is helping establish your supply so feed feed feed

 

[joo]

Yes it is normal. My daughter fed every two hours until she was four or five months old, then every two and a half hours for a couple of weeks and then three hours until she started solids at six months. Then as she went from one meal to two to three the feeds then gradually stretched out some more, although when we started weaning it still felt like I was constantly feeding her as if I wasn't giving milk then I was prepping food, giving food and then clearing up before milk again lol. As for sleep, I ended up giving a dummy at two weeks because the cluster feeding beat me, but she started stretching out night feeds longer than day feeds at about 10 weeks so I was getting four to six hours stretch of sleep. I know at the time I found it hard and exhausting and each difficult patch seemed to last forever when in reality it was only a week or two. But I have now been breastfeeding my daughter for almost 22 months and it really does get easier. Good luck xx

 

[Zephram]

Yes, it's normal. My LO fed every two hours at that age too. Just try to rest during the day when you can, it will pass.