How long is average for newborns to feed for?

[Loozle]

I know that this could be a "how long is a piece of string?" type of question..
But how often and for how long do newborns feed on average?

My Lo is literally feeding for hours at a time. She falls asleep when feeding so I unlatch her and wind her which then wakes her up and she starts crying and turning her head with her mouth open looking for the breast, even trying to latch onto my arm/neck etc

Does it make a difference that she was induced early and born at 37+1?

I wondered if she was doing it to bring my milk in then calm down but it came in last night and she's still the same

I'm just wondering if it's normal I suppose..?

 

[luna_19]

Normal my lo fed for hours and hours too

 

[noon_child]

Normal. Smaller babies tend to get tired quicker too so they take fewer deep sucks, do lots of lazy sucking and fall asleep before full. You can try things like breast compressions or switch feeding to keep LO sucking if you are concerned by her nappy output or weight gain, but it sounds like you are doing a great job so far!

 

[itsnowmyturn]

Sounds like when my daughter was newborn, she only fed for 3 to 7 minutes (I timed it because she was having problems and we were in hospital for an infection), in a 12 hour period she fed 14 times!!! I was exhausted. I did resort to expressing and bottle feeding her so that she would get more and I could get some sleep, she wasn't gaining weight and they were monitoring closely, still are now at 6 weeks. I seriously believe 37 weeks shouldn't be considered term, my daughter acted very much like a premature baby with her feeding, she still only feeds for 10-20 minutes a time now and doesn't get a great latch (however she has a definite lip tie and possible tongue tie.

I think the difference is that my lo was falling asleep and staying asleep not searching for food again for another hour or so. What methods have u tried to wake while they are still on the Breast? I find now just giving her a pat on the back or rub just like when winding her but softer wakes her enough to have a few more sucks, I tend to let her snooze for a minute afterall it must be pretty tiring on their little jaw.

BTW I find it hilarious when my lo tries to latch in places she shouldn't, she got a bloody good latch on my chin a few times and tried her hardest to get milk lol. She's tried on cheek and nose too lol

 

[staralfur]

Yep, normal. Even though your milk is in she still has to build your supply. There will be several growth spurts between now and when your supply regulates.

 

[_Meep_]

itsnowmyturn - I was just posting a long reply to someone about this. With lip tie there is almost always tongue tie, usually posterior, often invisible.

I would get this checked out and treated straight away. My daughter and I suffered with it for 4.5 months before someone finally helped us. It didn't improve with time in the slightest.

Don't want to worry you at all as the problem is easily fixed, especially as your baby is still young, but I would hate for someone else to go through what we have so I am making it my life's mission to make as many people aware as possible of the difficulty a posterior tie can cause.

Good luck.

 

[noon_child]

I just wanted to add that the frequency and length of feeds is not a good way to discover if there are any feeding problems. A baby can be on the boob often and doing a great job getting all she needs, or a baby can be on the boob often and not getting enough (like my LO and the pp's). Nappy output, weight gain, nipple shape after feeds and your own pain/lack of pain are MUCH better indicators.

If you are pain free (ish) and LO is having lots of wet and dirty nappies and gaining weight (after the initial loss) and back to birth weight by day 14 then it sounds like her frequent feeding is what she needs and you are doing all you can to help her meet that need. If however there are any problems with any of those things then that is the time to seek support from a lactation consultant to see what could be improved.

 

[Loozle]

Thank you so much for all of your comments ladies! Baby seems to be latched on well, I'm not having any breast or nipple pain. She's just been weighed less than an hour ago by the midwife and she has lost 10 grams since birth (today is day 5). She's having plenty of wet/dirty nappies so that's not a concern.

If she needs to feed this frequently than that's what we will do, I just wanted to check that it's normal I guess - general new mum paranoia!

 

[itsnowmyturn]

10g loss is really good, my lo went down 260g by day 4. Sounds like ur doing just great

 

[luna_19]

Wow weight sounds awesome! My lo lost 240g by day 4 then slowly started gaining and was back to birth weight at 13 days. Keep up the great work