How often does your newborn feed?

[Sweetkat]

There seems to be no pattern with my little one. I am breastfeeding on demand. Sometimes she will go 3/4 hours without feeding and others she will not let go of me for 2 hours. I fed her at 9.30 last night for about an hour, she then woke up at 1.30 in the morning and fed non stop for 2 hours. Every time I tried to put her back in the cot she would start crying. Is there a pattern with your lo or does it really vary??

 

[missk1989]

How old is your lo? It doesnt really become regular until 4-6 weeks.

 

[nzjade]

When my LO was a newborn she fed every 30 mins to 2 hourly during the day (very occasionally every 3 hours) and 3 hourly at night.

 

[Sweetkat]

How old is your lo? It doesnt really become regular until 4-6 weeks.

She is only 8 days old. What I don't seem to understand is why sometimes she will have 30 minutes and be happy and other times it's 2 hours and she cries until I feed her. Does she want the comfort of the sucking (like a dummy) or is she actually hungry?!

 

[Sweetkat]

When my LO was a newborn she fed every 30 mins to 2 hourly during the day (very occasionally every 3 hours) and 3 hourly at night.

But how long did she feed for?

 

[summer rain]

How old is your lo? It doesnt really become regular until 4-6 weeks.

She is only 8 days old. What I don't seem to understand is why sometimes she will have 30 minutes and be happy and other times it's 2 hours and she cries until I feed her. Does she want the comfort of the sucking (like a dummy) or is she actually hungry?!

Sounds completely normal to me for a newborn. My two youngest fed every 3 hours like clockwork but this is unusual-most newborns follow a far more erratic pattern. My others followed a more erratic pattern too xx

 

[Sweetkat]

Thank you - really helpful. What's slightly weird is that sometimes she feeds for 2 hours and sometimes for 20 minutes...

 

[summer rain]

That's not unusual at all either, even FF babies at this stage will feed for varying amounts of time from feed to feed. Even if a baby is comfort sucking it still increases your supply so it's all good xx

 

[Bevziibubble]

That sounds normal for a newborn. My LO fed very regularly but sometimes she would go for hours and then other times she would be attached to the breast for hours! Mostly around every 2 hour though.

 

[Sweetkat]

I just couldn't understand why she was so hungry 1.30 to
3.30 and whether she feeds a lot after a big poo or whether there is no correlation.

 

[missk1989]

I just couldn't understand why she was so hungry 1.30 to
3.30 and whether she feeds a lot after a big poo or whether there is no correlation.

There is probably no correlation. newborns are programmed to cluster feed every now and then which could be your 2 hour feeds. Its totally normal and healthy and serves to build your supply. Every few weeks your lo will have a growth spurt and may have days when she feeds more than others and sometimes more often which is how they tell your body they are growing so you can produce enough milk to feed lo on demand. You just have to go with it in the early weeks and trust your baby when she says she is hungry. So many people said to me that he should only be feeding every 3-4 hours but thats just not the case. Even as an adult i can go 5-6 hours without being hungry but then stuff my face all night!

 

[CatherineK]

Completely normal and healthy. Those long random cluster feeds are natures way of encouraging your body to get ready for a growth spurt or development leap. They keep your body and your baby in tune to each other, and won't last forever!

 

[Rato]

Hi! My little girl is a little bit like your baby - she doesn't really have a pattern. She is 3 weeks old now and in the beginning she was feeding every 4 hours, however she could go on for 5 hours without feeding, but sometimes she'd demand it every 2 hours. Since last week she started feeding every 2 hours in general, but sometimes every hour and other times she can go 3+ hours without feeding... I guess it just depends? Maybe some babies are more regular than others?!

Good luck xx

 

[Sweetkat]

Thank you for your replies. She was pretty much feeding all day yesterday (with a 2 hour gap) and every time I took the breast away she would cry. But she only woke up a couple of times for short feeds at night, so that was a definite bonus