How olong to breastfeed LO for?

[Dani_Ldn]

The midwives keep telling me I must feed him for 40 minutes at a time, but I usually find this very difficult to do every time. LO is only a week old & milk has only just come in on Monday, so he must still be getting used to it himself. I have managed to get him to feed for 40mins a few times, but even then I am not sure how much of that is actually drinking, as opposed to suckling. I can generally get 20mins & will always try to feed him again within 1-1.5 hours to make up the rest of the time. I try all the tricks (stripping him down, tickling toes etc to keep him awake). I just want to know if I am doing something wrong, should I be trying harder to make him stay on for longer? I def do not want to give up bfing, but am so scared that I am not doing it right!

LO is now doing yellowy poo's, not massive amounts, but does poo & wee quite regularly, so I am pretty sure that he is getting enough?

Can anyone please advise?

 

[missk1989]

babies tend to know when they have had enough so if you have offered both sides and he doesnt want anymore then just let him be. As long as heis having enough wet and dirty nappies and is gaining weight there shouldnt be a problem.

 

[mommytobe11]

my LC said when they're newborns, 25 minutes is a great feeding. when i was still in the hospital, LO just kept falling asleep and a nurse told me "you can't make a sleeping baby eat!"

i agree with PP though, look at the diapers and as long as he's having enough wet and dirty ones, he's fine

 

[icklemonster]

Charlotte has never had a feed which has lasted more than 20 minutes! Ever. I have OALD so my milk comes out quickly - now she's never on for more than 10 minutes. She has gone from 28th percentile to 65th percentile so short feeds haven't affecteed her. I've always let her decide how long to feed for, and I thought that was the idea. Each baby will eat at a different pace and your milk will flow differently from every other woman so to put a time on it sounds bizarre to me! Congratulations on the birth of Flynn xxx

 

[Rah]

Dd feeds about 10 mins at a time always has she has never done a 40 min feed ever and we are running along the 75th centile
As long as there are wet and dirty nappies then don't worry

 

[freddie]

As a newborn LO only fed for about 7-9 minutes at a time!! Now he's probably down to about 5 minutes lol... He had gained weight when he had his first weigh in at 5 days old (when they usually expect them to have lost up to 10% of their birth weight!) and is now off the centile chart - at about 110th centile if that existed! So DEFINITELY don't go by a set number of minutes that someone says you should feed for, go by your baby. Be led by him

 

[Dani_Ldn]

Thanks! He def has loads of wet & dirty nappies, no problems there & was less than 10% down on his birth weight at his first check.

How long does/did your newborn leave between feeds? \|He is sometimes is 4 hours between at night, but I don't like waking him, as I have found this makes him harder to get back to sleep.

 

[Rah]

Dd1 was 4 hourly from birth and did a 6 hr stretch from 6 weeks
Dd2 does every combo possible ha ha on average 2.5- 3 hours did a bit of cluster feeding about 5pm for a while as well

I wouldn't wake unless goes over 6 hours feed on demand

 

[Dani_Ldn]

Thanks

It is all so much to learn! Had a great night with Flynn last night, he woke pretty much every 3 hours to feed & went back to sleep relatively quickly...now if only every night could be like this!

 

[susannah14]

It all depends on the baby. I go to support groups where we weigh the baby, feed the baby and weigh the baby again to see how much they ate. There was a mom there who fed her 3 week old baby for literally 5 minutes, and the baby got 2 ounces. Some babies are efficient feeders, so I don't agree with putting a time limit on the feed. It's more about weight gain and wet/dirty diapers, like the other posters said. Good luck!

 

[Sproglet]

My hospital said they like feeds to be anywhere between 5 and 45 minutes, they would only think there was a problem if feeds were much shorter or much longer than that. I have over active letdown too (and had oversupply until around 3 months) and Robyn has never fed for longer than 10 minutes.

 

[laurenandbump]

My LO is now 17 days old. In the hospital I was told she MUST feed at least every 3 hours and she MUST stay on longer than 30 mins.

From about day 6 I gave up and let her sleep until she was hungry over night and I would leave her 4 hours before waking her. Last night I let her sleep 5 hours. I feed on demand, HER demand not the 6million midwives I have seen.

Our feeds last 15 mins on average, she has done 2 45 min feeds in her little life!

She has now settled into a routine of cluster feeding from 6 - 10pm which can be up to two feeds an hour (some only 5 mins long), then we wake her at midnight for a feed and leave her as long as she wants to sleep overnight. During the day she tends to be hungry every 3 hours anyway.

BF is hard enough without the 'advice' of every professional under the sun (which is usually conflicting anyway) clouding your judgement. Your baby is YOUR baby, you know when they are hungry and wet and dirty nappies seem to be the best indicator of how much baby is getting anyway.

 

[lily28]

My hospital said they like feeds to be anywhere between 5 and 45 minutes, they would only think there was a problem if feeds were much shorter or much longer than that. I have over active letdown too (and had oversupply until around 3 months) and Robyn has never fed for longer than 10 minutes.

Thanks for this, same situation and no one thought to tell me that overactive letdown & oversupply would mean shorter feeding times, so I was worried sick.

 

[XJessicaX]

I think it depends on your flow and how well your LO feeds. DD2 only ever feeds for 5 minutes. After the 5 mins are up she has drained a breast and her stomach protrudes! I pumped a breast to see how much I had in there and I managed to get out 7oz so she is guzzling!!