Over feeding?

[Chel]

Now, 'they' say you cant overfeed a breast fed baby, so my concern isn't so much that I'm over filling him and risking making him sick or overweight... my concern is that I may be feeding my baby too often.

I feed him whenever he 'asks' to be fed. Although he's only 11 days old, I read his 'feed me!' cues loud and clear. He'll start sucking his fists, then he'll start sucking my skin (or clothes) then he'll start search for the boob... and then he'll start to scream.

Sometimes he wants to be fed after only an hour since his last feed. While I'm happy to follow his desires, as he usually sleeps longer and feeds less at night (sleeps between 2-4 hours at a time) a few people have said to me that I'm feeding him too often.

I'm going to continue to do what I'm doing unless I'm sure that an alternative routine is going to be better for my baby. I just would appreciate wider range of feedback, what do your babies do and how do you handle feeding routines?

 

[XKatX]

Oliver fed constantly when he was first born. He now takes a dummy, although it took a lot of perserverence before he would! This can stretch the feeds out a bit. I also keep im occupied for a bit - walking around and dancing. This seems to ammuse him for some reason!!!
I don't think it is my tactics that have caused all this though - it is just him groeing and changing his needs. His weight is spot on, so I know I have done everything right.
If your LO needs feeding, then feed him. Don't listen to what other people say. You and your baby are the only ones that know what you and your baby needs!

 

[marley2580]

This is totally normal for a BF baby. Kaya would sometimes want fed only 20 mins after she had just been fed. I had in my head that she should only eat every 3 hours and it led to a lot of stress for the first couple of weeks. It's really easy to forgat that a newborn's stomach is the size of a walnut and that breast milk digests in less than two hours. Just go with the flow hun and don't let anyone tell you what you 'should' be doing.

 

[Jemima]

Yes, as others have said, you might feel as though you are feeding ALL THE TIME and nine-BFers will no doubt tell you that you are feeding too often but this is not the case. For the first few weeks, they feed loads and loads. Even now, there are times when Poppy will want feeding just an hour after her last one. Just go with your instinct and follow his cues and you can't go far wrong! Sounds like he is a happy chappy. x