Still feeding 2 hourly at 8 weeks old?

[minties]

Thomas is 8.5 weeks old and still feeds as frequently as...well as he ever has!

He goes 8.5 hours without a feed at night, from 8:00pm to 4:30am, but from then on he feeds 2 hourly, sometimes 1.5 hours.

Everyone keeps telling me he should be feeding every 3-4 hours by now and making me wonder if there is something wrong. I think that it's just how he is, it works for us, so is there any negatives to feeding to often? My HV said that 2 hourly feeds is snack feeding and using me as a dummy at this age.

I have tried spacing a couple of feeds out a bit longer but he just falls to pieces, crying and getting extremely worked up and upset .

He's such a good baby, goes to sleep by himself for his daytime naps now and is around the 50th percentile for weight and height. His poos are always the normal yellow. He sleeps 13 hours a night.

 

[AmeliePoulain]

My 8 week old feeds every 2.5 hours still and the longest she ever goes overnight is 4/5 hours and that is still pretty rare!

In the evening I can tell she is quite often only using me for comfort rather than food but I dont have a huge issue with that at this stage.

Some babies are just 'little and often' eaters and I would say that maybe he is having to feed a lot in the day because he is sleeping through so well at night

 

[Farie]

I know I'm now FFing (so should probably stop loitering in this section!) but Nims the same, she just likes her nomnoms regularly throughout the day (although i'd literally kill to have 12h over night .... whats your secret? Tips? Hints? Magic book/powder/word )
She cant cope with me spacing them out either, it upsets her and ends up throwing the whole day out of balance.

 

[nanomey]

my ds was feeding every 2 hrs (hes about 12/13wks) day and night!! we only just managed to get him to 3/4hr in day and 5/6hr at night - the health visitor also told me i was a ''human dummy'' and that he didnt need to feed so often - also i was practically a zombie only getting 3 hrs sleep a night and having 3 other kids to look after !! ...
but we have only managed to space him out a bit longer (he attually didnt even cry alot but learned to suck his thumb for comfort!)
id say - if hes going so long at night anyway (over 13hrs is absolutely superb!) then feeding a bit more often in the day proberly doesnt matter! if babys happy - and your happy then thats all that matters! xx

 

[vndeb]

Wow my Lo is 11wks and feeds 3-4hrs at night and 2-3hrs during the day. Have started leaving him a little longer during the day until i know for sure he is hungry but still just as often at night, never lasts more than 4hrs without a feed. Must be your LO routine and needs to refill during the day from such a long gap during the night.

 

[Celesse]

There is nothing wrong with frequent feeding, except it can be incovinient for the mother. If you don't find it a problem then there is no problem.

How long do you go without having a drink? I usually have a drink every 1.5-2 hours. Breastmilk is also a drink.

Breastfeeding is also comfort for the baby and if you are happy to keep on providing that comfort then I don't see a problem. Your HV is wrong. He isn't using you as a dummy, other babies are using dummy's as breasts. Comfort sucking is part of breastfeeding, what babies are designed to do and chances are your baby is also getting lots of fatty milk at the same time.

My baby fed at least 2 hourly until she was around 7 months, then she slowly started spacing them out.

 

[kelly29]

yep me too!! its not as often as when she was teeny weeny but still way more than i ever thought lol but she's growing so big so i guess she needs it!! usually she's goodish lol at night until last night....! watch this space lol xx

 

[Tacey]

The advice from your HV makes me so cross! Feeding little and often is great, especially for your supply. Advice suggesting you go longer may even cause your milk to drop, so if you're all happy with the situation, stick with it! Celesse's comment about drinking is such a good one. I would be very upset if anyone refused me a drink when I wanted one. It is perfectly normal and natural for a baby to want to feed often. It sounds like you're both doing well, so stick with it!

 

[Marie1337]

I noticed as soon as he started sleeping for 6 to 8 hours at night he started eating more during the day. He was eating every 3 hours and is now back to every 2. Congrats on having your LO sleep through!

 

[minties]

Thanks everybody, I feel very reassured with all your advice. I have no problem at all feeding him so often, in fact if he ever does go longer than 2 hourly during the day I find myself wishing he'd hurry up and get hungry, haha! I get a painful letdown and leak like crazy on the dot after 2 hours.

And I have no idea why or how he sleeps so well a night. He has his last nap around 3-5pm, then pretty much feeds constantly from 5:30-8pm. I take him into the bedroom (we co-sleep) at 8, and I swaddle him then we sit quietly for about 5 minutes. I'll either hum or do a shh/pat sort of thing and lay him down when he falls asleep, or he'll want to suckle a bit to sleep which I don't mind doing. I have white noise playing in the form of some radio static. I then slowly creep out of the room, close the door then do a happy dance

All that long sleep has it's drawbacks though, he now wakes at 6am demanding a nappy change, and more often than not decides to poo, pee then spew on me during. All his poo builds up while he is asleep and it's explosive!

 

[summer rain]

He is obviously getting all the feeds he needs during the day; hence him going so long at night but feeding more often in the day; this isn't 'snacking' at all. Sounds like your HVs over there are just as 'informed' as ours LOL.

 

[minties]

Oh yes, haha! They are a group of nurses called Plunket, they generally have a pretty bad reputation for upsetting new mothers. I can even remember being a little girl and the plunket nurse coming to see my baby brother and telling my mum that he was mentally handicapped as he hadn't walked or talked and was 2. He was just a slow starter, now he never shuts up at 26 and has an IQ of 152.

Thanks everyone . I'm really glad that this forum is here.

 

[pinkandfluffy]

There is nothing wrong with frequent feeding, except it can be incovinient for the mother. If you don't find it a problem then there is no problem.

How long do you go without having a drink? I usually have a drink every 1.5-2 hours. Breastmilk is also a drink.

Breastfeeding is also comfort for the baby and if you are happy to keep on providing that comfort then I don't see a problem. Your HV is wrong. He isn't using you as a dummy, other babies are using dummy's as breasts. Comfort sucking is part of breastfeeding, what babies are designed to do and chances are your baby is also getting lots of fatty milk at the same time.

My baby fed at least 2 hourly until she was around 7 months, then she slowly started spacing them out.

WSS ^^^^^^^

My LO is 6 motnhs, we are as above post (sorry, NAK )

 

[iHeartbaby#1]

My baby feeds every 2 hours during the day as well. I find i can get him to sleep 5 hours at night by giving him a 4 oz bottle of expressed milk before bed (I'm a cheater, i know!!) I'm guessing he only gets 2-3 oz on breast before he gets tired of sucking and falls asleep so eating more oz from the bottle helps him sleep more at night. Cool that you get a full nights sleep though!

 

[Lily 23.10.10]

My 14 week old still feeds every 1.5 - 2 hours during the day and this is a lot less than she used to feed. It used to be almost constantly when she was younger! My HV says this is normal, every baby is different. Some will feed little and often and others will feed for longer and go for longer between feeds.

 

[trynitey]

8 hrs in the middle of the night is amazing.. I don't get that and DS is almost 8mos old. We've been on an every 2hr schedule since he was born, hasn't changed a thing since. I may get 4hrs in the middle of the night if I'm lucky. If he's sleeping that long in the middle of the night at 8wks, then he probably very well needs that every 2hr schedule during the day to get as much food as he needs. Feel lucky that he sleeps through the night though. I wish I had that.

 

[ayh78]

My 16 week old DS is on 2 hourly feeds in the day. I don't mind, as he now has his last feed around 7.30 and is then asleep from 8pm ish until anytime between 3-6am. He certainly doesn't snack - his feeds are usually 20-25 minutes each time. Sounds like your LO is doing just fine!