What to expect in hospital?

[Mc12eb]

Should I expect her to be nursing all the time or will I know when she needs to eat? Obviously I'm going to be a FTM and I'm worried I won't let her nurse enough.

 

[Harley Quinn]

If I recall, most babies will go about an average of 2 hours between feedings at first. Of course, it can vary from baby to baby.

You will notice when she is hungry. Here is a picture I've seen before that helps you recognize the cues baby will give you: https://kemh.health.wa.gov.au/services/breastfeeding/feeding-cues.htm

Basically, for the first few weeks, you can expect that if baby is fussy or crying, she is either hungry or needs a new diaper! Of course, some babies just like to be held too. Don't worry; you'll start to connect with your baby and notice her specific cues soon enough.

 

[LegoHouse]

You will learn what your baby needs with time. Just get to know her. Give yourself time and don't beat yourself up with you get something "wrong" at some point. My babies fed every 2-ish hours at first. During growth spurts they could feed more often than this but it always ended after a week or so.

 

[kalyrra]

Like the other posters, I would plan on feeding her every 2 hrs. In my hospital, the baby stayed with me in the room, so I just fed him automatically every 2 hrs. Sometime in the night though, I wanted some sleep so I had the nurse take him for awhile but asked her to bring him back in 2 hrs for a feeding.

It won't take long before you recognize the signs she's giving you that she's hungry. My son would do a weird hand/arm movement from his mouth off to his side! I know as a FTM, it's scare to be responsible for a new little one and being afraid to make mistakes... but keep in mind that mistakes are okay! Both you and the little one will be learning together.

Good luck!

 

[CupcakeBaby]

When DD was tiny if she cried, sucked her hand, moved her head, I assumed she was hungry.

The BF counsellor at the hospital said if a newborn is awake it pretty much means they're hungry.

Was true for us.

 

[optimistic1]

The nurses came in every so often and asked me when she ate last how long she ate for and if I could see her swallowing. She stayed in my room so while I was asleep they would come in every 3 to see if I was awake and feeding yet.

 

[Athena]

My last baby was feeding very frequently for the first three days probably less than three hourly but when my milk came in on the third day she started to go longer in between.

Good luck x

 

[AC1987]

The cues with my LO went SO fast I often missed them before full on crying hahah but don't worry. My LO would do the opening mouth thing and rooting, and then almost scooping her hands towards her mouth

 

[kitabird]

The BF counsellor at the hospital said if a newborn is awake it pretty much means they're hungry.

Was true for us.

True for us too. He didn't have any sort of schedule, just whenever he was awake he would feed.

 

[Button#]

I had to wake my LO for feeds the first couple of nights. I was told to feed him at least every 3 hours.

 

[FromHopeToJoy]

Newborns feed on demand. It can be every 45 minutes to 2 hours at first. Be ready!

 

[Here_we_go]

Different babies have different appetites but the cues are mostly the same. You'll see them kindof rooting (searching for a nipple) and they'll put their lil fists in their mouth to suck. Those are the non-crying signs I watched for.

My son was a sleepyhead and mainly wanted to sleep while we were in the hospital. The nurses kept stealing him away from me so he'd be in the nursery. I was throughly disgusted with them! How was I supposed to breastfeed him when they snatched him away from me every 10-15 minutes!?? They then proceeded to FUSS at me because he wasn't eating enough! Needless to say, once we were home, and on my son's schedule instead of their paperwork/diaper weighing schedule, things got better.

He was a vaginal delivery, he latched right away. Never had any issues with soreness or breastfeeding other than the darn nurses there at the hospital. I do remember he was a sleepy baby and when I was lucky, he'd feed for 10-20 minutes at a time before passing out.

My daughter was a c-section delivery. I wasn't able to hold her right away (not until 4-5 hours after her birth) but she still wasn't interested in eating by the time I held her. That night though was a completely different story. She wanted to nurse pretty much nonstop ALL night long (sometimes she'd sleep for 10-15min before wanting to nurse for another 10-20min ) and she had a supershallow latch which was quite painful I think because she was so small, she just couldn't open her mouth wide enough to take in as much as she was supposed to. My milk came in super fast though, by the end of the second day. By the time she was a couple weeks old, her latch got better (practice makes perfect but in the meantime it was a toecurling experience ).

Hang in there! The first 2-3 months are the toughest. Don't let youself by psyched out by not knowing how much baby is getting when he/she nurses. As long as you have output (dirty diapers) you know baby's getting input

 

[ThunderPearls]

My baby was a marathon feeder! During the day he would go for about 1-2 hours. Between feeds with a feed lasting between 15-45 minutes. But once it hit 6-7pm he would constantly be on my boob! He was once on from 8pm-4am without stopping! If I tried to take him off he would scream and scream and scream!

But every baby is different and if you catch the hunger cues its easy to feed. Dont let the nurses try and push you into a "feeding schedule" feed on demand.

 

[motherearth23]

Should I expect her to be nursing all the time or will I know when she needs to eat? Obviously I'm going to be a FTM and I'm worried I won't let her nurse enough.

I am a FTM too. My baby was born just last week. He ate first about 15 minutes after being born. Then about every 45 minutes to an hour for the first couple days. The day we got to go home from the hospital he slept for 5 hours straight, then nursed for over an hour straight. My milk came in that night. It was pretty painful, I wont lie, but it became a lot more comfortable to nurse once that milk was in. He is now a week old @ midnight tonight, and eats every 1-5 hours depending on how long he sleeps. You will know when they are hungry. They suck on their fingers, wave their hands near their mouth, mouth their little lips like a fish or finally cry if they get really hungry. You will get mother's instincts and just know when your baby is hungry also. Trust me.
Good luck new mama!