Feeding question

katlai

We just got the ok from the doctor to let our 19 day old feed on demand. We were feeding her 2 oz. every 2 hours during the day and 2.5 oz. every 3 hours at night. Now though she's napping about 3 hours a day so I fed her 3 oz. unfortunately that didn't seem to satisfy her. Should I feed her more since she's still rooting? And should we be feeding her more than 3 oz. at night if we want her to sleep longer?

momofmanyinthemitten

I BF, but I keep them on until they are full and unlatch. I'd feed as much as you can, and as often as she wants.

Avion22

Feeding on demand means playing really close attention to hunger and satiety cues.  Rooting, balled up fists, trying to put hands in mouth, etc are all hunger cues.  Relaxed hands and pulling away from the bottle are satiety cues.  Your LO might have others that I haven't listed.   So you kind of have to watch your baby.  Some days she may want more or less.  

Normally I would say that if she's still rooting after 3 ounces, she's still hungry, but it also depends on your feeding technique.  How long does it take her to eat those 3 ounces?  If she's gulping it down, then she might not realize that she's full (kind of like when adults eat too fast).  If you're doing a slow, paced feeding, and stopping to burp every ounce or so, and she still acts hungry after 3 ounces, then you might try a little bit more.   It takes our LO almost 20 minutes to take a 3oz bottle of BM, and he sometimes won't even take it all.  

IME, feeding more didn't contribute to our baby sleeping longer stretches.  He just started staying asleep a little longer each week.  Last night we got 7 hours for the first time (YAY!).  I've read that a lot of this has to do with weight, with babies starting to sleep 6-7 hours usually anywhere between 11-13 pounds.  Ours is about 12.5 pounds.   He DOES cluster feed in the afternoon and evening, and generally eats more often when he's awake (though usually for a shorter duration).  

You'll probably find that over time, one feeding interval gets longer and longer, and the others don't change much.  So if you're feeding at 7, 10, 1, 4, and then wake up at 7, you might find that she'll start sleeping from 10-2 or 10-3, then will still get up 3 hours later for the next feeding.   We put LO down at 7, then I wake him up at 10 to feed before I go to bed (this is the only time I ever wake him up to feed), and last night he slept till 5, then went back down and will probably wake up any minute now (it's 7:30).