Eating schedule or wait for DC???

pkate98

So the nurses in the hospital were so set on him eating every 2 hours, but he doesn't seem interested in nursing that often.  My mom says they were just trying to keep him on a schedule for them and that I should let him decide when he's ready to eat.

What do you do?

houndbaby

I feed when he's hungry wether thats after 30 min or 3 hrs

little__bit

I tend to agree with the nurses.  I thought our nurses were being overdramatic when they insisted he nurse every 2-3 hours.  We were content waiting for him to feed, but it turns out he was having a lot of difficulty latching, difficulty waking up, and difficulty staying awake.  Had we truly waited for him to initiate a feeding, he would have gone 5-6 hours between feedings which is much too long for a newborn.

Now that he's 10 weeks and feeding well, I'm more inclined to let him indicate the frequency of feedings.  But for the first few weeks, we never let him go more than 2-3 hours.

pkate98

little__bit:

I tend to agree with the nurses.  I thought our nurses were being overdramatic when they insisted he nurse every 2-3 hours.  We were content waiting for him to feed, but it turns out he was having a lot of difficulty latching, difficulty waking up, and difficulty staying awake.  Had we truly waited for him to initiate a feeding, he would have gone 5-6 hours between feedings which is much too long for a newborn.

Now that he's 10 weeks and feeding well, I'm more inclined to let him indicate the frequency of feedings.  But for the first few weeks, we never let him go more than 2-3 hours.

That is what I was thinking too - that going more than 4 hours w/out eating for a NB was too long.  I try to wake him if I feel it's been to long...