Very confused...re: feedings

erin1205

Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this (it ended up long-sorry.)

Over the weekend, DH and I ended up calling the on call nurse at our pedi's office.  DS was very very fussy, spitting up a ton, seemed very uncomfortable after feedings and his tummy appeared quite distended; however, he was pooping and peeing just fine.  I had been feeding him just about every hour for sometimes 30 minutes at a time.  We gave our concerns to the nurse over the phone and she suggested that perhaps we were feeding him too much.  She said to only feed him every 2 hours and for no more than 20 minutes a feeding.  This actually worked wonders!  For a couple days anyway.

I have been trying to follow this schedule as suggested by the nurse.  Starting yesterday, DS became very fussy, has not napped for more than 10 minutesl, and just seemed inconsolable at times.  I felt like he was giving me hunger cues, but was scared to overfeed him.  I looked on kellymom.com and referred back to my breastfeeding class info, and everything I'm reading says that you just can't overfeed an infant.   I finally gave in and fed him three times in one hour because it seemed like he just kept asking.  Now, he's napping and seems content again!  

Now I feel just confused.  Was I overfeeding him over the weekend?  Was I neglecting to feed him when he was hungry yesterday?  I feel awful and confused... 

madhatter2003

listen to your gut. If you think he's hungry, feed him. If he's spitting up and seems to just want to suck rather than eat, then give him a paci/your finger. He may have been wanting to suck over the weekend more than eat given how long he was nursing...that's when a paci will work well for you.  But if he's giving hunger cues, feed him despite what the 'schedule' says.

inlovewow

madhatter2003:

listen to your gut. If you think he's hungry, feed him. If he's spitting up and seems to just want to suck rather than eat, then give him a paci/your finger. He may have been wanting to suck over the weekend more than eat given how long he was nursing...that's when a paci will work well for you.  But if he's giving hunger cues, feed him despite what the 'schedule' says.

THIS!!!!!

sarahmae8

You're doing a great job. I was also told that you cannot overfeed while bfing and if you do, then the baby will puke it up. This only happened 2 times for us. If it seems like he is hungry, feed him. Also, if it has been less than 1.5 hours, try giving him a paci to see if he just needs to suck. This always helps our DS and holds him off for another half hour or so so that we are not feeding him more than every 2 hours.