How do I know if I am overfeeding?

Necie2011

I am strictly BF'ing and my LO was born at 7lb 4oz and he now weighs 10lbs (he is 5 1/2 weeks old).  He literally eats until I pull him away (If I would let him he would eat till it comes out his nose..hahaha) and it seems he wants to eat sooner than every 2.5 - 3hours when he is awake.  Also there have been times he will vomit after eating and seem to be hungry again right after.  I just dont want to overfeed him knowing his stomach is so small.

 I hope this makes sense  

globalwife

If he is eating that much, it is because he is hungry. It is really hard to overfeed an EBF baby. It is completely normal that he wants to eat after he vomits. Also, most babies eat more often in daytime hours.

Necie2011

He wants to eat more at night and sleeps almost all day.  His sleep schedule is all wacky

ksulli

BM can be completely digested in 2hrs, so LO can certainly be hungry that fast. When baby spits up it looks like more milk than it is because it gets kinda frothy in there, try comforting LO without food for a bit after a spit up to make sure it's hunger. They do eat A LOT for a while, it felt like LO was attached to me for a long time.

globalwife

Necie2011:

He wants to eat more at night and sleeps almost all day.  His sleep schedule is all wacky

Sounds like he hasn't figured out the difference in night and day. Everything else sounds normal though for a baby that young. Hang in there and the feedings will get quicker. 

Necie2011

He needs to figure out the difference pretty quick because I go back to work next week .. I really dont want to and I am trying to find any way possible to stay home longer  I need to find a way to occupy him during the day to keep him awake so he sleeps at night.  Its hard to keep him occupied, its not like he can play back when I play with him.  When he is sleepy, he is sleepy!!! 

AmyRI

If you have oversupply issues, you can overfeed a BF baby.

When I am really engorged, I stop and burp LO when I think he should be full to see if he really needs more or not. If he overeats (which is very easy in the morning if he STTN), he will throw up the extra. He will always say he is still hungry right after throwing up, so I burp him a couple minutes and he always calms down and figures out that his belly is full even though he spit up. His pacifier also helps aid in telling whether or not he is full. He knows the difference between breast and paci, and he will spit it out and cry if he is still truly hungry.

LO eats every 2 hours during the day and STTN now. It is not unreasonable to eat more often than every 2.5-3 hours if he does sleep for a couple good chunks of time at some other point during the day.