Question for BFers

susie985 · October 2010

I'm wondering how often your LO eats during the day. DD really never seems hungry, though she always eats when I feed her as she loves to comfort suck. Before I was feeding her one breast after she woke up from her catnap and then I would feed her the other side before a nap. Well I decided to put her on a 3 hour "schedule" (I use that term loosely because I would feed her if she was hungry before 3 hours) since it seemed she was just grazing and I wanted to avoid the eat-sleep association. I was also hoping by spacing out her feedings that she would sleep better at night. No such luck! Now she carries her every 3 hour feeding into the night. Not that she was really sleeping much better before, but her first stretch would be 4-5 hours and then a couple more 2 hour stretches after. Now it's every 3 hours or less no matter what. She won't just take a paci and go back to sleep either, she gets mad if I don't feed her.

I'm not sure what to do. Even after 3 hours during the day she doesn't act hungry, though she still eats. I don't want to space her feedings out anymore because I want her to get all her calories during the day. If I BF on demand, who knows when she'll eat as she never seems truly hungry, except at night. Should I feed her more often even though she doesn't act hungry? Then I'm afraid she might start getting up every 2 hours to eat if I do that. I don't necessarily expect her to STTN (though that would be nice), but this every 3 hours or sometimes less is killing me!

Sorry this is so long, any advice is appreciated!

meangene · October 2010

What hunger signs are you looking for?

At about 3 mo, Aubrey stopped crying immediately when she wanted to be fed, but had different hunger signs (grawing my shoulder, etc).

She's 4 mo and eats 6-8x/day (and thankfully, recently started sttn) to answer your question though. I get one 3-hr stretch in the morning, but for the most part she likes to eat every 2-2.5 hours.

stgn01 · October 2010

That was kinda happening to me too. I tried to space out her feedings more during the day just to give myself a break. It totally backfired on me! She was up more during the night because she was more hungry. I went back to every 2 hours (you could practically set a clock to her) and it seemed to help. I would also seem to nurse her a little more at night before bed. So if I nursed her at 6:30 and did last feeding at 7:30 that was still ok. That way she gets more of her feedings and calories during the day and isn't looking for them so much at night. That's just how it worked for me and my little girl. And if she goes back to sleeping the 4-5 stretch with some little stretches after that, that sounds better than waking up every 3 hours like you're doing now.

I know it's hard. Hang in there and she'll get better at this. I hope what I said made sense. Good luck!

EllaandLuca · October 2010

Mia doesn't cry for hunger anymore ... she makes this "oo oo oo" sound - like a little monkey. If we're in the car and she starts making this sound and I cannot get to her it still takes about 10 minutes before it's a full out cry. That being said ... she makes that sound about 8 to 10 times per day now, and eats really well. There is no schedule, just me feeding her on demand. Slowly I am starting to see a pattern though.

Average day ** snack meaning a 5 to 7 minute feeding ... LOTS meaning 15 minutes or more.

7:15am - Eat LOTS!!

9:30 am - Eat - snack

11:15 am - Eat - snack

12:45 Eat - LOTS

2:15 - snack

3:30 - snack

5:30 Eat LOTS

6:45 - snack

7:30 - EAT until there is not a drop left in mommy (I swear this is her goal)

8:00 - bedtime ... and don't hit me ... she sleeps until 7:15am

Mainer-in-Texas · October 2010

DD eats every 2 hrs during the day. She also is doing exactly what your DD is doing - she used to have a 5-6 hr stretch and then be up every 2-3 hrs, and now she is up every 2 hrs. Last night it was every 1.5 hrs and she would nurse for 2 min and fall asleep, so we decided to do CIO a couple of times (when it had been less than 2 hrs since her last feeding). She cried for about 30 min and went back to sleep...we'll see tonight if it helped.

skiwic8 · October 2010

Well it kind of changes all the time. Right now he is eating between 2 and 3 hours during the day. He goes to bed around 7 and will wake to eat between 1 and 3. From that point he starts his daytime eating schedule and wakes again about every 2 hours. We start our day between 4:30 and 5:30 (getting up at 4:30 on a work days is painful).

As for hunger signs it's not as obvious as it used to be. He doesn't really cry anymore. He might whine and fuss a bit. But mostly he will try to nurse on my shoulder or arm or he will dive bomb my covered boob like it's a self serve buffet!

synchrosally · October 2010

DS eats every 2 1/2 hours. When he wakes up from his nap, I feed him. He would last about 15 mins before screaming for food. Then he plays, then naps, repeat. He STTN on occasion, but he usually sleeps a good 4-6 hours at a stretch.

ETA: His last two feeds are usually at 5:30-6 and 7-7:30. Usually less than the 2 1/2 hours, but he is in bed by 8.

susie985 · October 2010

Thank you for all the helpful advice! I will feed her more frequently during the day and see if she starts sleeping better at night.

Want a personalized experience?

Question for BFers

Re: Question for BFers

Choose Another Board

Search Boards