Eating Every Hour After Eating for an Hour?

Re: Eating Every Hour After Eating for an Hour?

• pepomntpat member

  July 2012

  OMG, I hope this is MUD. I cannot seriously believe a pediatrician would suggest sleep training for a 3 week old. I just cannot.

  Babies eat frequently. Their bellies are small and breastmilk is quickly digested. They have several growth spurts over the first several months and you should be nursing on demand at all times. It is very normal for a child to eat every hour for the first six weeks or so. A baby should be eating at least every 2-3 hours from the start of one feeding to start of the next. That is minimum. More is better. It should feel like you are nursing ALL THE TIME. After the six week growth spurt the feedings do space out slightly. 

  Read a book. Check out www.kellymom.com for information and links. Go to a LLL meeting. Do all of these things while nursing your baby, please. 

  And seriously, fire your pediatrician and find one who isn't trying to starve your child. 

  

  
  
  
  
  

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• PurpleDrewbie5 member

  July 2012

  When you say sleep training do you mean CIO or just putting the baby down sleepy but awake? Three weeks is very young for CIO. I would say at least 3months old for that, and even then I'm a little hesitant. Does he eat during the night? If his weight isn't dropping he is probably getting enough to eat.
  

  He is probably going through a growth spurt of some kind. If he continues to eat this much for a few days you might want to talk to your pedi. In the beginning I made way too much milk so my daughter would nurse for 5-10minutes every hour. I used a slow moving flexible schedule and block feeding to regulate my supply.

  Is there a possibility that he may just want to suck? You could introduce a paci in a week or so, or just see if he'll suck on your knuckle/hand whatever.
  

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• pepomntpat member

  July 2012

  PurpleDrewbie5:

  When you say sleep training do you mean CIO or just putting the baby down sleepy but awake? Three weeks is very young for CIO. I would say at least 3months old for that, and even then I'm a little hesitant. Does he eat during the night? If his weight isn't dropping he is probably getting enough to eat.
  

  He is probably going through a growth spurt of some kind. If he continues to eat this much for a few days you might want to talk to your pedi. In the beginning I made way too much milk so my daughter would nurse for 5-10minutes every hour. I used a slow moving flexible schedule and block feeding to regulate my supply.

  Is there a possibility that he may just want to suck? You could introduce a paci in a week or so, or just see if he'll suck on your knuckle/hand whatever.
  

  There is no reason to talk to an incompetent pediatrician about a normal behavior. Babies are supposed to eat that much. The only thing to watch for is diaper output and growth. Frequent eating is normal. 

  

  
  
  
  
  

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• LMBecky11 member

  July 2012

  I am with PPs on you don't sleep train a 3 week old baby. Honestly, you should stop trying to sleep train your baby at this age. It isn't going to be productive or helpful and is really not good for baby. Now, I will say that by 3 weeks your baby can probably go four hours or so before it needs to eat at night, so there might not be any need to wake your baby to have them eat. If your baby wakes on its own and needs to eat, my advice is to feed it. Being a new mother is exhausting and I know you might be tempted to try to get more sleep for yourself, and I know some people make it much worse by telling you how "good" their babies were because they STTN by 2 weeks old or crap like that, but even if those stories are true, every baby is different and their needs will be different. Feed your baby when it gives you the cues that it is hungry (day or night) and let him eat for as long as he is actually actively sucking and swallowing. My LO nursed for up to 50 minutes a session every 1.5 to 3 hours (from end of session to beginning of next session, that is) during the day until she was 4 months old. At night she woke to eat sometimes several times. Right now, at almost 14 months, she nurses 4 times during the day and sometimes twice at night.
  

  

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