Demand feedings?

Vronyo16 · July 2015

My LO is 2 weeks old and I am breastfeeding. I have been so stressed over how much she is eating..if she is getting enough..am I feeding enough etc...
I read so many different things on what to do and what others say. I have been feeding her every 2 hrs during the day even if she is still sleeping and every 3 hrs during the night if she doesn't wake before then. Went to Ped. yesterday and she is back up to her birth weight plus an ounce.

My question is should I let her sleep during the day and night until she wakes up on her own or continue waking her up? I read an article that said feeding on demand is the best thing to do. What do you Mommas do?

I am just really stressed out and not wanting to stop breastfeeding if I can just figure out what is best for her.

ckranda · July 2015

My LO gained almost a pound from her first appointment to her 2 week today. My doctor said I could let her sleep at night but go no more than 3 hours during the day so she starts to tell the difference. I've also been extremely stressed about how much she's getting but I think as long as baby is gaining and having poopy and wet diapers you should be good.

keri0426 · July 2015

I don't wake my daughter (she will be 2 weeks on Saturday). I feed her on demand usually every 3 hours. And at night sometimes 4 hours. She is having wet/messy diapers and is content after a feeding so I am feeling pretty confident that she is doing ok. I have a weigh in on Wednesday next week so we will see.

ashleytiff · July 2015

I feed on demand.
I also pump and feed him from the bottle occasionally so I can see exactly how much he eats. He can suck down 4 oz in one sitting.

corndogrobot · July 2015

I feed on demand but the first 2 weeks we had to wake her to feed her. My dr said once she reached 8 pounds I didn't need to wake her to feed her.

tasharchibald · July 2015

If their hungry they'll wake up and eat is what I've always done!

laurencg2393 · July 2015

The first few days DH and I woke LO to eat every few hours - that was a bad idea! He was exteremely fussy and cried a lot. Now we wait until he wakes and all is good.

LibbyC730 · July 2015

The first two weeks we woke every three hours at night, but once we were back to birthweight we let him wake us to feed. During the day I try not to go more than three hours--often he demands more! I've also had some supply issues, so not everyone needs to feed as frequently I hope!

maybebaby84 · July 2015

I'm feeding on demand only. The longest stretch of sleep that he does is about 2-3 hours so I never wake him up to feed. I feel like he catches up when he's awake anyway. He's been clusterfeeding so I can go hours sometimes with no real break.

qtjo5 · July 2015

maybebaby84 said:
I'm feeding on demand only. The longest stretch of sleep that he does is about 2-3 hours so I never wake him up to feed. I feel like he catches up when he's awake anyway. He's been clusterfeeding so I can go hours sometimes with no real break.

This is how it is w my baby. He is 3 weeks today and I feed him on demand. He cluster feeds at least once w day and unfortunatly it is either at night or right before bed. I push through it but honestly it makes me become super bitch to DH because cluster feeding is emotionally and physically draining especially when I want to sleep!

cmorden1114 · July 2015

@qtjo5 I know that feeling all too well it's like I'm frustrated that he's not helping but there's nothing he can do. I mean sitting nursing a fussy baby on and off for hours in the middle of the night IS rough. Again one of those things nobody tells you about breastfeeding/having a baby. Lol

LBland09 · July 2015

Bc of jaundice and low weight, I had to wake my little one every two hours no matter what. I had to pump and he was taking about 2 oz. But now that he's been cleared by the dr, he wakes up on his own during the day about every 3 and at night about every 4. I want to say when I breastfeed he gets more the. 2 oz. Sometimes I breastfeed and sometimes I pump and bottle feed.

Vronyo16 · July 2015

Thank you everyone for replying! I am going to start today and see how it goes! Baby girl has also been cluster feeding at night and wanting to nurse for 2 hrs straight as soon as I wanna go to bed. I want to kill my husband bc he is sleeping peacefully while I am sitting up feeding.. but I know he can't really help out. Last night she ate forever, pooped as soon as she was falling asleep and of course I had to change her so she woke again and wanted to eat..I didn't think I was ever going to sleep! Hopefully things get better soon.

mfweeke91 · July 2015

I was told they go through a growth spurt at two and three weeks. That could be why they are fussy and cluster feeding. My LO just went through it and would not sleep any where other than my arms. I would lay her down and she would wake up like two minutes later every time lol.

zmombie · July 2015

I'd say whatever your doing is working great. I was breast feeding my baby in the beginning and was feeding in demand. I didn't have to wake her up tho. And was told not to let her go over 4 hours.. But she never made it past 3 without being hungry. But then she kept losing weight. So I was advised by her ped to feed her every 2 hours. She still continued to lose so I started supplementing, and my milk production decreased significantly so I had tI switch to formula.

Your doing nothing great mama.

maybebaby84 · July 2015

qtjo5 said:

maybebaby84 said:
I'm feeding on demand only. The longest stretch of sleep that he does is about 2-3 hours so I never wake him up to feed. I feel like he catches up when he's awake anyway. He's been clusterfeeding so I can go hours sometimes with no real break.
This is how it is w my baby. He is 3 weeks today and I feed him on demand. He cluster feeds at least once w day and unfortunatly it is either at night or right before bed. I push through it but honestly it makes me become super bitch to DH because cluster feeding is emotionally and physically draining especially when I want to sleep!

I'm glad I'm not the only one going through this! A 45 minute nap is a small victory right now. Today I just had to take a shower so my husband was with my son, he screamed the whole time because he still wanted to eat! I'm hoping after this week he will give me longer intervals since my milk has come in.

sschwege · July 2015

This is my third little nursling

and here's what works in my experience, I wake during the day every 2-3 hours and let them go at night.

audi681 · July 2015

For the mamas who are pumping... I just started. When do you pump and how often? I have heard to pump after feeding, but will there be much to pump after he has already eaten?

Marinewife81 · August 2015

My rule is never wake a sleeping baby. My DS wakes every 1.5-2 hours and usually eats as soon as he wakes. Pretty much he eats whenever he wants. He only lost 7.5oz in the hospital and has not lost at all since being home. He's 5 days old today.

claudia3059 · August 2015

Vronyo16 said:
Thank you everyone for replying! I am going to start today and see how it goes! Baby girl has also been cluster feeding at night and wanting to nurse for 2 hrs straight as soon as I wanna go to bed. I want to kill my husband bc he is sleeping peacefully while I am sitting up feeding.. but I know he can't really help out. Last night she ate forever, pooped as soon as she was falling asleep and of course I had to change her so she woke again and wanted to eat..I didn't think I was ever going to sleep! Hopefully things get better soon.

Yes! This drives me insane!!!!

BAYOUWIFE · August 2015

Cluster feeding is the worse. I just asked our Dr yesterday about letting DS sleep. She said at 3 weeks they still need at least 8 feedings a day, so we could let him go little longer at night but not more that 4 hrs without eating. I plan to do every 2-3hr during the day and stretch him out at night.

mrsjones1012 · August 2015

I've started using the soothee pacifier strategically. I wanted to avoid them altogether but I've noticed that sometimes my little girl just needs to suck to soothe, and I'm pretty sure that's normal. I can tell now when she's sucking to eat and sucking to soothe. If she eats from both sides for a good amount of time but still acts hungry afterward, I'll give her the soothee for a few minutes and that usually satisfies her. No newborn really needs to actually eat for two straight hours (unless you're referring to cluster eating I suppose).

mirrenrue · August 2015

My baby boy is almost 4 weeks on Tuesday and he has always been on a schedule. Right now it's 3-4 hours during day and 4-6 at night. However he eats a lot. Like he can eat 6punces at once. And I exclusively pump so even when he is fast asleep I'm waking up to pump. It's brutal. But worth it bc I have a huge supply already! The first two weeks of him being newborn I would wake him to feed every three hours. I just was hell bent on him keeping His birth weight high. (Born 8.11 and was 9lbs at 3 weeks)

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