9 week old and reduced feeding time - is this normal

Hi all,

Just had a quick question - I have a nearly 9 week old DD. she has never had really long feeds as a rule (usually around 10 - 15 minutes from the time she came home from hospital) but they have now dropped down to 5 - 10 minutes each side and instead of feeding every 2 - 3 hours she's feeding every 3 - 4. of a night time she's sleeping for 6 -7 hours straight then getting up for a short feed and sleeping for another 3 or so. last night she slept from 8:15 to 3:30 but her last feed was at 7:45 so it was quite a while between feeds. When she's feeding if i try to put her back on the boob after she's had a burp she screams like the world is about to end so i'm guessing she's full seeing as she's been burped. She's always been a very active sucker and when she's feeding you can hear her anywhere in the house (which is pretty impressive seeing as we have a 2 story house :)) which surprised the midwives when they were doing ther home visits after the birth......

Apart from this she's happy and content. Very alert and making eye contact and smiling and when she's on her gym she is happy to play and hit out at the toys and stretch. She's not having troubles settling and sleeping through the day either and still has plenty of wet nappies and at least one dirty one a day (and always manages to pee on the change table every couple of changes and it's clear).

Is this normal for a baby so young??? just worried she's not getting enough. My boobs are softening but they don't really feel empty.......

Thank you for your help!!

Wow she is a quick feeder indeed! You are lucky.... my DD would take up to 1hr per feed in those early weeks so as you can imagine I wasn't doing much else but sitting on the couch! :lol: (but we did have weak suck issues and low supply issues because of that etc etc and other issues).

I remember my DD became a faster feeding around that 8-9weeks old mark (although she would still take 15mins or so at least) and from memory most other babies in my baby group were doing the same so that's all quite normal it sounds to me. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies, happy healthy bub......your DD is just becoming alot more efficient with her suck as she matures and develops.. all normal.

Sounds all good to me.... keep up the great work :D

(I love it when you can hear them drinking and sucking the milk out, it does get quite loud sometimes doesnt it? hehe)

My two were both quick feeders. They were down to about a 5 minute or less feeding time by a few weeks old. DD is now 4 months and only feeds longer than a couple of minutes if I am in a hurry to do something lol.

Hi

What you LO is doing is perfectly normal. There have been quite a few mums on asking the same question at this stage and again at 12 week mark or so when they seem to get quicker again (and yes I was one of those mums!).

Like Shanti I had a very slow feeder to start off with (along with other issues) but over time made several big drops in the amount of time he spent on the breast. Down from 1hr+ for feeds in the begining to maybe 5 minutes max on each side these days. They really do get so much more efficient at taking what they want and need. I am sure MR or Barb will be on to confirm what is happening.

What you may also see happening over the next few weeks is increased distraction at feeding time. All of a sudden feeding doesn't seem to be that important as what is going on around her.

Regarding your boobs softening sorry I probably won't be able to explain it properly but all normal. Basically your body as I understand it, becomes better at producing the amount of milk your baby needs (or 'orders'' under the demand and supply way breastfeeding works).

Sounds like it is all going very well for you. One thing that I do is I wake my little one for a feed at about 10.30pm and he then sleeps through to somewhere between 5-7am. Being honest I did this NOT to make him sleep through but to squeeze another feed into him before the day was out - I've had lower weight gain issues (but thats a whole nuther story). Sleeping through was a bonus I got from this tactic.

HTH and well done sounds like you are doing a fab job and congrats on your little one!

I forgot to say before too, it's normal your boobs won't feel as full anymore... they calm down after the first 6-8 weeks.... it's a good thing as they get more comfortable then! ;)]
Doesn't mean you have less milk, just that they are good at producing milk now and don't need that 'full' feeling anymore.