Number of feeds in 24 hours?

DD2 is 3 weeks old today. She is demand fed and honestly I have never paid much attention to how many times she was feeding in 24 hours. But yesterday I sat there and worked it out in my head and it seems that 95% of the time she only feeds 5 times in 24 hours. I know that between 8-12 feeds in 24 hours is considered normal. So 5 is not really enough is it? 4 of them are during the day and 1 overnight. She ticks all the boxes... gaining weight, sleeping well, lots of wet and dirty nappies (and lots of spew... )

Am I just over thinking it and she is perfectly normal?


PS. I couldnt get anymore into her.... trust me, Ive tried.

DD1 would always feed 7 times in 24 hrs and they would try to get me to give her more but that's all she wanted so I just went with it!! And she was a big chubby baby anyway so no idea why they wanted me to feed her more! 5 does seem a bit low but maybe that's just her and their feeding often changes. Tomorrow she might have a growth spurt and be having double! lol.

As long as you are demand feeding and she's putting on weight and having lots of dirty nappies then I guess it's fine? How long does she usually go between feeds? You could try give a dream feed maybe?

During the day it depends... sometimes 4 hours, sometime 1.5 hours. During the night she has a big stretch of sleep of 6-7 hours, feeds and then has another stretch of about 5 hours. That being said though, she has already snuck in an extra one today ;)

Shes been this way since the day she was born. She is a piggy though and likes to "over eat" so it might be taking a while to get through her system. At 3 weeks old she can easily down 100mls of EBM and still have both breasts when shes finished... lol

I tend to think that if she is ticking all the boxes, then I don't think there is much to worry about. It is hard when all the literature says they 'should' be having 8-12 feeds, but it is important to remember that all babies are different.

Fwiw, my DD only ever took 6 feeds a day, pretty much from birth. She was also on the larger side, but she was content and thriving, so I just went with her, and my instincts.

I think if you have tried and she doesn't want any more, then perhaps that is your answer?!? Good luck hun, it is a tough and confusing time, but you are doing a great job :hug: