A couple of questions about demand feeding.

[~Ash~]

I went to see the child health nurse today to get some advice on attachment and a couple of things she said while I was there have got me thinking.

First she said that even though I'm 'demand' feeding I shouldn't let DD2 sleep for more than 3-4 hours during the day without a feed. This doesn't seem like demand feeding to me - I always thought it meant that I wait for her to wake up and want a feed.

Second she mentioned that I should only be feeding from one side per feed - I've never heard this before - when I breastfeeding DD1 it was definitely recommended to offer both sides each time. The midwife today said that I should be offering her both sides until she is over 6 weeks old!

And now I'm lost and have no idea what to do lol - can anyone shed some light on these things for me?


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[onthefly]

Well, demand feeding means being led by your baby, BUT sometimes very new babies need a little bit of leading themselves, if they're too sleepy. Ai m for 8-12 feeds at a minimum
One or both sides, it doesn't really matter, unless you've got an oversupply and are trying to manage that with block feeding.

No of dirty nappies in 24 hours?
No of feeds in 24 hours?
How is she doing otherwise?

[~clover~]

In the early days babies do need a minimum of 8 - 12 feeds a day for hydration. They'll usually average every 2 hours, then may go a bit longer over night after a few weeks if you're lucky Some do start with the standard 3 - 4 hours though (not mine!)

I let my babies decide re swapping sides. I started out feeding on both sides, but within the first few weeks they settled in to one side each feed.

I think demand is more about not holding out, rather than not waking. They need that minimum amount of feeds

[Jellyfish]

How old is your DD2? I personally wouldn't let her go longer than 3hrs during the day because it will help you establish your supply and assist in differentiating day and night for her. Also in the first few weeks babies can be quite sleepy and not ready to demand so can need to be woken.

One side or both I would leave up to the baby. Start on one and when that has drained offer the other, whether she takes it or not is up to her.

How do you feel she is going? How are nappies? Weight gain?

[LuluHB]

I was told to not let DD3 go longer than 3 hours in the first few weeks between feeds, but that was because she was a lazy feeder and sleepy girl. She was a big girl - 3.9kgs - so not to do with getting weight on. now at 7 weeks if she's sleeping I cheer (quietly), step away and grab a cuppa!!

We had feeding issues so saw 3 LCs. All of them told me to feed, burp/nappy change and then do the other side. Also told by one that I should swap her from side to side as soon as she stopped the constant suck suck swallow at the beginning when your let down is at its strongest - again this was because her ayyachment was poor but they all said swapping sides was still the way to go.

[~ Mylitta ~]

I let my babies decide re swapping sides. I started out feeding on both sides, but within the first few weeks they settled in to one side each feed.

That's exactly the same as I've done for all three of my babies. My little one generally just takes one side, but if she starts fussing I generally know that she wants to swap sides. I usually means I've accidentally put her on the side that her brother or sister have already drained, lol.

[Beach Mama]

I always offered both sides too but they only wanted one side per feed, pretty much from birth so let bub guide you there and just keep offering. As for sleeping, I found that the more they fed during the day, the less they fed at night - but again it really depends on the baby, mine cluster fed from 4-7 ish each night early on as well. I also found even if I left them they wouldn't' sleep for more than 4 hours during the day generally anyway but if they did on occasion they would have a big feed once they woke up. I can't see how old your bub is though hun, if she is under 6 weeks old though I would be thinking that 4 hours would be a limit and would be gentle stirring at that time for another feed if she hasn't woken. HtH. xoxo

[Novella]

My first two were early so I needed to wake them a minimum of three hourly to feed to start (although I only needed to do it a handful of times with DD2 little piggy). My midwife also said to try and feed at least 3-4hrly for the first few weeks apart from one longer stretch as they need a minimum of 8 feeds a day to start. All my bubs have had breastfeeding jaundice and there was a concern to begin with the jaundice may make them too sleepy to feed.

I had terrible engorgement so once my milk came my girls were drowning in the milk from one side, I had to express the second side but offering both was not needed. Sometimes I block fed (one boob each feed if bubs fed more than 3hrly which helped my supply issue and meant bubs wasnt getting heaps of fore milk which was giving her bad wind)

I must admit I tend to wake my babies during they day around the three hour mark as I prefer them to have their longer stretch at night, so Im not areally demand feeding although I never try and stretch their feeds out. All my girls have had massive cluster feed sessions in the evenings, feeding up to six times in a couple of hours.

[~Ash~]

Thanks for the replies!

I haven't been recording time between feeds, length of sleeps or dirty nappies up until now so I'm not sure about the numbers - I would say she has maybe 5 or 6 dirty nappies a day - sometimes she fills the clean one pretty quickly though.

Overnight I fed from one side only and she seemed to be satisfied enough - she goes on at least twice though, sometimes 3 times. If she wanted more after 3 times I offered her the other side instead. I figure I'm going to be ridiculously engorged tomorrow but she seems less windy today so maybe less foremilk is a good thing for this bubba.

If I wake her every 3 hours will that mean she has longer stints of sleep overnight? At the moment she has 2 big sleeps during the day and is very awake and restless during the night.


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[Kmn]

It usually works that way - trying to teach her that day is for eating can help her sleep better at night.
But it can take a couple of years!

[~TT40~]

I was told not to let DD go longer than 4 hours during the day, but mainly to help her understand day and night. (not that we ever got any where near the 4 hours to worry about it)
when DD was really unsettled and windy and wanted to feed every 2 hours I was advised to put her on the same side, so she was getting more hind milk, we did this and less than a day later she was more settled and wasnt cluster feeding 24/7!! She still only takes one side a feed too. and she isn't suffering =P so many people comment on her rolls and chubby cheeks saying I must be doing something right, and i go I am! I'm breastfeeding her! =)

[onthefly]

It sounds like you feel pretty relaxed about her and how she's going... so perhaps that's a very good sign in and of itself

You can certainly try to encourage her to sleep mreo at night by waking to feed mroe during the day. I'd try 2-3 hourly, but see how you go. She'll shift her days and nights around by herself with a bit of time, so just do whatever is easiest for you guys