Is she getting enough?

[dueat44]

My dd was fed EBM from a bottle every three hours when newborn - she wouldn't latch (sleepy, NICU baby).

She now does latch, haphazardly, and after a week or two of feeding sometimes from the breat and sometimes EBM, depending on whether she co-operated with the latch, I have gone cold turkey and breastfeed exclusively.

But she only seems to want to eat every 4 hours (maybe more often early evening), and often goes nearly all night. Putting her to the breast inbetween is met with complete indifference.

I feel as though I'm starving her, but surely if she needed more she would take it? When the HV next weighs her I will know for sure whether she is getting enough, but in the meantime I feel guilty. But I MUST resist the temptation to top her up ... I think ...

[deaconblue]

DS only ever fed every 3 1/2 to 4 hours from birth. He never wanted any more and always had a huge feed when he was hungry. I used to make it my rule to wake him to feed him if he went 4 1/2 hours during the day though to make sure he was getting enough. He only ever fed once each night from birth too.

[NotQuiteCockney]

How old is she now?

How often does she poo and pee?

Does she seem happy and healthy and plump, to you?

[Olihan]

Is she weeing regularly and doing soft yellow poos? I think, from what I've read on here, that those 2 things are just as important as weight gain. Weight gain is only a tiny part of whether she's feeding well.

I'm not an expert at all so I'm not going to say 'yes she is', I'll leave that to tiktok or mears!

[dueat44]

She does seem to have normal wet / pooey nappies. We've only been doing the exclusive bf for a week, so too early to say how her weight is affected.

If she did marathon feeds, I'd relax, but she never feeds for more then 20 mins. On the other hand, I can express 5 oz in a few mins, and she can drink that from a bottle in a few mins, so maybe we're just a super-efficient combo. She's nearly 6 weeks now.

[DaisyMOO]

She's probably just an efficient feeder, but if you're really worried can't you just offer her more frequent breastfeeds and see if she's interested rather than topping her up? How many wet and/or pooey nappies is she doing a day?

[hettie]

hi there,
if it's any reassurance my ds only fed every 4 hours from the start and he too was NICU..... So far (touch wood) his weight gain has been fine. I was told not to let him go more than four hours in the day during first 4-6 weeks, I'd never actauly wake him up but just unwrap him a bit if he was all blanketed up. From my own perspective (1st baby) he seems a big feeder when he does feed (both boobs ). I had faith in teh supply and demand thing and that my ds would demand what he wanted. One proviso- I always broke up feeds with a nappy change as he was often sleepy and needed a bit of encouragement.
Hope this helps

[NotQuiteCockney]

They can be very efficient. My DS2 was a very efficient feeder, never more than five minutes per side.

[dueat44]

Daisy - I offer her more frequent feeds, but she's just not interested unless she's interested, if you see what I mean. I do marathon bur[ping sessions to keep her awake during a feed, but maybe the nappy change would work better.

Thanks for all the suggestions - weigh-in on Thursday, crossed fingers for result.

[mangojuice]

My ds has never fed for long either dueat- his feeds are usually about 5mins each side, sometimes less. I was really worried about it, but like you, I could express quickly and he would drink ebm fast, so I think we just make a fast-feeding team!

Four hourly sounds about right to me, although I'm no expert. I think your dd will let you know if she wants more, and when you reach the next growth spurt she probably will!

Just as an aside, do any of you more knowledgable people know whether feeds should lessen in duration as they get older? My ds is now 7months old and probably feeds about 3/4 mins each side. He has never had formula, only bm, but has 2 meals a day (sorry dueat, hijack over!)

[mangojuice]

My ds has never fed for long either dueat- his feeds are usually about 5mins each side, sometimes less. I was really worried about it, but like you, I could express quickly and he would drink ebm fast, so I think we just make a fast-feeding team!

Four hourly sounds about right to me, although I'm no expert. I think your dd will let you know if she wants more, and when you reach the next growth spurt she probably will!

Just as an aside, do any of you more knowledgable people know whether feeds should lessen in duration as they get older? My ds is now 7months old and probably feeds about 3/4 mins each side. He has never had formula, only bm, but has 2 meals a day (sorry dueat, hijack over!)

[dueat44]

Hijack to your heart's content, Mango. For what it's worth, I think my DS did suck for shorter periods as he got older and stronger.

[DaisyMOO]

If she's not interested in feeding more then I would be very surprised if she's not feeding enough! Hope it goes well on Thursday.

[LittleMissLate]

And just to add - even if the weight gain isn't great this week don't be panicked into topping up with ff just on the basis of one week - weight gain can fluctuate week by week and one bad week doesn't mean she needs ff. My dd was very slow to put on weight averaging 1 or 2 oz per week until we started weaning but this varied - some weeks losing some static and some gaining but on a bad week the hv said (as dd otherwise seemed v healthy, alert etc) to weigh again next week and see how things went. More bm is better than ff - try expressing after each feed if you can and build up a store in the freezer then if they insist you need to top up you can do it with ebm.

Oh, and dd wanted feeding between 3 and 5 hourly and used to sometimes go 7-8 hrs at night (though doesn't anymore )

[dueat44]

Eight and a hallf ounces! , in one week. So clearly she IS getting enough, though she feeds little and seldom. A vacuum cleaner.

[mangojuice]

That's great news Dueat, pleased that all is well!

[dueat44]

Thanks all for the advice. xxx