Still feeding every two hours

[kariony]

Hi. I am a new member. My son is now 16 weeks old and is still feeding (breast) every two hours. If we are out I am able to stretch him out to three hours but at home it is really hard to keep him amused and not crying for that extra hour. Is this normal - I met other mums whose babies of the same age are feeding around every 3-5 hours. He is putting on the normal range of weight and seems happy and content - except for feed time. Any suggestions??

[elissas]

I'm wondering if by feeding so frequently, he's getting too much of the sugary foremilk - when that happened to my DS about 2 weeks ago, he became a bit grizzly, and unsettled, and then overtired because of that. He also wanted to feed more frequently because he needed more of the fatty milk that "knocks them out" and fills them a bit more.

I tried feeding longer at each feed (even though that breast seemed to be empty and he seemed to be full). I just fed an extra 5mins at first, and then built up, and the frequency seemed to drop he now feeds 3-4 hours during the day and 4-5 hours at night.

Feeding like that can indicate a growth spurt they are either going through or about to go through, if it happens only periodically. But if your little one is doing it all the time then maybe he's become a little "sugar junkie" ;)

Good luck
Lis :)

[AM]

Yes, it is completely normal, my son was much the same at that age, every baby is different, and you really are doing the very best thing for his health and wellbeing by letting him dictate the timing of his own feeds.
Rest assured, he WILL eventually begin to space his feeds out in his own time, it is not going to be forever, but just relaxing and going with the flow does wonders, and don't feel the need to compare your baby with others, they all create their own individual routine.
Congratulations on the breastfeeding, you are doing a wonderful thing, and demand feeding is simply the very best way to keep your milk supply really healthy, and your baby happy.
Trust that your baby knows exactly when he needs to feed, and how much, because, he really does know! :D

All the best.

[xkwzit]

Hiya Kariony
Does he sleep for a big stretch at night? DD1 would feed every 1.5 to 2 hours through the day, but she was stocking up because she would then sleep from 6pm to 2 am and then till 6 - 7 am (when we would start feeding again). Because she was sleepingso much at night, I tried not to be too worried during the day.

The other thing might be that if it is hot, he might be thristy and having frequent small feeds is just him drinking (rather than eating). DD1 was a September baby and so we were still exclusively BF through the hot months.

Cheers (when you look back at the tiny baby days (daze) it won't seem like a long time - don't stress too much)

[addictedtobabe]

Hi there

Could you be misreading what he needs? If he is feeding every 2 hours when does he sleep? Could he be tired instead of hungry? My friend was doing the same, demand feeding but the baby never slept much so was tired and only drank little bits at the time, so poor baby ended up exhausted as well as hungry!

Demand feeding is not the only way that you have to breast feed...not necessarily the best way for all babies..my DS was initially fed on demand, and then we quickly changed over at about 3 months to settle into more of a routine, partly baby led, partly mummy led...listen to your baby, but also do what makes you happy and well - if demand feeding means you feel aout of control then look after your well being too...if you are not happy and well you won't enjoy the babe.

[kariony]

Thanks to everyone who has replied.

My son is sleeping at night from about 8.30pm until anywhere between 5.00am and 7.00am so he is definitely sleeping well at night.

He usually feeds for around 30-40 minutes. At first I thought perhaps I didn't have enough milk but when he comes off the breast the milk is literally running out of his mouth.

During the day - some days he can have a 3 hour sleep other days just an hour here and there but whether he has a sleep or not he still demands a feed every two hours. He is like clockwork - I don't even have to look at the clock I can just tell it has been the two hours since his last feed.

Because the weather is so hot I also give him boiled water which he enjoys also.

We have just started him on solids (mashed banana and the Organic Only range of fruit flavours) which he really enjoys but even after that feed he will still feed on the breast for around 20 minutes.

I guess I shall stick with things. I return to work part-time in March so I will have to figure out what to do then in terms of my milk - my supply is so great that I'd say I will have to express at work...

[kyeaj]

Hi there and welcome!

I agree with "addictedtobabe's" theory... I also had a friend that was in the same situation. Her lo was snacking instead of feeding as he was so tired. Usually if they sleep well at night (and your lo sounds that way) then they will want to drink more during the day. "Tanking up" I used to call it. I would feed him as much as he wanted during the day - to an extent - and then he would sleep through the night.

I would also recommend a routine, rather than demand feeding, but each to their own. I initially demand fed and found that my days were all over the place. We then decided to set a bit of a schedule, using him and me as a guide. This way I found it easier to work out what was hunger or tired cries. It took a few days to get used to but made life so much easier. He is now 7mths and we still use a routine throughout the day for nap times, feed times, etc. He hardly ever cries now as I usually know what he needs before he knows himself. Don't be afraid to test and try different things either; what works for one may not for another. It's all trial and error really...

Take it slowly and I'm sure that you will soon work out what works for you and your bub. It's a team effort between the two of you and all of us are different.

Good luck,
Kye

[YoungFox]

It has taken a year but I have finnaly learnt that all babies are different. Some are happy to feed every 4 hours and some like too feed more frequently. My daughter feed every 2 hours for ages but it is much much less frequent now she it one. I found it quite frustrating to start off with but once I relaxed and stopped worrying about it (and what other people thought) it was fine and it was a great chance to relax with my baby. I tried to get her to take more in an attempt to get her to feed less frequently but I found that she just vomited every time, so I figure she new what she was doing!!

[sammykat]

A friend of mines baby was feeding everytweo hours so the clinic sister told her to give her son a bottle of formula every third of fourth feed and whenever she was too drained to feed. It worked a treat, its not that she wasnt making enough milk its just some babies stomachs can only fit enough food for two hours and breast milk is processed so fast, where as formula sits a lot longer and fills a lot longer. This is only any good if you a comfortable doing this, note your babies nappies will start to smell and the consistency of the nappy will change a little but dont be alarmed, and constipation is a lack of nappy filage and hard stools not the strained looked that baies get.

[mummy sam]

hi my 14wk old was/is doing the same thing and has been for about a month. But the last couple of days i have found that if i do the feed play sleep with the total awake time being nearly 2 hours and he sleeps for an hour then he is feeding 3 hourly. but i guess this would depend on how long your little one sleeps for.. Lochie is only a cat naper

Good luck, i know i was starting to feel a little tired of it all

[maybe1more]

I hope this helps- as my son started off doing the same, so i used a dummy in between feeds. I would start off giving him a feed, (if he started to fall asleep i would burp him to keep him awake so i could give him as much milk as he could take, then if he would cry two hours later i would give him a dummy, im not sure if your little one has a dummy, and i wasnt keen on the idea untill this was sugested to me by a friend(ill try anything when im sleep depribed) and i would keep offering the dummy when he cryed, instead of milk so then bub would be more hungary when it came to the next feed, so it made bub go 3 hours in between feed, so i did the same untill i go to 4 hours inbetween feed, i asked to health nurse regarding this as i wanted to make sure i was "starving " my baby, and she told me 4 hour feeds were good as the baby gets more hungary and therefore take more milk next time. This went on for 3 weeks ( bub was 6 weeks when i started) and by 9 weeks old he was sleeping 8 hours a night, and if he did wake up id give him a dummy, however if thats still didnt settle him i would give him a feed, ( he used to wake some times after 6 hours) and that was ok as i was only getting up once a night.
However saying all that, when babys have there grow spurts there sleeping pattern changed again! I hope this is some help to you:)

[Frances]

Howdi, I also fed almost every 2 hours, in the end lack of routine has driven us mad (and I was so sure I wasnt a routine girl!) my son is 6 months old exactly and as of today we started a routine, I did all my reading from literature I got from Save Our Sleep, the link is on bubhub, well worth a read, I really think its worth a go, I know we only started today, but already my gut feeling is its the way to go !