Im confused!

[singa06]

My 7 week DS is FF and usually eats every 3 hours, sometimes 4 late at night.
The sleep nurse said that I should feed him every 2-4 hours, based on his hunger signs and the amount of his last meal. However the 'on call' maternal nurses said NOT to feed him before 3 hours and to try and stretch him out with some cooled boiled water or that maybe it is a wind cry.

This morning he was due for a feed at 7.45am (last feed was at 4.45am), but at 7am he was screaming for a feed (I think I can tell his hunger cry by now?!). I fed him, but am wondering if I should have or not???

What would you have done??

[Rampant Madness]

I think you did the right thing, in feeding your child.
A child of that age, has few needs, but they are important needs and should be met.
Forget who said what times you should feed your baby, and don't read labels either. Feed your child what he wants, as he wants it. A baby wont over feed, and it will not starve itself easier.

Trust me when I say, you will feel much more content when you dismiss all the rules and guidelines, and go on your motherly instinct, listening to your childs needs as they happen!

[Jamaica]

Essentially its upto you & what you think bubs needs but I had a lot of feeding & sleeping problems with DD & took her to a clinic where we were told (she was 5weeks old) that she should not be feed less than 3hourly unless she is unwell and 4hourly is our ultimate aim. They said this will help her get a better sleep and feed routine, but it also depends on the weight of your bub, my SIL had premmies & they had to be fed 3hoursly around the clock til they were 3months old.

Good luck.

[Lastcenturymum]

How much are you giving him at each feed? That may have some bearing on his hunger. I agree, Mum's tend to read the signs of hunger pretty quickly.

[MamaKoala]

I think you did the right thing, in feeding your child.
A child of that age, has few needs, but they are important needs and should be met.
Forget who said what times you should feed your baby, and don't read labels either. Feed your child what he wants, as he wants it. A baby wont over feed, and it will not starve itself easier.

Trust me when I say, you will feel much more content when you dismiss all the rules and guidelines, and go on your motherly instinct, listening to your childs needs as they happen!

:iagree:If you know his hunger cues then go with that. Babies should be demand fed IMO. The problem with getting advice from multiple sources is it can be completely conflicting.
I had the husband of a Lactation consultant as my midwife for the birth of my DD and he said to demand feed and not to wake her unless she's been asleep for more than 6 hours in the first few weeks continuously. This agrees with my sensibilities as a mother of 3. I had to go back to hospital and I was made to fill out the progress chart for DD even though she was a boarder baby and not being cared for by the midwives. One of them noticed she hadn't eaten for 5 hours during the night and told me I should not let that happen again. As far as I"m concerned I know what I'm doing and I can tell if my baby is sick and if she has been feeding every 2 hours all day and then wants to sleep for 5 hours I'm going to let her. The same goes for feeding her even if she just fed an hour ago.
Your DS may go through growth spurts where he needs more one day and then doesn't take as much the next. Listen to you first and foremost as you spend 24/7 with him and know what he needs. If in doubt go to ONE trusted carer. The worst thing is to go to multiple sources with conflicting advice and confuse yourself more.
(PS You did the right thing)

[Wookie1]

I think all too often we are told not to feed FF babies before 3 hours. But there are going to be times when they sick, hot or just hungry. They should still only eat what they need. You can't stretch out the feed if they are screaming.
You are doing well!!:)

[singa06]

Essentially its upto you & what you think bubs needs but I had a lot of feeding & sleeping problems with DD & took her to a clinic where we were told (she was 5weeks old) that she should not be feed less than 3hourly unless she is unwell and 4hourly is our ultimate aim. They said this will help her get a better sleep and feed routine, but it also depends on the weight of your bub, my SIL had premmies & they had to be fed 3hoursly around the clock til they were 3months old.

Good luck.

Thanks guys...it is hard some days, but usually he will wait 3 hours.
Jamaica, what tips did they give u if DD was crying from hunger to help 'settle' her? I cant stand DS screaming for that long!

Also guys I put DS down after that 7am feed at 8am as he was very tired and slept right away, but now 50 min later he is up again but not due for his feed till 10am! He wont resettle in his cot, but is falling asleep in my arms!!!

[singa06]

I just tried to put him down, but he has woken with lots of stretching and now tears!! This happens all day every day, waking up too early to feed, but is cranky, then sleeps right after a feed and wakes 1 hour later and the cycle starts again...

OMG he was just screaming the house down! I had to wrap and put him in the pram and am rocking it now...he wouldnt stop in my arms...

[MsMummy]

I've found that if you ask 5 different medical people about feeding, you get 5 diferent opinions.

If the poor thing is hungry, feed him. Having a newborn baby is not a science. They want stuff, they cry, you give it to them. Tiring, but quite straightforward.

I would stop listening to so-called well-meaning professionals and just follow your baby's quite overt signs (like screaming).

I promise it gets better. I found the first few months brutal, but then slowly you adapt and the baby gets more patient and settled.

[Baldie's Mum]

darl, he may be growing.....my godson was FF from day 1 and he had little growth spurts and he cluster fed for a few days at a time and then went back to his normal 4hrly feeds. He is your baby, you know whats best! :hugs:

Have confidence in knowing your child. xoxoxoxo :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

[Mrs Potts]

The reason "they" say not to feed less than 3 hrly is because it can lead to snacking, where bub only has small amounts often. The aim is to have bigger feeds less frequently, which encourages better sleeping patterns.

How much is your bub having when he does feed before 3 hours? If he's having a normal feed, then perhaps he's just a hungry bub and needs it. If he's only having a very small amount, then I agree you probably should try to find a way to stretch the feeds out, so when he does have one he takes more. Even stretching an extra 15 minutes can make a difference, if you do that each time you will eventually find a pattern (or at least, you should).

My DS was similar, and we found that because he was snacking, he was hungry a lot of the time which in turn meant that hunger stopped him from sleeping soundly. You might find that could be part of your little one's sleeping problem too.

[singa06]

He had around 90ml just then, most times he has 105-110. So maybe he would of had that extra 15-20ml if stretched that little longer, but sometimes he has 90ml after 3-4 hours anyway. I guess it wast like he only had 50ml or anything small like that, so it was a 'normal' amount.

Right now he is sound asleep in his pram and has past his next feed time, but if I stop rocking the pram he will most likely wake...so i might rock it a bit more to stretch out a little longer to 3 1/2 hours or maybe 4