Continually feeding during the day...

[mum2bee]

I have a four week old who is continually feeding throughout periods during the day. She is feeding every 2.5 - 3 hours at night. Once she is up in the morning her feeds are continuous until about 2pm and she will only nap for short periods of time in between. For example:

5.30am - 90 mls
6.30am - 30 mls
8.00am - 20 mls
8.15am - 60 mls
10.00am - 60 mls
11.45am - 110mls
1.30pm - 60 mls
2.30pm - 60 mls

I feed her when she is hungry and happy to continue in this way during the day if that is what she wants and understand that she is a growing baby, but just wondering about other mums opinions.

Thanks

[Chickadee]

Sorry this is a bit late. I wasn't sure I had much decent advice to offer, but since nobody else has answered...

My approach to bottle feeding was the same as yours - feed on demand. So I think you're doing great. Bubs do go through rapid growth periods so it's not unusual to have weeks where they may be feeding every hour or so. This is usually around 3 to 4 weeks old, and again at 6 weeks, etc.

A nap of 45 minutes to 1.5 hours is normal during the day. Bubs have a 45 minute (approx) sleep cycle. Every 45 min they will transition to a lighter stage of sleep and may wake up at this time. If sleeping becomes a problem then you might want to look at ways to encourage her to sleep through the 45minute stage and back into a deeper sleep again.

But you're doing great I think!

[miraclebaby]

My bub used to do this too around that age but i think it was less about him wanting to feed and more about me thinking he wanted to feed every time he cried. Once I started to limit feeds to every three hours during the day he woke less at night. I also just recently worked out that a couple of his night time wake ups weren't for feeds but were just out of habit. That is, if he only takes about 30 mls then he's not really hungry. I just cuddled him briefly, put a dummy in his mouth and put him back in the cot. He now only wakes up twice during the night and has a really good feed at those times.
You could try doing only three hourly feeds during the day for a week and see if things improve. It's hard at first because you might feel like you're letting your baby get hungry but the reality is she will maybe feed better at those feeds then the numerous little ones.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Mummy2Amelia]

Sounds like your baby might be a bit of a "snacker" just wanting snacks of milk....my DD used to be a snacker too, and therefor only taking 10 min naps here and there aswell!!! we finally broke that at a few mths of age...sorry im not much help.