BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

sorry for the series of BF posts! I have had a few questions in my head and never time to post!

I'm not one to pressure myself with not being like everyone else as everyone is different. I know what DS and I are doing is working for us and we are both happy, healthy and contented. But just curious... at around one month, how often were you feeding? And for how long on each breast?

I find that when I read that at 5 weeks we should be feeding every 3 to 4 hours and 5 to 10 minutes per breast... we're not there. I'm not trying to get there any sooner than our own time but just wonder where they come up with these standards.

Would like to see the standards here...

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

For an entire year, DS rarely ate from both sides during a feeding. In all that time he may have done it a handful of times. He was a one side eater.

For the first few months he would typically eat every hour. But don't freak out! He began sleeping through the night by 2 months and he was eating every hour when awake.

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Oh that reminds me of another post I wanted to make!!! About pumping...

But in reply to your answer, that's comforting and I did not at all freak out. I just get so frustrated when people say, oh he should be eating every four hours by now. You know what old lady who's never breastfed and what do you know... DS is not on a book written feeding schedule. He's started sleeping 4-5 hours at night at one week. He'll go 3-4 hours for his first two feedings of the day but then mostly 2 hours and then by evening/dinner time, he goes into t a cluster feed of every hour until about 10:30, last feeding until 5/6:00am. He dictated that, not me. I let him do what he needs and it works for us. And he's actually starting to ease up on the back to back cluster feeds.

My big thing was reading today that at 5 weeks he should be feeding 5-10 minutes per breast, which is 15-20 minute feeding. We kind of milk it (no pun intended) for longer than that!

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Posted by BnBdreamin

Oh that reminds me of another post I wanted to make!!! About pumping...

But in reply to your answer, that's comforting and I did not at all freak out. I just get so frustrated when people say, oh he should be eating every four hours by now. You know what old lady who's never breastfed and what do you know... DS is not on a book written feeding schedule. He's started sleeping 4-5 hours at night at one week. He'll go 3-4 hours for his first two feedings of the day but then mostly 2 hours and then by evening/dinner time, he goes into t a cluster feed of every hour until about 10:30, last feeding until 5/6:00am. He dictated that, not me. I let him do what he needs and it works for us. And he's actually starting to ease up on the back to back cluster feeds.

My big thing was reading today that at 5 weeks he should be feeding 5-10 minutes per breast, which is 15-20 minute feeding. We kind of milk it (no pun intended) for longer than that!

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Okay that was about a half hour feeding. So still not really hearing "swallowing" but he does do the suck, suck, suck, rest (which I assume is swallowing) and he makes a different breathing noise as if he's swallowing so yes, this feed, he was feeding the whole time and he came off on his own. But like I said, there are times when I nod off and do not pay attention to whether he's eating the whole time. I guess all in due time, I'll get better with my alert time! That will come with more sleep, which I'll go do now!

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

DD still nurses for different amounts of time. She nurses every three hours max, sometimes it is 1.5 - 2 hours especially before she goes to bed. Sometimes she nurses for 20 minutes total (both sides) other times she takes 20 minutes on one side and 10 on the other. There were a couple of times in the beginning where she would nurse for more than 30 minutes on each side and I was panicking that this was going to be a long year of bfing! I try not to pay attention to what some of the books say and just go with her flow.

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

ds was a cluster feeder, which is why i ended up exclusively pumping.. he would eat every 4 hours from 4 am to 2 pm then every hour for the rest of the day.. i swore that when my dh left for work at 2pm i was holding a bottle and when he got home i was still holding a bottle.... i distinctly remember calling him one time to make sure he was going to be home on time because i had a cramp in my arm... HOWEVER ds was a huge eater and gained 5 pounds in 3 weeks... drinking 65 ounces a day..... he apparently go my brotehrs huge growth genes (my brother is 6'10").... but i found that a schedule didnt work with ds unil he was about 3 months.. then he was alot more predicatble

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

At one month. 10 minutes total. every 2 hours. It is starting to spread out and the sessions are getting longer. But, I will say that at one month my supply was NUTS still and DS would nurse hard and fast and just get bombarded with milk.

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Posted by BnBdreamin

Okay that was about a half hour feeding. So still not really hearing "swallowing" but he does do the suck, suck, suck, rest (which I assume is swallowing) and he makes a different breathing noise as if he's swallowing so yes, this feed, he was feeding the whole time and he came off on his own. But like I said, there are times when I nod off and do not pay attention to whether he's eating the whole time. I guess all in due time, I'll get better with my alert time! That will come with more sleep, which I'll go do now!

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

ds feeds every 3-4 hours...for about 20 min. a breast...but he usually takes only one breast per feeding....

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Alexa is 5 months and still nurses every 2-3 hours during the day. 4 weeks is still very young. Its still normal to nurse every 2 hours for 15 + minutes. You will see them nurse faster or become more efficient at 8+ weeks.

There is a link I posted on the BFing support thread on how to tell when they swallow. You look for a pause and drop in the jaw. You can't always go by swallowing noises

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"

Breast milk gets digested quickly. We fed about every 2-3 hrs only like 10 min on 1 side. She was always really efficient at eating.

Re: BF mommies... on demand feeding "schedule"