Kathy, this baby has gained over 4 oz per week in the past 6 weeks. This is
low normal in my book. MANY abies normally eat frequently if left to their
own druthers.
Subject: 9 week-old and frequent feeds
9 week old. battled overabundant supply early on. Baby has plateaued in
weight according to MD. According to our records has gained 27 oz. in 42
days.
Baby eats every 2 hours with one 4 hour sleep at night.
All three of my babies did this kind of frequent feeding at 2 months old.
'
Eats for 10 minutes one side and is done.
Is baby healthy? What has the weight gain been over the past two weeks?
Sure enough, baby went on, nursed for 10 minutes and then started to play
with breast. Took 2.5 oz. and was happy as
a clam. So I had her walk around for 10 minutes and then sit down again and
offer same breast. No swallowing heard so we switched to other side. baby
took 1.5 oz and then played with breast.
Seems like a healthy feeding to me.
This baby seems used to these nice
small sweet feeds and then wants to feed very frequently.
Again, normal behavior to me.
Mom feels that
one sided nursing has worked so well that she is reluctant to return to 2
sides.
AH, but that would be the most simple solution if there is a low weight
gain, which I would say is even a borderline thing. Surely much simpler
than getting all scientific, pumping, etc. She could simply feed on both
sides and try gentle breast compression ...www.breastfeedingonline.com,
Jack Newman MD's info. Works like a charm and is EASY and NOT TECHNICAL. : )
But MD feels baby is not getting enough REM sleep from feeding so
often...
I think that this is NORMAL infant behavior. Your MD colleague may enjoy
the very knowledgeable work of DR. James McKenna from Notre Dame...who
studies baby's sleep cycles. I think that there may be a problem being
created here when in fact, there may be no problem...except for a baby who
needs to bf on both sides at each feeding.
is more fussy in the evening as a result and is not gaining well.
Any baby I know has been fussy in the evening. Is this a problem, again, or
just NORMAL.?
Mom is returning to work in a month and is worried about these frequent
feedings. Any ideas for getting a 9 week old to feed less frequent, take
more at the breast. We did discuss pumping after one sided nursing and
feeding the hindmilk in a bottle to try to elongate time between nursings.
I think that the solution may be to breastfeed on both sides, use gentle
breast compression, and incorporate one rest period per day in where both
mom and baby can lie down and feed, for now. I think that babies often grow
at 4-5 oz/week, and that trying to lengthen feedings and get more in may be
trying to frame a breastfeeding baby's behavior in terms of bottlefeeding,
or in terms of what a mother may expect in terms of behavior, but that is
just not physiologically normal...perhaps sharing these things with the
mother, alleviating her anxiety, and not pressing her to do anything
different other than bf on both sides, and use breast compression to help
get more milk in per feeding....would be best. Making it a problem of more
serious import is not necessary, I believe...and the solution of pumping,
bottlefeeding, etc, creates the image that there is something wrong in this
situation that needs fixing, the solution to which is more time consuming
than just bf. If a mom thinks her baby is behaving normally, she may be
able to relax and ramp down.
Kathleen
Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet, Indep. Consultant
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.together.net/~kbruce/kbblact.html
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