Too early to move to 5 feeds?

[mebrandt]

Hi, my dd is 12 weeks old and has been sttn (8:30-6:30) since she was 7 weeks old.  Is it to early to switch to 5 feedings?  Will it decrease my milk supply? Here is her schedule:

E: 6:30
A:
S: 8:30 (always resettle at 45 min)

E:10:00
A
S:12:00 (always resettle 45 min)

E:1:30
A
S: 3:30

E: 4:30 or 5 (depending on last nap was catnap)
A
S:6:30 cat nap (20-40 mins)

E: 7 or 7:30
A
E: top up 8:30

She wants to go to bed at 7:30, but if she already sleeps all night, can she make it 11-12 hours since she is ebf?  Never had to DF and don't want to start now

[LeeLeeMelis]

I would say that if her weight gain has been fine and she continues after you drop to 5 go with it. You can always add another if she isnt eating enough during the day. I wouldnt dream feed if you dont need to. Also if you find your supply being affected you could always pump instead of waking her to feed or trying to squeeze in another feeding that doesnt work in your schedule or she isnt really hungry for.  Lucky you, 12 weeks STTN. My son is 13 months and JUST last night slept from 7:30- 6 am for the first time!

Hope this helps!

[lpperry]

Your baby should be fine going 11-12 hours if she isn't waking up to eat. However, I have been seeing lactation consultants for some serious issues. One thing that I learned is that the night feeding is REALLY important for keeping up milk supply. My LO was also sleeping 11-12 hours and my LC said that I definitely need to at least pump at 10 or 11 before I go to bed.  She said that around 3-4 months hormones change and the body stops producing as much milk as it did when the baby was only a few weeks old. She said she sees a lot of 3-4 month olds start sleeping through the night and then the mother's milk drying up.  

So, my suggestion is to just pump before you go to bed. If your baby is not waking to eat, just keep or freeze your breastmilk in case someone else needs to feed the baby on a later date.  

[2fuzzbutts]

Like the previous poster said, you will probably need to pump to keep up your supply. 5 times a day is not enough to stimulate milk production at this early stage. If your LO was a year you would be fine. You may not see a difference in a week or two but over a month you will see a decrease in supply.

[mebrandt]

Thanks everyone!   I try will pumping before I go to bed.  So....12 weeks isn't too early for her to sleep 11-12 hours? 

[lpperry]

12 weeks isn't too early as long as she is a decent size and continues to gain weight, but I wouldn't expect it to last!  She may decide she needs the extra feed and start waking at 2 or 3.  At that point it is usually easier to feed her the dream feed at 10 or 11 instead of waiting for her to wake you up!

[nossi]

My DS was also sleeping through the night around 7 or 8 weeks (but we always did dream feed and still do - he's 6 months old now).  But a few weeks after I started 4 hour EASY - when DS was around 3 1/2 mo - my milk supply started to decrease.  When I started 4 hour EASY, I also went down to 5 feedings a day (including df).  I was able to bring my supply back up by pumping after feedings and taking herbs.  But I've noticed dips in my supply a couple subsequent times and DS actually lost a little bit of weight at his 5 month checkup.  I was doing an 11:30 df and the supply still dropped.  I should also add that I was in crazy OVER supply when DS was a few months old, so I never had this issue early on.  So I think you need to be extra careful if you started out with an inadequate supply.  My LC said that it's always easier for oversuppliers to boost their supply later on and I've found that to be the case (it usually takes me 2 days to boost my supply). 

And I absolutely agree with the previous poster about how important it is for night feedings to continue in order to maintain your milk supply.  I love the BW book and method and wouldn't have done a thing differently.  But I do think that using Tracy's methods to train a young baby to sleep through the night (as I did) can sometimes compromise milk supply later on.  Prolactin levels are highest at night, so if the breasts are not stimulated at night, they start producing a lot less milk.  I really love my sleep though, so I was never keen on waking in the middle of the night to pump

I hope this helps.  You could always add another nursing session during the day if you find your supply is diminishing. You might also consider finding a way to weigh your baby every week while you make the transition, just to ensure weight gain.  I live in New York City and a lot of the breastfeeding stores here have baby scales.  Breastfeeding support groups would also have baby scales. 

Good luck!