Chat about frequent feeders? (4months+ feeding 2to 3 hrly)

[Lewa2]

Hi there. Anyone want to chat about their frequent feeders? Liam is 4.5 months old and isn't gaining weight well. I am some how supposed to feed him 8 times (or more!) in 14 hours (he sleeps through 10 hours at night) plus a bottle and a solid meal.

I feel like all I do is feed, feed, feed (can anyone say moo). I'm just wondering how others are coping. I'd love to hear how your going!

[barbaraz78]

I am some how supposed to feed him 8 times (or more!) in 14 hours (he sleeps through 10 hours at night) plus a bottle and a solid meal.

Why are you supposed to give him so many feeding sessions? I am not an expert at all, but at 4.5 mo my DS was feeding every 4 h, with a total of 5 session feeds (with a NF near the morning wu) and we only introduced solids at 6 mo. I know that many bf babies can't make 4 h, but so many feeds seem to much to me for a 4 mo, and there may be risk of snacking, instead of taking full feeds.

[Lewa2]

Yes it isn't the norm. L is gaining weight very slowly and just got a tongue and lip tie released, so I have to feed him often to build his weight up. The paed also suggested we start solids early to help with weight and bf'ing issues.

[barbaraz78]

As I said, I am not really an expert, so I hope that bf experts here will help you better. But what I was told when I was bf my DS was that if bf sessions were too frequent for his age and he wasn't able to take a full feed at every session, he would have lost the most fat part of the milk, that comes after the light and sweet initial bm. So, encouraging snacking would have had the opposite effect of decreasing the total amount of calories he could get. Just to put this on the table as a possibility...

[Lewa2]

Thanks Barbara. This isn't snacking though, he had (up until last weeks operation) anatomical issues which meant sucking is tiring and ineffective. Therefore we switch feed (4 sides per session) and have frequent feeds to enable enough milk transfer.

I started the thread to just chat about the difficulties of routine, the impossibility of sleep training and the difficulties looking after other kids at the same time etc when frequently feeding. I was thinking of other people who have medical (or other) issues requiring frequent feeding, rather than checky little ones who snack! Sorry I wasn't clearer in my initial post.

[barbaraz78]

Oh, I see! Sorry to have misunderstood.

[Fiver]

FWIW, adding solids into the mix this early is unlikely to help with weight gain.  Most solid starter foods don't contain sufficient calorific/fat values and just fill a space where milk should be.  There's a great comparison chart here - http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/babyfoodcalories/

I know your paed is trying to get his weight up, but really feel this is misguided help, especially as you're trying to iron out the problems he's had with feeding so far.  Yes, put him to the breast more to encourage and help him relearn his latch, but make sure his positioning and attachment are the best they can be and feed from both sides at each feed with breast compressions added in as flow starts to slow to keep him there for longer and help him get the most hindmilk he can.