How to reconcile EASY and BF?

[sprinke]

OK, DH and I want to start LO (almost 5 mos) on EASY because his sleeping is horrible ... can't self-soothe, short naps, night wakings. Based on what I've read he should be on a 4-hour EASY schedule. But my lactation consultant says that in order to maintain good supply we should still be nursing 8+ times per day. Even with cluster feeding at night it doesn't seem like enough.

For example: feeding at 8, 12, 4, 6, 8 plus a dreamfeed is only 6 feedings ... we would still need one or two night feedings ...

How do other BFing mamas on EASY deal with this?

[Katet]

Is your Lo having poor weight gain? Then I can understand the 8 feeds BUT My youngest who was more or less on EASY was actually only feeding 4-5 BF in 24hours (3 days sleeps & he was at over the 99% for weight (most days he'd feed 7, 11, 3 & then 6 & 7... somedays refuse the 6pm... he only fed for 5-7mins each time)
my other son (my first), also a 99% BF baby was only doing 5 BF  feeds by 5mo.
Both babies were bf past 12mo (13 & 17months).
I know there are others with more expertise than me, but I would have said 8 feeds was normal at 1month old, but by 5months, I would think you have a baby who is snacking & not getting full feeds. 

 

[Samuel's mum]

I guess it's going to depend on your history. The LLL advise 8-12 feeds for a newborn. But by 5 months 8 feeds aren't a 'requirement'. Feeding to your baby's cues and getting good feeds in are the priority. So it might not be 4-hr EASY but it doesn't necessarily have to be a minimum of 8 feeds. It's what works for him - obviously. Enforcing a rule of 8 feeds could mean a baby who isn't particularly hungry have a feed in which he lacks enthusiasm and therefore doesn't feed fully and get the full quota of hindmilk. I'm not saying it's your situation - but you have to balance information you are given from different sources.
Most LCs and breastfeeding counsellors would advise you to follow your baby's cues before you enforce any 'rules' - whether it be a baby must feed 8 times when they are 5 months old. Or a baby isn't hungry if only 3.59 minutes have passed. The heart of BW is about listening to your baby, seeing what their natural patterns are, ensuring you are responding to the right cues and encouraging good quality sleep.
And 8+ feeds is going to mean very little decent naps in the day and potentially using the breast at night as a prop to transition between sleep cycles.

[sprinke]

Thanks for your replies; they make sense. Poor weight gain is not an issue with us!    And when I look at our current schedule we are really only doing 7 real feeds per 24 hours anyway, plus a variable number (0-3) in the night which are not real feeds but just props. I think I will still need to do one real feed in the night for a while though, around 4 AM, since he really seems hungry then.

[Elizabeth410]

Hello Sprinke, and welcome

I read your other post about PUPD, and since feeding and sleeping are often related, I will discuss both here.

I remember when Sebastien was 4 months old, and I knew all his 'issues' were related somehow (after reading BWSAYP) but I didn't quite know how to tackle the problem, until we figured out we needed him to be on a good 4 hour EASY routine and we kind of needed PUPD to get there.

I started PUPD with Sebastien when he was 4 months old, because he couldn't get to sleep on his own, ever, and he woke up very often in the night. I breastfed him every time because I didn't quite know what else to do. Because of his poor sleep, he was so tired that he would constantly fall asleep on the boob, therefore not eating enough during the day. Hungry babies don't sleep well, and tired babies don't eat well. So we had a sleep problem, and a feeding problem.

PUPD was extremely hard, but after a couple of weeks, he was sleeping through the night, and eating much better during the day.

This is where I get back to the topic at hand: When we started PUPD, we also cut out all the night feeds, and the use of the pacifier, all at the same time. Of course we made sure he ate enough during the day, by trying very hard to keep him awake during feeds. From this point forward, he only ate 5 times per day, including the dreamfeed. He was not 5 months old yet. My supply was fine, and I breastfed exclusively for 9 months.

If you decide to keep using PUPD but are finding it difficult, I suggest you read the success stories. They helped us enormously!

[Bryony]

Hi there, welcome! 

As Emma says it all depends on your situation - and BW is about responding to your LOs cues.  But as an example, at that age my Katie had only 5 feeds a day (7:00,11:00,15:00,18:30 and 22:30) - and now we have dropped the DF so have only 4 per day... it all works perfectly with EASY (and the milk is still coming!) So unless you have some other reason why you think you will have supply issues if you reduce the number of feeds slightly, I am sure you will be fine

Bryony x