Feeding too frequently?

[First Time Mom]

My ds is 11 weeks today and has always been heavy with the spit up, both during a burping and even well after a feed (like an hour or so). He seems to like to bf 2-2.5 hours during the day and will now go 5-7 hours at night after 7pm. During his night feeds I am somewhat engorged and he gulps and gasps while feeding but rarely spits up afterwards. During his day feeds he seems to feed well but spits up TONS. We figured he has reflux but the ped is not concerned as he is gaining weight well and is a very happy baby.

Now I am wondering if I am feeding him too frequently in the day and if this is causing the heavy spit up? He takes the feed whenever I offer it and I do wait for his signals though signals are hard to read as I realise he now just loves to suck on his hands regardless of hunger. Should I stretch out his day feeds? I hate to "schedule" his feeds and put him off as I do prefer to let him take the lead when it comes to feeding but I wonder if it would cut down on the spit up?

[~ Vik ~]

Hi Marian

I'm mostly bumping this for you so you can get some more thoughts

IMHO, feeding every 2ish hours is really frequent for an 11 week old.  However, if you're going to try stretching out the feeds you need to be careful as there is a growth spurt coming up around the 12 week mark.  You may want to wait until that growth spurt has passed and then very gradually (I mean about 5min every 2-3 days) stretch those feeds out, trying to get yourself to around 3 hours.  Myself, I hate feeding by the clock too, so don't ignore those hunger cues, but your lo may have gotten into a snacking habit and stretching out those feeds should help with that.

What do you think?

[dkitto]

I also had this problem and ((((hugs))) my lo was still going every 2/3 hours at over 4 months old and the nights were getting worse and worse so I got my " The Baby Whisperer: solves all your problems " 

The book said that if your baby is a snacker it could of happened because they want to suckle and not feed ( not sure if you use a dummy or not but we did so would let her have a suck to keep her going an extra 20 Min's ) I think it is so much harder when you bf because you are not sure how much they are getting so it hard to know what to do. I pushed her back bit by bit and she started feeding for long at a time but for longer periods apart, she also started to sleep thought the night  .
My lo was also getting green poo's which can by a sign of to much foremilk also letting me know that she was snacking, not sure if this is a problem for you?

good luck and your get there 

[First Time Mom]

We had nothing but green poo for the longest time (again, my Ped was not concerned) but then it just switched to yellow overnight a few weeks back.

He doesn't cluster feed or df in the evening- he will feed at say, 6pm then fall alsleep and not feed again until 1:30am. He does great throughout the night so I was wondering if this was why he fed frequently in the day(?). He doesn't seem to "snack" he seems to take a full feed each time in the day (my breasts feel emptier and he spits up tons). I know I should switch him so that he feeds more in the evening but I like the fact that he sleeps so well- it lets dh and I spend more quality time with dd before her bedtime.

I think I'll try stretching out the daytime, trying is the only way I will know if he will spit up less in the day.

[~ Vik ~]

Let us know how it goes!