New Mom With BF ?

[bucki]

Hello Everyone
I am a new mom baby is just a week old. My husband and I are looking to try to get our baby on EASY, my question is this. If I start BF at 9:00am, baby eats until 9:30, when should I breast feed again do I take the start time or end time for feedings? If I am feeding every 3 hours would it be 12 or 12:30? Thanks for any help it is very intimidating to be a new mom, trying to bf etc. Thank god for forums like this!
Cathy

[LucyA]

Hi Cathy, it's 3 hours from the start of one feed to the start of the next. So if a feed starts at 9, next feed should start at 12.
How's everything going? Don't worry, in a few weeks it all gets a bit less scary!

[rachelle26]

HI Cathy,

Congratulations on your new little one... it's so exciting.  I'm a new mom as well, my baby boy is 2 months old today.  I started my baby out on a 3 hour EASY from the beginning.  What you would do count the 3 hours from the beginning of every feed.  So if you start at 9 then your next feed would be noon... it will take them 30 minutes or even more while they are still so little to eat... but trust me they do get more efficient.  Mine used to take 45 minutes and now it's about 10-20 and he's only 8 weeks old.  Also, keep in mind don't stress yourself out in the first few weeks if your baby wants to eat more often than every 3 hours... a lot of times they will although when they are this young they mostly sleep all the time so be sure to wake your baby at the 3 hour mark to feed... otherwise a lot of times they will keep sleeping and sleeping.  I know the old verbage of never wake a sleeping baby... but be sure to do it... :-)  

Hope that helps... good luck,
Rachelle

[GraceKellysmom]

Sometimes newborns need to eat more often than 3 hrs, so if he needs to eat every 2 hrs, that is fine. EASY is more of a cycle, a rhythm, EAT-ACTIVITY-SLEEP-YOU, with the "activity" at this point being a diaper change and that's about it. And contrary to what the previous poster said, I always woke my babies to eat during the day but not at night. I wouldn't let them go more than 3 hrs during the day between feedings or they would wake more often at night, getting their days/nights mixed up.

[rachelle26]

I agree with not waking babies at night... I always waited until my LO woke me during the night time... but it was normally no more than 4 hours.  :-) 

HOpe things are going well... good luck!

[Windsurfer's mum]

Hope you are enjoying the special new born time, it goes so fast. I fed Kai every 3 hours  between 7am and 11Pm and did my best to keep him from sleeping too much! I did not wake him in the night he woke me for food that was until 111111111110 weeks when he slept till 7am (I did not sleep as I kept wondering when he would want food!)
good luck
clare

[rubylou's mum]

Hi i'm also a new mom, my lo is 3 weeks and 2 days.  I've been trying to use E.A.S.Y since Monday.  My question is this my lo feeds, I change her nappy, she seems ready to sleep but 10 mins later she is awake with what i think is wind.  She cries a lot and is sick sometimes 3 or 4 times over the next hour.  The only way to calm her down is to put her over my shoulder and keep tapping her bottom.  This all takes about an hour then she finally goes off to sleep, usually on my shoulder.  So when should I wake her to feed??  If I leave her she will sleep from 2 to 4 and a half hours!!   This seems to happen only during the day, i'm not having too much problems with night time.  A neighbour has suggested using infacol before each feed any feedback would be much appreciated!!

[daisymelan]

Congrats to you new moms and good for you for trying to breastfeed.  Hang in there, it will get easier!

Rubylou's mom:  Do you burp you lo?  I didn't at frist cuz someone told me bf babies don't need it, but my lo did.  Also, I'm not trying to scare you, but is it possible there is something wrong wiht you lo?  My little one threw up lots at the beginning and now on relfection I think he had reflux, maybe do a little research and see if it may be something your little one has... especially if lo is in pain for that long.  And if you lo sleeps for 2 hours, then great!  They do a lot of sleeping at that age.... but I'm sure some mama can maybe help you better than me.  Good luck!!!

Cathy:  No one told me until ds was born that it's start to start.     I thought it was three hours from when they finished.  Good luck to you!!! 

[TysBetha]

Hi...I'm another new mom...gave birth to my son 2 weeks ago on my 35th birthday.  Got Tracey's book from my best friend...mom of 2..it is keeping me sane right now.

Tyler seems to have taken to a 3 hour schedule with no problem...but I have some specific questions.  I'm BF...he takes as long as 40 min on one side...isn't that too long?   My DH is awesome...we started cluster feeds right away...they don't seem to make any difference.  DS slept for an extended night once this week (one 4-hour block).  Is it too soon to try this?  The book says to keep the Dream feed even if you drop the CF...DH handles that very well.  And we just flipped his days and nights...he falls asleep in someone's arms or the swing but stays asleep in his crib at night.  The CF sort of takes him off of the 3-hour schedule...how do I get back on schedule?  Just sort of hold him off for an hour to get back on schedule the next day?

But he won't sleep in his crib during the day.  Falls asleep but jerks himself awake.   I'm thinking that it is too soon to worry about using whatever props I can to get him to sleep.  We swaddle, I have a sleep prep routine, but shushpat doesn't work (too soon for that, too, right?).  We burp, cycle his legs to relieve gas and use gas drops.  This seems to keep him frm getting too gassy.

Sorry this is so long.  I'm so glad you all run this forum.  I'm not used to being this clueless...please help.

Betha