Advice about length of feed in 1 week old

[fidelma]

I guess I am just looking for some reassurance here, or to get on top of any potential problems early on.

dd is just over 1 week old and I'm trying to sort out how often I should feed her as she roots all the time and needless to say the breast stops her crying but she falls asleep very soon after latching on so I'm pretty sure she isn't always hungry. She was 8lbs 1 at birth and didn't lose any birth weight and weighed 8lbs 6 at 1 week. She 'can' last 3 hours between feeds if she is calm and sleeping well (rare but it does happen!). I don't think her latch is great as I just can't get her to open wide but I'm a lot less sore now so I think things must be improving with her latch, I do have to pull out her lower lip every time. She tends to feed for less than 10 mins then fall asleep, then I try (sometimes in vain) to wake her and she may nurse for another 5-10 mins. So really never for more than 20 mins.

This AM I did a yield on one breast. After 10 mins on a manual pump I got 3 ozs, another 5 mins with the pump got a few more drips but nothing much. I then manually expressed for another 10 mins and got another 1oz, and emptied the breast in another 5 mins but again only a few more drips. So I pumped/expressed for 25 mins and got 4 ozs in total.

Do you think it is safe to assume that she is getting those full 4 ozs in her 20 mins? I see the BW book says a baby will always be more efficient than a pump. Is 4 ozs about right or should I work on increasing my supply?

Sorry to be so 'facts and figures' about it, I just thought I would be able to relax about it if I reassured myself all was well. I could also then stop assuming she was hungry every time she cried.

TIA
Fidelma

[Samuel's mum]

I think it's safe to assume that what you are pumping doesn't indicate fully what she is getting. I would say she could well be getting more than 4oz.

This quote comes from an article on pumping I got from a kellymom.com link (it was in red on there too):

NOTE: It cannot be stressed enough that the amount of milk you able to pump is NOT ever a reliable indicator of how much milk you are producing, nor how much milk baby is taking in. The healthy breastfed baby is usually much more efficient at getting milk from the breast than a pump is.

What you've described (the falling asleep during a feed stuff) is so normal for a baby of her age. Her weight gain has been really great. It doesn't sound like you have ANYTHING to worry about from what you've said. You certainly don't have a reason to worry about supply from what you've said. By all means read about how to increase supply and make sure you are hydrated and rested. However I would try and avoid too much pumping when your baby is only a week old. It's best to let her feeding develop your supply to meet her needs. Some babies at a week feed much more regularly than every 3 hours but not all.
Trust your instincts and congratulations on a great start.

[fidelma]

thank you. I shall just relax then and let her get on with it at her own pace.