EASY and growth spurt feedings??

[aj's mom]

I am relatively new to EASY and have not yet gone through a growth spurt with DD on the EASY plan... before we were on it it was pretty much whatever she wanted - she would eat whenever she decided and I knew when she was going through a growth spurt because she would always want to eat and for a long time.

Now that I am on the 4 hr easy, and DD is 5 months old, I am preparing for her 6 month growth spurt and am worried about how I will know when she is having her growth spurt.  If she is hungry between feeds, what do I do -feed her?  That sounds silly but do I keep with the 4 hr feed schedule and she will just want to eat more or should I feed her whenever she wants for that period of time?

I know that for a few days before a growth spurt, babies will want to nurse frequently to get the supply up for the upcoming event but if I abide to the 4 hr feedings, when will my supply get big enough to support her growth spurt?

Does this question make sense?  I am just worried I might starve DD when it comes time for the growth spurt.

Thanks for your answers!!

[daisymelan]

You definately won't starve your lo!  I promise you.

I guess you have a few options.  One is that you could go to a 3 or 3.5 hour routine during that time. 

The other thing you could do is do a cluster feeding in the evenings, upping the # of calories. 

The reason I am certain you won't starve your lo is because they will likely have night wakings if they aren't getting enough day time cals.  This will be a good indication that she's about to hit the growth spurt.

[Samuel's mum]

Yup, you need to feed her more. That way your supply will be adjusted and grow to keep up with her. If you don't respond to her cues and stick to 4 hours you are likely to run into supply problems pretty quickly. You could use a bit of EAEASY with teeny activities and still keep her sleeping the same. To be honest I would feed on demand during a growth spurt and I would just accept it's an unusual few days but so important if I wanted to breastfeed successfully in the future. You'll be fine. She definitely won't starve and she'll let you know if what you are doing doesn't work!

[Samuel's mum]

I've just read daisymelan's post. She's had more recent EASY experience than me! She is right that you may get more night wakings through hunger - what is her night like at the moment?

[aj's mom]

Thanks for the responses.  I guess I will let her eat when she needs to for those few days and then we can go back to feeding every 4 hrs, and you are soooo right, she will probably wake more at night to feed if she is not getting enough.

Right now I put her down after her 7pm feed, DF at 11, she wakes anywhere between 1:30 and 4 for a feed, and then she is back up at 6:30, then feed at 7am.