Hi - writing to hear others' experience. My daughter is now 14 weeks old (born 3 weeks early, so 11 weeks adjusted) and weighs just under 9 pounds. We are exclusively breastfeeding. She has never given really obvious hunger cues (except when she's REALLY hungry, and I usually feed her before that happens) so in the beginning we had to make a point of waking her up and feeding her at least every two hours during the day and 3 hours at night so she would put on some weight.
She has been gaining consistently (about 4 oz/week), if not rapidly, ever since, and the ped and LC have both assured me that this is fine. She is growing in length, head circ, seems to be on track developmentally and generally is happy and healthy.
For the last 4 weeks or so I've stopped setting an alarm at night and now she will go 4, 5, or sometimes 6 hours between feeds. During the day we usually nurse about every 2-2.5 hours.
At this point I'd like to work with her on taking longer naps (she currently will sleep for 45 minutes or an hour tops unless I go and pat her butt at about the time she would normally wake up). The thing is, if she sleeps a long time then that often puts us at 8 or sometimes 7 feedings per day, where I have been aiming for at least 8 or 9 feedings.
Is 7 feedings/day enough for my tiny girl? I have a feeling the answer is that every baby is unique, and that I should follow her cues as much as I can but as long as she continues to gain, it's OK. But I would love to hear other people's experience with feeding smallish babies.
I am a fairly small person and DH is quite thin, so it may just be her destiny to be petite, but of course I want to be sure and give her all that she needs!
She has been gaining consistently (about 4 oz/week), if not rapidly, ever since, and the ped and LC have both assured me that this is fine. She is growing in length, head circ, seems to be on track developmentally and generally is happy and healthy.
For the last 4 weeks or so I've stopped setting an alarm at night and now she will go 4, 5, or sometimes 6 hours between feeds. During the day we usually nurse about every 2-2.5 hours.
At this point I'd like to work with her on taking longer naps (she currently will sleep for 45 minutes or an hour tops unless I go and pat her butt at about the time she would normally wake up). The thing is, if she sleeps a long time then that often puts us at 8 or sometimes 7 feedings per day, where I have been aiming for at least 8 or 9 feedings.
Is 7 feedings/day enough for my tiny girl? I have a feeling the answer is that every baby is unique, and that I should follow her cues as much as I can but as long as she continues to gain, it's OK. But I would love to hear other people's experience with feeding smallish babies.
I am a fairly small person and DH is quite thin, so it may just be her destiny to be petite, but of course I want to be sure and give her all that she needs!
