feeding on demand for 11 week old

[rakishchick]

i feed baby around 7pmish, then we put her down to sleep for the night and i feed on demand throughout the night until about 6am ish. between those times, she will wake up to eat 2-3x.
i am interested in feeding on demand during the day. right now i try to feed her every 2-3 hrs so that i get in at least 5 feedings. sometimes i wake her up from naps to feed her. she is staying awake longer between feedings but when she gets fussy, i always ask myself if i should feed her again and then put her down for a nap or put her down for a nap and wake her for the next feeding which is in less than half an hour. i've done both but am wondering what others have done. weight gain was an issue up until 2 weeks ago which is why i was feeding her on schedule.

thanks!

[CherryBombMama]

if my ds fusses and if he doesnt stop fussing when i change his position/pick him up, i always offer him the boob first, no matter what time he drank milk last. if he is the least bit hungry, he will nurse. if not, i try to put him to nap.

if youre wondering if you should feed her, i dont see any harm in trying :)

[tibeca]

Especially if weight gain is an issue, I would always offer nursing first. That way, if she falls asleep nursing, you accomplish both things, feeding her and her getting her rest. Really, under just about every situation, I offer nursing first, and then try other things second. There's no reason to wake baby up again, if she just nursed.

So, I would start charting when she is nursing and only wake her to nurse if it has been 3 hours (or more) since the last time. Listen to your baby. Nurse her when she asks. Offer when she hasn't asked in a while. And if she is awake, and you start leaking, offer to nurse (its natures way of keeping you from going too long between nursings).