Reassure me: babies eat when they're hungry, right?

[YayJennie]

My 12 week old daughter is only nursing 3-4 times every 24 hours.  She'll nurse once in the middle of the night, sometimes, and then 2 or 3 times throughout the day, for maybe 10 minutes tops.  She does appear to get plenty when she does nurse, but to me, that seems like practically nothing!  Maybe that's just because I'm comparing her to my first, who nursed every 2-3 hours for the first 5 or so months.  I offer her the breast several times a day, but she'll either just refuse, or unlatch as soon as I let down.  She's exclusively breast fed, and has never nursed very much (she was sleeping 4-5 hour stretches both at night and for naps at 2 weeks old).  But in the past week or two, it seems like she's hardly nursing at all!

She is a happy baby, sleeps well, and hardly fusses.  She's meeting all the milestones...smiling, laughing and holding her head up.  She was born 8 lbs 7 ozs, and at about 7 weeks old she had a WBV and was up to 12 lbs 6 ozs.  We haven't had her weighed since, but she's still chunky and has grown out of a few outfits, so I'm assuming she's still putting on weight.  So I really have no reason to worry, other than it just doesn't seem like nursing once every 6 hours is enough for a newborn!  Has anyone else had a baby that just doesn't need to eat that much? 

[eclipse]

My dd was like that. She didn't like to comfort nurse and was a really efficient nurser. She only nursed about 4 times a day (and slept through the night) and only for maybe 5 minutes at a time unless she was going through a growth spurt. She was clearly getting enough, because she had plenty of wet and poopy diapers, and she was huge. Like your baby, she slept through the nigyht young (pretty much always slept at least 5 hour stretches at night, 8 hours by 5 or 6 weeks, and a solid 10-12 by 12 weeks. Anyhow, since you haven't weighed her in a month or so, you might do that just to be sure she's gaining, but based on my experience, it could be totally normal.

[YayJennie]

Thank you for replying!  I figured it's probably normal, I've just never heard of a baby that eats so little.  I appreciate hearing that someone else had a baby similar!  I guess I'll just be grateful that she doesn't need to be on the boob all the time, since I have to chase around a toddler all day too!  But I will get her weighed just to be sure she's still gaining and to reassure myself that she's ok :)

[bri276]

Does she have lots of wet diapers?  Output is a good indicator of input.

[crunchy_mommy]

Wow I have never heard of an infant nursing so infrequently!! My DS is the exact opposite, at 2 years old he still nurses more often in an hour or two than your DD eats in an entire day!!!

I might be a little concerned with such low frequency... not so much NOW, since it sounds like she's gaining well etc., but I'd worry that it might negatively affect supply or lead to early weaning. That's just my gut reaction though... maybe it's fine???

[annettemarie]

I am going to move this to our Breastfeeding forum.

[elisheva]

I think as long as you're offering more frequently and she has lots of wet diapers and is growing normally, I wouldn't worry. I would make sure to keep offering more often than she accepts, though, because IME their needs can change according to growth spurts and other developmental changes.

[YayJennie]

She's definitely got plenty of wet diapers and poops 1-2 times everyday, always yellow and "normal" newborn poo.  I am offering quite a bit, and sometimes I think the only reason she eats is because I'm stuffing a boob in her face.  She went 8 hours (mostly awake) the other day and was smiling and giggling.  I couldn't believe she wasn't hungry so I kept offering until she finally nursed!
 

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

Wow I have never heard of an infant nursing so infrequently!! My DS is the exact opposite, at 2 years old he still nurses more often in an hour or two than your DD eats in an entire day!!!

I might be a little concerned with such low frequency... not so much NOW, since it sounds like she's gaining well etc., but I'd worry that it might negatively affect supply or lead to early weaning. That's just my gut reaction though... maybe it's fine???

This is my worry too! 
I have actually been pumping a bit just to be sure my supply doesn't dip, but I've always had an oversupply and we have 60+ ozs in the freezer, so if she did need more and my supply dipped I would have plenty of BM to "supplement" her with while I worked my supply back up.  My son weaned at 14 months...I hope she doesn't wean before then!

[SilverFish]

it might be that your supply is just such that she gets all she needs in one short feeding. she sounds like a strong, efficient nurser too! it may be that she's just not having a growth spurt at the moment and she will eventually start to nurse more? has she even nursed more frequently than now?

either way, it sounds pretty awesome! my dd is almost 1 and nurses ALL THE TIME. she has gone through phases of less frequent nursing though... the one i remember most was around 7 months when she went for about a month regularly nursing only 4 times a day.

[HappyMonkey]

My sisters son is like that too.. since about 5 months he only ever nurses 4 times a day! My 13 month old (almost 14 month old) probably nurses 50 times a day! Seriously.. and she has her whole life!

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by YayJennie 

She's definitely got plenty of wet diapers and poops 1-2 times everyday, always yellow and "normal" newborn poo.  I am offering quite a bit, and sometimes I think the only reason she eats is because I'm stuffing a boob in her face.  She went 8 hours (mostly awake) the other day and was smiling and giggling.  I couldn't believe she wasn't hungry so I kept offering until she finally nursed!
 

This is my worry too! 
I have actually been pumping a bit just to be sure my supply doesn't dip, but I've always had an oversupply and we have 60+ ozs in the freezer, so if she did need more and my supply dipped I would have plenty of BM to "supplement" her with while I worked my supply back up.  My son weaned at 14 months...I hope she doesn't wean before then!

If it helps to know, my dd who was like this nursed until just after her 2nd birthday. She probably would have gone longer, but she turned two as I was entering my third trimester with ds2, and I had very little milk.

I was definitely a shock to have a baby who nursed so infrequently and for such short periods of time after super high needs ds1, but she was just good at getting what she needed fast.