My son is 17 weeks and eats every 1 1/2-2 hours, but he only eats for about 5 minutes on each breast. Sometimes longer, so how do i know how many ounces he is getting? Trust me im changing his diaper all the time and he does one to two poohs a day. When we are out i give hime formula ( still shy to feed in public and he doesn't like cold milk) and he takes 2 1/2 and sometimes 4 ounces. But on the breast i have no clue. My girlfriends son eats like a champ and sleeps through the night, same age. What am i doing wrong, first time mom.
Also he will eat come off cry then go back to eatting, what is that about?
You can't tell, even if you pumped for the same period of time a baby gets milk differently than a pump so it is a different amount.
I know at different times my kids would do the eat, then kind of fall asleep but the minute you took them off they would want to eat again. All perfectly normal. So long as you are feeding when they are hungry don't worry about how many ounces they are getting.
As long as he is gaining weight and happy do not worry about how many ounces he is getting.
My hospital had a milk clinic with super accurate scales. Since i struggled with feeding I went in to do a pre nursing and post nursing weight to measure how much baby was taking. It can only be done with a really expensive and accurate hospital scale. Any lactation consultant working through a hospital should have access to one. For me the measurement was critical because of weight loss and below average weight gain in her first month of life.
There are a variety of things that could be happening. Feedings change as the babies grow and mature, too.
Ditto the others' information on the weighing... need a really sensitive scale (reading less than ounces) and weigh before and post feeding.
Some babes are extremely efficient at nursing and it doesn't take long. Some are lazy and only nurse a short time (snacking) and then are ready/hungry again in a very short time. This can happen if they fall asleep early in the feeding. If your baby is falling asleep after 5 minutes, then wake him up and encourage him to nurse longer so he gets a complete feeding. That is how they get the "hind" milk, which is nutritionally different from the fore-milk. And doing so also will (over time) lengthen the time in between feedings. At 4 months, I would think you would be closer to a 3 hour in between feedings time frame. But, every baby is different.
Why does he stop and cry? He could be gassy. Are you burping him midway through the feedings? Or perhaps he is drinking faster than you realize and is frustrated that he isn't getting more milk at a faster rate? Or it could even be that it is his way of complaining that the "hind" milk is harder to get out (it is thicker, so requires a tad more effort on baby's part).
I remember (this has been a decade or so) the school of thought was to switch breasts halfway through the feedings. But that didn't work for us. If I tried to switch breasts, my baby was done. If I let him nurse on one side until he was done, he would take the other side if he was still hungry, AND he got the nutrition of the hind milk from the first breast. Then, at the next feeding, I just started on the "un-used" breast first. It worked for us very well. He was a pretty good nurser. He averaged 15-20 minutes per nursing session. My daughter, on the other hand, was lazy and slow. And I would sit with her for 45 as she would doze off, and I'd wake her, and she'd nurse and doze off and I'd wake her, etc.... just to empty one breast. :/ I didn't have 45 min to an hour out of every 2 hours to spend on nursing, as I had her 3 yr old brother running around to take care of as well. So we went with bottles/formula for her.
Unless he is not gaining weight, then he is probably getting adequate quantity. But if he is only nursing for 5 minutes, then he is probably missing out on the hind milk, and therefore is needing to eat more frequently. If you can get him to nurse longer and get that hind milk, I'd be willing to bet that he will go longer between feedings (both day AND night). :)
Good luck. And remember, all babies and mommies are different, and you have to do what works for you and your baby.
Congrats!
The only way to know that he is getting is to weigh him before a feed and after a feed, but you'd have to have a really good scale for something like that. So long as he is pee'ing and poohing he is getting enough. Also, the older a infant get's the more efficient they get at getting the milk straight out of the tap.
As for sleeping through the night, that's a milestone. Some babies do it almost from the beginning and others don't do it (using no form of CIO) till around 2, sometimes 3. You baby is young, he is breastfed so that means he will eat more. Breastmilk digest a lot faster then formula does.
You don't know how many ounces he is getting, but you don't need to. It is not about number of ounces it is about "enough" to grow and develop. That is actually one of the great things about nursing (once you get over the fear), the baby self-regulates and your body/breasts adjust to his demand. If he nurses for 5 min and starts crying I would burp and try to put him back on the same breast, even wait 5 or so minutes then offer the (same or other) breast again. If he refuses again he is done. It would be nice for you if he nursed longer since it likely would give you a slightly longer break between feedings, but every baby is different, try not to compare your baby to your friend's baby. Sounds like his output, and therefore input, are great. I assume he has been gaining weight at check-ups?
Also, as a side note fresh pumped breastmilk is safe at room temp for 6-10 hours (it has amazing antimicrobial properties built right in!). So if you pumped shortly before going out you could take that milk along and keep it at room temp until it was time to feed. Nursing in public is not for everyone, but most moms get pretty good at it with a little practice. You could get one of those nursing covers and practice with it at home. I liked the ones with a wire in the top that made it arch away from you, giving you (and only you) full visual access to the baby. I preferred to wear a nursing tank when I anticipated nursing in public to cover my tummy from the side (I was more concerned about showing my flabby belly in public than my breast!). My favorite was the Undercover Mama because it allowed me to wear my regular nursing bra and still be covered from the side, it clips to the flap of the nursing bra.
Be confident in yourself and your growing baby. Maybe your confidence would build if you got reassurance from a lactation consultant, possibly a before and after feeding weigh-in. Sounds like you are ding great though. Best of luck to you and your baby.
You already have a lot of good advice. I just want to add one idea about the crying during the feeding. My three kids all tended to do this, but I especially remember it with my first. I think what was happening with him was that I had a powerful letdown and an oversupply of milk. I think this can be quite common with a firstborn since the body really wants to make sure the baby is taken care of. It helped me a lot to google something about oversupply or fast letdown. One recommendation for this is to slightly lessen your supply by only feeding on one side at a time. (This was mentioned as a suggestion already.) It also helped my son when I stopped trying to force him back on (while I dripped or sprayed milk everywhere). He needed a break in order to let the milk slow down on its own.
You don't really need to know how many ounces he is getting, as long as he is having plenty of wet/dirty diapers and is growing you can stop worrying about how many ounces he eats. You aren't doing anything wrong, but you will make yourself crazy if you compare your baby with other babies. Your little guy will sleep through the night when he's ready, he's still too young to worry about it.
The only thing I would suggest is that you might try letting him nurse longer on one side before switching, just to be sure he is getting plenty of the fattier hindmilk. I used to nurse one side at each feeding, my son would empty one side then the eat on the other side next time he was hungry. The hindmilk can help baby feel full for longer.
And try burbing him part way throug the feeding, as the others have suggested.
Good luck :-)
My son is four months old. Since he has been born he almost always eats from only one breast each time. Most of the time he eats for about five mins every 1 1/2-2 hours. At night he varies between waking every 2-3 hours or 5-7 hours. It totally depends. He is a big boy, already weighing 18 pounds 12 ounces so I know he is getting plenty to eat. I just figure he must be very efficient at getting his milk. As far as the crying maybe he needs to burp. Many women have several letdowns during one feeding and the initial letdown can take a couple minutes. He might be impatient and want it to flow immediately. Or since he is a fast eater maybe he is frustrated with how fast the milk is coming. I would try burping him and then put him back on the same breast. It is impossible to know how many ounces he is getting without a very accurate scale. As long as he has wet diapers and is growing you can be assured he doing well.
Go to your bfing clinic in the AM make sure he has a clean diaper they will weigh him before meal then after he eats to see how many ounces he is taking in.You may want to do this several times a week.
Only eating 5 min at a time you could be producing more than what you think,shy feeding him but replacing breast milk with formula why aren't you pumping and storing your milk in freezer for your outings and giving him breast milk?His crying is either not latched on correctly,gas or just uncomfortable
I want to thank you all for your answers to my question it makes me feel better and helped me out alot. I will start taking breast milk to dinners or just get a cover and get over being shy. I wasn' t able to start freezing my milk till he was at this age because he was born and we moved (military). I have some and trying to get more, but he eats all the time so its like a break when he's not feeding.
I' ll take what everyone said to heart and agian thank you so much. :-)
When he pulls off have you tried burping him and then putting him back on the same side another 5 minutes or so burping again and then switching sides? It sounds like he might be getting a fast supply of milk and needing a little burp :) Also, just check his latch, make sure his little lips are flared out where you can see them around your nipple and that as much of your nipple as can fit in his little mouth is in there. I think if you can get him to nurse a little longer, he may sleep better :) I had a friend with a baby that only nursed like 5 minutes and she was a chunk!! The only down side was she never slept through the night until she was weaned, so that can be h*** o* a mom for sure. Also, you can supplement with formula or one thing I used to do with my first is just take my pump with me and put a cover on and pump in the car before we went in wherever we were going. That way baby had a nice warm bottle and I didn't have to mess with formula. With future babies I just nursed with a cover everywhere, but that can take time to get used to for sure. But I also supplement mine with formula when out after six months, so that is perfectly fine, just giving you another idea if you want to try it, but it is a pain to do it!! Good luck :)
You are over thinking this. If he's going to the bathroom, gaining weight and an otherwise seems healthy then he's getting plenty to eat. Watch out for those formula bottles if you want to continue bresatfeeding. Too many and you'll mess up your milk supply.
The awesome thing about breastfeeding is that when not tampered with the feeding relationship between Mom and baby takes care of itself. He needs more milk, you make more milk. If you supplement too frequently you'll mess up the balance. If you really want to feed him with a bottle occasionally you should pump and use expressed milk so you aren't missing a feeding yourself.
Sounds like you're doing great, good job Momma!
