Pediatrician says I’m nursing my 4 week old too often - not sure what to do

[phillips]

@christopher000 Fire your doctor.
Feed that baby.
End of story.

 

[jcsites]

@christopher000 Umm when my baby was that little he was on the boob like constantly.

 

[gracepixie]

@christopher000 My paediatrician said the same thing when I told him baby was feeding very frequently around week 6. He said to feed every 3 hours. I told this to my LC and she said that their recommendations are going to be different and she advised to feed as often as the baby needs. I ended up feeding my baby on demand as my LC advised - yes, it was a more difficult route but now at 15 weeks baby is growing well, sleeping longer stretches, supply is great, etc!

 

[lonelynlost87]

@christopher000 Uh. It felt like my girl was cluster feeding every single day for the first 10-11 weeks. She's 12 weeks now and only just seems to be more interested in play than reading

 

[nature74]

@christopher000 Get a new pediatrician or just ignore the advice. Your baby is fine. You nurse on demand, give her her needs. My babies were over 90% , they're just good eaters and my oldest is three now doing fine and my youngest will be one, I'm still nursing him. He spaced out feedings on his own, when your baby is ready to space out feedings, she'll do it. Babies are smart and we should just let them take the lead instead of trying to control their schedules like robots !

 

[qwertykb]

@christopher000 Plain and simple- ignore this drs piece of advice if you are comfortable nursing at the frequency you currently are. Drs can be very knowledgeable but they don't know everything and they certainly don't know your baby. There is nothing wrong with comfort nursing. Trust your gut mama!

 

[bfaithful922]

@christopher000 What's wrong with comforting a baby? As adults we use food, touch, warmth and cannabinoids for comfort. Breastmilk has all of those. That's why babies want it. That's also why pacifiers were invented. To replace the breast. If you can. Do it. It's healthy for you both. Besides baby's get thirsty too. There are many reasons a baby would nurse aside from hunger

 

[alexsanders]

@christopher000 My ped told me to feed on demand. Either she wants it cuz she hungry or wants it cuz she wants comfort, either way I am meeting a need for a healthy happy baby.

 

[tickingclocker]

@christopher000 Not a doctor but both my babies gained crazy amounts of weight their first month because they were always at the breast. The did not sustain that rate as they got older, but my Ped just said keep feeding whenever they want! He said fat babies are healthy babies.

 

[sarahdosher]

@christopher000 My second had very fast weight gain early on and nursed a lot. Both the pediatrician and the lactation consultant thought it was great, warned that her weight gain would probably be slow later on (it was,) and said to nurse on demand. Nursing on demand if possible is standard advice for quite a bit older babies.

If it is working for you, I think you should keep doing it. If the frequent nursing is a problem than you can try other things, but it doesn't sound like it is a problem for you.

Also, I don't think your pediatrician is very knowledgeable about breastfeeding. If you are uncomfortable with going against her advice, I'd ask if there was a medical concern had with comfort feeding or get a second opinion. Babies definitely do cluster feed after 4 weeks. It does settle down as they get older, but I think 6 weeks is a pretty common crazy cluster feeding time.

 

[cottonmather]

@christopher000 Tell them to stick a sock in it. Your baby is a month old, nurse on demand and keep that connection.

 

[ruff24]

@christopher000 New pediatrician yesterday.

You’re so in the right here.

 

[charity1]

@christopher000 Ask your ped for studies/proof that "comfort nursing" is a bad thing and that babies after 3 weeks should never again eat less than 2 hrs apart. There is no science behind what's she's saying. It's harmful to you and harmful to the baby and is actually bullshit.

Ask her if the last time she ate two times within two hours was when she was 3 weeks old??

 

[shortsinger]

@christopher000 Omg I remember in the beginning when my daughter used to cluster feed.. she wanted to be put back on every 15 to 30 min after being on for like 45min. Those times were so hard. Then she moved on to wanting boob every 1.5hrs for months but that’s when she had breastfeeding down so she would only nurse for tops 15min at a time. Don’t worry about anyone else’s opinion on what your schedule should be. Your baby knows when she is hungry and it’s as simple as that. My feeling is that if she uses me for comfort sometimes.. so be it. And after a while they self regulate to a certain extent. Like I said, she went from probably mostly comfort nursing to only 10-15min sessions. Now she’s 20mo and feeds for less than 5min when she wakes up and before going to sleep, if I’m home she’ll feed before her nap too so now for sure it’s purely for comfort.

 

[sdebow13]

@christopher000 My son did this every night for a couple hours as well. And my first son did it with bottle feeding. I think it's pretty normal, I say go ahead and do it, it won't last forever. You're not force feeding her, and if it makes you both feel better and more peaceful, I see no harm in it.

Good luck, you're in the thick of it but it'll get easier. Go with your gut!

 

[brod]

@christopher000 Nurse till your heart’s content my Child health nurse says feed on demand no matter how soon it may be the time is just there so you don’t underfed because newborns can be sleepy it’s more so a guide. If I fed how often the guild told me for my 4.5 month old he would call child services on me. (3-4 hours he eats ever 1.5-2)

 

[blaise358]

@christopher000 Give that baby as much boob as you both want!

 

[suluwayne]

@christopher000 Keep feeding. From my experience, it builds trust in LO knowing you will feed on demand. In doing so. I found my babies leading to self ween because I believe they felt like I wasn’t withholding at any time.

 

[epiphany777]

@christopher000 Funny. I got told comfort nursing was impeding growth when my son was that age. smh

 

[akshatha]

@christopher000 Babies grow in the womb based on the conditions. Things like your health, your diet, how the placenta is etc.

Outside the womb they grow based on their genetics and their own circumstances.

Maybe your baby was ment to be a bigger baby. My little girl started in the 11th percentile for weight and by her Four Week appointment she was in the 32nd percentile for weight. Today at her Four Month appointment she was in the 66th percentile for weight.

Her doctor (Family doctor, not a ped) hasn't said a thing about her eating too much or gaining too fast. Not to brag, but she's been called "perfect" everytime. /jk