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| Breastfeeding and sleeping through the night! |
| I've been breastfeeding since my daughter was born. I've been consulting a book for help getting her to sleep through the night and they give number amounts as to the amount she should be getting at each feeding. The recommend 24 oz in a 24 hour period but how do I know how much she is getting at each feeding unless I pump and give her a bottle? Any suggestions? The book also says that by week 8 she should only be eating every four hours in a 12 hour span. Does this seem healthy? |
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| Answers: |
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Books can be very helpful, but you shouldn't expect your baby to do exactly as the books say, because all babies are different. Since you can't measure how much your baby is getting, go by her behavior. Does she seem satisfied after you nurse her? Do you feed her on demand? Is she wetting several diapers every day? If yes, then she is getting the right amount. You will know if she is not getting enough. She will be fussy and want to nurse often, and she will not be wetting many diapers.
When I was nursing, my son wanted to nurse about every hour or two, and he wet only one diaper in the first 24 hours after we came home from the hospital. He cried a lot and couldn't be consoled by anything except nursing. It turned out I wasn't producing enough for him and I started supplementing with formula and all of the problems were solved in less than a day. He was wetting diapers, he wasn't fussy and he could go 3 hours between feedings. The problems were very obvious.
To get him to sleep longer at night, I would nurse him right before I put him down for the night and make sure he nursed until he was satisfied. But breastfeeding babies often don't sleep through the night because they need to eat more often. When she starts solids, she will sleep for longer periods of time. |
| posted by Marcia on 07/10/2007 |
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