The Nursing Baby - Q&A


Kathleen Stransky asks:
My daughter is four-months-old, at five-weeks she began sleeping through the night and was eating about every three hours. However, at about three-months I began to supplement some feedings with formula and for a five day period fed her only formula. While she was on the formula she wanted to eat precisely every two-hours. Now, I am solely breastfeeding and she still wants to eat every two hours, will she ever get back to her previous eating and sleeping pattern? Also, other than Brewer's Yeast is there something that I can take to increase my milk supply?

There isn't a lot of evidence that Brewer's Yeast actually increases supply, but fenugreek seed seems to help quite a few women. Here's a list of more natural galactagogues to try to increase your supply.

But honestly, I wouldn't try any of them unless your baby has the true signs of low milk supply. That includes less than 6-8 wet diapers per day.

Frequent nursing (and every 2 hours is *so* normal) tends to indicate more about your baby's personality than your milk supply. Having more milk may even make your baby nurse more often than less often, if he or she fills up quickly on foremilk rather than hindmilk.

4 and 5 months tends to be a time when babies get more efficient nursing, so every 2 hours may not feel too often if your baby starts nursing sessions that only last 10 minutes. You can definitely expect some changes in nursing patterns in the next few months regardless of introduction to solids.

If nursing seems overwhelming, try nursing baby in a sling where you can still move around instead of being confined to a couch or your normal nursing spot. Some babies will tire of a nursing session quickly if they can't see what's going on while they're in the sling.

Best of luck to you, and Happy Nursing!



These tips are not intended to be medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider if you have questions.


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© 1999 Paula Bobbett Last Update: January 31, 1999