You can't overfeed a breastfeed baby - myth?

I've heard this a few times as a reason for feeding on demand especially as you can't see how much your baby is getting and it seems some babies want to be fed every hour whilst others are happy to go every 4 hours. But then I've also seen that some say due to reflux/colic/wind the baby is wanting more feed because the milk going down them is soothing the symptoms even though they don't actually need the feed and therefore they are overfeeding and gaining too much weight.

So I'm confused - I don't know if I'm overfeeding her - my mum thinks 'i might. Especially as she has thrown up a couple of feeds - projectile vomitted twice in the last 2 weeks and regularly spits up some milk at most feeds. Maybe she didn't really need those feeds although she asked for them, maybe she just wanted the comfort so should I start offering her a dummy instead? She's almost 4 weeks old.

babies often overguzzle and then overflow. it is because they can't work out they are full until they have already had more or something.

whilst yes i suppose technically you are therefore overfeeding if they sick it back up it doesn't matter because they aren't keeping it if they don't want it and too much BM wouldn't do them any harm anyway.

I FF and to be honest I never understood how you could supposedly overfeed a FF baby either because C would turn away when she had had enough or sick it up.

it is true though that when they have colic they want to suck for comfort and this can be confused with wanting milk or sucking on the breast.  We did give C a dummy when we figured out we might be feeding her when actually she just wanted to suck but as I say she was FF so it was a little different. If you are in doubt you would be better at 4 weeks to offer your finger I think to suck rather than a dummy to avoid any confusion with BF.

I *think* I used to just give milk on demand at that age.  I really don't know the 'rules', I just went by MissSun.  I do remember that I seemed to be constantly feeding in the early weeks but it isn't always like that, it does space out eventually.

It might be worth you joining a breastfeeding support group, I went to one a couple of times but a friend of mine went to one and was given a chart of when most babies are having a growth spurt and feed a lot more regularly and she reckoned it was a godsend.

My dad was always saying 'are you feeding that baby again' or 'oo got your boobs out again'.  Used to drive me insane.

Its quite common for babies to sick up a little after feeds - or even to throw up a whole feed that they've happily eaten. Some babies are sick a bit after almost every feed, others don't.

At the newborn stage they're still learning themselves how to feed, etc. And its probably more likely that they've swallowed some air and then puke up the feed that's on top of that rather than they're just overfeeding.

At four weeks I would relax, go with the flow. Don't worry too much about how much your baby is feeding or how often. You can offer your finger - they will suck on that. If the baby starts to cry then you'll know that actually they are hungry. If they happily suck on the finger then they're not hungry and just want to suck.

With breast fed babies they do go through very definite growth spurts where they do want to feed all the time and are constantly sucking on you - this is normal, but you can end up thinking that they can't possibly be hungry.

My daughter had a lot of wind from breast feeding and in fact she didn't want to feed at all when that happened. And you could tell that she was uncomfortable rather than hungry because she would pull her legs up. And after about half an hour or an hour or so she'd calm down again. Whereas if she was really hungry I don't think she'd have calmed down again.

Not sure this makes too much sense - basically don't worry about overfeeding your baby at this stage in their life.

1 WEES re bringing up feeds

Also the quality of BM changes according to the length of feed.  It becomes thicker which means the baby has to suck harder to get the milk. Also it has natural sedativves in it, making it more likely to fall asleep than keep feeding. 

It's always worrying when they throw up - she's not the easiest of babies to burp either.

That makes sense Anastasia - it is funny when you wave a nipple/teeth at them and they so are not interested, mine even smiles cheekily but refuses to open up. I just worry as sometimes she's not on it for very long - like 7 minutes. I'm hoping to express at some point so hope she doesn't get confused.

The only breastfeeding group here is too far to get to at the moment without a car. Sunset - those comments are just so rude. It seems you get judged whatever you do. Some of my family think I should ff too even though I only feed C in a private  room.

C used to want to feed when windy so it's worth making sure they're well burped but essentially you should feed as and when they want it. DOn't try to limit or schedule feeds.

The sicking thing can be because they're growth spurting - they're feeding to put their order in for tomorrow, rather than for what they need today. There's something on Kellymom about it I think - nothing to worry about.

Wind is definitely a problem - it makes her uncomfortable but I can't let her cry it out to calm down especially at night. I do try to get her to get the thicker milk but she often doesn't feed for that long so I'm not sure.

Hazel - whenever I hear growth spurt I secretly dread it. I'd love a fixed schedule of 15/20 minute feeds every 3 hours. It's the ups and downs that throws you - sometimes too much, too little - and then you can't help worrying.

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