We have a check up next month with the pediatrician, but in the meantime, I'm curious if anybody else's babies are this way.
A eats ~5 minutes at a time, will only take one breast at each feeding, but eats 12 times a day. Usually four/five of those times are at night. If I offer the second breast he refuses. If I convince him to relatch and eat more, he'll just spit it up within a minute or two.
Am I alone here? Is my baby the only snacker?
grapefruit / 4006 posts
How often are you feeding him? Do you feed him in demand or are you going every 2 hours?
coconut / 8305 posts
At that age, and even until close to 1 year, we were often nurse 10-12 times a day in the daytime & anywhere from 1-5 times through the night.
It's very normal for the mechanics of breastfeeding & a growing bebe. 
pomegranate / 3452 posts
@SleepyMonkey: on demand. I wonder if I am preemptively feeding him though. Like if he went longer and I waited until he had more hunger signs, would he eat more?
grapefruit / 4291 posts
My wee girl only fed one side at a time and was still feeding 8-10 times a day at six months old. A was a very spilly baby so I would feed one side then offer the other thirty minutes later if she was still showing hunger cues - feeding off both sides have me a big laundry problem! Miss A now has 5-7 feeds / sides a day at nine months and only really started dropping feeds at 7-8 months old (she still has 1-2 night feeds).
Breastmilk is digested very quickly and frequency of feeding can also be dependent on the storage capacity of your breasts - I have a friend whose baby is EBF and she only fed four times a day from a young age but her baby did take both sides at each feed.
Frequent feeding is really normal and unless you're having issues with weight gain don't let anybody ever tell you to do anything but feed on demand!! Every baby is different and if you and baby are happy with your system then you're doing great!
Oh - and night feeding is awesome for maintaining supply, particularly if you're pumping and working away from home 
pear / 1642 posts
@aprk: I have a 3 month old snacker, too. I also nurse on demand. I've tried to space out her feedings by waiting for more hunger cues, but I've found that my LO goes from first sign of hunger to screaming in about 2.5 seconds, so that doesn't work for us.
nectarine / 2127 posts
@aprk: We nurse on demand and he probably nurses 10-12x in a 24 hour period. I've never actually counted! Typically during the day, he will go 1-3 hours and he wakes (usually) 1-2x a night. My LO is a big time comfort nurser as well so it's hard to say how much is hunger and how much is just for comfort. I don't wait for him to get really worked up, the moment he stuffs his fist in his mouth, I feed him. If he gets worked up first he's more prone to spit up or have painful gas. Sometimes if I wait too long, it's really hard to get him to calm down and nurse.
Eta- lo is 3.5 months
pomegranate / 3452 posts
@runsyellowlites: I guess I never really give it a second thought until I start comparing him to other babies. Stupid, I know.
pomelo / 5093 posts
My baby nursed 12 times a day until a year, at least. Maybe 18 months. And not for five minutes, goodness. Some babies just like it really frequently - I figured that I had less milk, more often. Maybe you're the same.
pomelo / 5621 posts
We are still nursing tonnes. Pretty much every two hours in the day and sometimes a bit sooner, the odd time a bit longer. He takes both sides almost every time, but the amount of swallowing really slows down after about 5 or so minutes and he usually spends about 15 min on each side. And lately he is nursing 4-5 times a night.
As tired as I am I figure he knows when he is hungry and how much he wants.
It is nice to know other babies are nursing as often.
grapefruit / 4006 posts
@runsyellowlites: looking at the other responses, it looks like its normal! i was going to say if you were feeding him preemptively, then try waiting until baby gets really hungry and see if he does a longer feed or wants both sides. if that doesn't work, then it looks like you have a snack-y baby!
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