Hello!

I can’t seem to fill up my breastfed baby – Hey mums. My daughter is 6 days old & is a breast fed baby, I’m a young mum & I just can’t seem to fill her up. Less than an hour after every feed she is crying wanting for more. Just cant seem to settle her please help me! x

Posted by Emma, 18/10/13

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  • Is your baby putting on weight? Babies often feed a lot when they are newborn to stimulate milk production. It can be super tiring but once the milk is established it should ease up a bit. If you are concerned and/or your baby is not putting on weight speak to your health nurse and maybe try supplementing with some formula.


  • my gf had the same issue – she started adding a formula bottle too, as she was told by midwife her milk wasn’t enough. It worked, she felt guilty for a bit, but her baby thrived!


  • Try just feeding off one breast each time you breastfeed as it takes a little bit for the more fat filled nutritious milk to come through so if you feed a little from both each feed your baby may be filling up on the more watery milk and not receiving the more filling milk :)


  • I went through the same thing with both my boys,admittedly one was older, but the youngest one was the same, he’d take an hour to feed and be wanting another feed in 2 hours. this wasn’t just happening during the day, it was happening at night too so it was a complete 24hr nightmare. I had been through all the support with my eldest boy to no avail so it was basically with the help of a girlfriend who would come round each day so i could just get some sleep to cope. What i did with my eldest boy as much as i didnt want to was i used a supply line, then a girlfriend suggested to me to try him on some very milky weetbix (way before it is suggested). Well he wolfed it down, so i went out and bought some powdered meals (i dont think they are still available) and added heaps of milk to them so they werent real solid and that helped heaps


  • Could be bub isn’t getting enough at feed time, could be your milk isn’t nutritious enough, could be (seeing you’re a new mum) that you’re misreading the sign and maybe it’s not a hungry cry


  • Talk to your health nurse. If bub isn’t putting on weight, maybe your milk isn’t any good, you might have to switch to formula. That’s not such a bad thing. Being a young mum, maybe you’re just stressing and that affecting your milk production?


  • New feeding
    Her, it will help establish your supply, she knows what she needs and your breasts are designed to meet those needs


  • a lot of mums do mixed feeds where you breastfeed and top up bub with formula :)


  • I hope things got easier for you and you are now feeling more confident as a mum.


  • Babies sort out your milk production, in the first few days babies may feel like they are feeding non stop, they do this help increase your milk supply. This is why bub gets weighed so much in the first month, as long as baby is putting on weight all is well! you will find things settle down in time, it is important however not to supplement feeds.


  • They do feed constantly that young and its good as they are stimulating your milk supply. my advice would be to get comfy either in bed or on the lounge and get food and water and phone handy get ready to nurse down. It feels like your whole day and night early on but it soon passes and they start taking bigger feed and feeding less often


  • I’m sure you are doing a great job, our bodies and our babies know what to do , by day six an increase in feeding frequency is a good sign, she’s telling your body to make more milk!


  • there are some good comments here


  • maybe ask a doctor :)


  • Been there myself. I ended up top up feeding my second child as he was a really hungry bubba. Talk to your lactation nurse. It may be fine now or maybe when bub is older. Your breastfeeding is supplied on demand make sure you are drinking loads of water yourself.


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