Can newborns be over breast fed?

Question

My newborn (16 days old) has just recently started to eat and eat less then every hour. She will eat for 30 minutes or more sleep for not even 10 minutes wake up and cry wanting to eat again. Once I feed her again she will sleep for less then 10 minutes again wake up wanting more. This has been going on all day and i'm worried i'm overfeeding her. Is this possible? Or am I just worrying for no reason?

My newborn (16 days old) has just recently started to eat and eat less then every hour. She will eat for 30 minutes or more sleep for not even 10 minutes wake up and cry wanting to eat again. Once I feed her again she will sleep for less then 10 minutes again wake up wanting more. This has been going on all day and i'm worried i'm overfeeding her.

She will pretty much nonstop eat with little sleep and then wake up and eat again for a long period time, sleep for 5 minutes and eat for another 30 minutes all day long

Answer 1

you can never over breastfeed a baby. They will only drink if they are hungry.
Because she isnt sleeping for long periods and wanting feeds so often. It sounds like she might be needing extra burbs. Because the gas pains hurt babies natural reflex to make themselves feel better is to suck.
So let her feed for 10-15 min then burb her for another 10 min. Then feed again. Even if she falls asleep you can burb her. Hopefully this will help and increase her sleep time. She may also be experiancing a grotwth spurt. At these times babies feeding and sleeping patterns get all out of whack.
Different burbing positions:
# Place her on your shoulder and gently pat/tap her back or rub in a circular motion.
# Lay her on your legs, with her head at your knee's (remember to suppourt her head) and legs at your groin, pat/tap back or rub in circular motion. (Thsi is great as the added pressure on their tummies helps them burp)
# Hold her in one arm on her belly, either with her head in your hand, legs dangling either side of your arm and pat/tap or head in the crook of your elbow with legs dangling. Thsi one worked great for my daughter.
# sit her on your knee, leaning her slightly forward, remebering to suppourt her head in one hand by holding her chin/face and patting on back.

I just though I'd add them, because some babies prefered to be bburped or burb better in different positions.

Try this it should help her sleep better and be full at each feeeding. Good Luck with it all

Answer 2

Her behavior seems very typical for her age. Newborns will nurse for what seems like all the time for the first 2 weeks or so. Just let them - it will help establish your supply. You can try to guide her into a more regular sleeping and eating cycle, but it is not possible to overfeed her.

Some suggested making sure she has gotten a full meal before falling asleep by keeping her awake. You can do this by rubbing her back, playing with her toes, burping her or changing her diaper. When she wakes up after only being asleep 10 minutes, she is not really hungry, but she needs help getting back to sleep and staying alseep.

You might try wearing your baby in a sling or baby wrap. And a book/DVD that really helped me is "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp, MD :
http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/

Answer 3

No, you can not overfeed her. So you don't have to worry about that. My first was like that. He wanted to nurse all the time, but he was fine. It only lasted a few weeks. It could be she is not drinking as much per session and she is actually using you as a pacifier. Perhaps she is not feeding vigorously and is taking her time? (again my first was this way :)

It could be she is just going through a little stage and it may pass. As long as you are eating right, getting plenty of fluids and taking your prenatal vitamins I would not worry. If you were overfeeding her she would be vomiting it up. It doesn't sound like that is the case. So I wouldn't worry. If it continues I would speak to your pediatrician about it. But I think she is probably just fine.

Congratulations!

Answer 4

She is building up your milk supply. She may not really need to eat this often but she may feel best when she is on your breast. My cousin had this happen and she went on medication to increase her milk supply. It still took the baby a few months to go longer between feedings. At around 3 or 4 months her daughter started eating every 3 hours and sleeping for longer periods of time.(she breast fed for a year)

Answer 5

My daughter had times when she was similar to this. It turned out that she had wind and was sucking to get comfort. Try some kind of colic medicine such as infacol as this will help to bring the burps up and make sure you wind her regularly. Also try not to feed her more often than every 2 hours as this will give your breasts a chance to fill up again! Instead try giving cuddles or taking her for a walk to distract her. Baby massage is great for relaxing them and also helps to calm colic pain. When she does feed, make sure she is having a decent amount by waking her if she falls asleep. (I found nappy changing woke my daughter sufficiently) Don't be afraid to call your midwife for advice or talk to friends or family. You never need to feel alone and worried, newborn babies are wonderful but there will always be things that you're unsure of. Rest assured, it does get easier!!!!

Answer 6

It is a hard question to answer...it could be nothing. Babies are so unpredictable and they can't tell us what's wrong, so it makes it difficult. However, when babies are gassy they like to suck, so she should be waking up because of gas pains, and then wants to suck. What seems odd to me is that she only sleeps for 10 minutes. Babies that young usually sleep for a couple hours several times a day. It sound like something is waking her up, and I doubt it is hunger that many times. You can try mylicon drops which relieve gas pains in babies. They sell them at any pharmacy. Walgreens, CVS, Brooks pharmacy, Stop and shop, Wal mart, etc. I don't know how you feel about pacifiers, but that may help too. Also, watch what you are eating, because she may be getting gassy from something you are eating. This could also be the start of colic. I would try to rule things out one by one, and then you will be able to see what the problem is. Good luck!!

Answer 7

You say she is 16 days old but only recently started to eat? Perhaps she is making up for lost time? Honestly, ill bet she is falling asleep at the breast....make sure to keep her awake and activley sucking and SWALLOWING....many people think, well she is sucking in her sleep so thats OK....but not for some...the sucking she does while sleeping is reflexive and she isnt really getting milk from it...she needs to be AWAKE...which is tough, granted...take off her clothes...down to the diaper....whhen she starts to nod off...wipe her down with a cold wet washcloth....make sure she is awake and sucking for at least 10 minutes PER SIDE before you let her rest...also, when she cries 10 minutes later....do you really think she is hungry? she probably just misses being held....there is not solution for that...thats how babies are built!

Answer 8

Newborns..oh the stress.
first congrats.

second..her schedule is messed up.. thats all.
Isshedrainingyour breasts..both of them?? If she isnt properly latched on, she wont feed well, then will seem to be hungrey more.
There is a la lache website that can give you pointers. if all else fails, call your local midwife or breastfeeding guide( i am sure your pediatric doc can help with that.)

dont stress..it WILL work its self out. remeber that if she is draining your breasts,try a binkie, swaddling etc to hekp her sleep longer. she needs sleep just asmuch as breast milk.


good luck Mommy.

Answer 9

she might be in a growth spurt so needs to eat more during this period. Your breasts may not yet caught up with her demand yet.

breastfed babies eat on demand, if you do over feed her, she'd probably spit up.

If she's bottlefed, she is probably hungry, again if she spits up, she ate too much. Each baby's different. My mother in law said that my husband was such a big eater, the nurses were astonished. They encouraged bottle feeding back then and the nurses thought my mother in law was stealing extra milk until she showed them the empty bottles. All the baby pictures, my husband had rolls on top of rolls. He lost all that baby fat when he started crawling =)

Answer 10

My daughter use to be kind of like that. I always thought I was over feeding her, because of what everyone use to tell me & she would get up so much just to feed, and it was like every 15-30 minutes.
but some doctors say that you should just feed your baby when they want, like if they suck there fist or they start rooting for your breast you should feed them.

so dont sweat it . shes not on a schedule yet, so just go as it comes. you`ll be fine :)