Four-week-old never seems satisfied after breastfeeding, is this normal?

[Robyn8]

My daughter is just over 4 weeks old and I have been trying to exclusively breastfeed but she never seems fully satisfied, she can be feeding anywhere between 20 mins to an hour, usually the latter and still want more. Sometimes all I do is sit and feed her and I'm sure that's not right. We've been giving her top ups of formula and usually after a bottle she seems sated for a little while. I know breastfeeding is all about feeding on demand, but the length of time she's feeding for and the fact she always roots or shows signs of still being hungry the second she's done concern me. She tends to fall asleep whislt feeding so the length of time she's feeding for isn't totally accurate.

This is my second and last child, I wasn't able to breastfeed with my first so I really want to be able to do it this time around, but I'm on the brink of giving up. Has anyone else been through this?

Totally normal. Well, mine did this! It seemed never ending… it’s tough but she’s just stimulating your supply / hungry. It does get better - mine is 4 months and breastfeeds every 1-1.5 hours and is much more efficient so the actual feed is about 5 mins. The whole 2-3 hours between feeds is rubbish IMO… baby will eat when they want! It’s so good you’re feeding on demand

I just plugged myself in front of the TV and had him on boob all day…

Totally normal - this is what breastfeeding is like with a very young baby. You and her are not doing anything wrong. She'll feed, doze on the boob, and when you stir her suddenly root and try and relatch and suck suck suck again. As long as she's gaining weight and having lots of wet and dirty nappies each day then she's getting enough and is perfectly content. She'll get less sleepy and more efficient at feeding by ten weeks or so.

Yes, it’s only for a few weeks. You can have a bit of a break by giving a dummy .. took me ages to work this out, though!

Quite perfectly normal! Just keep feeding her. It will eventually settle down once your system has got the message about how much milk she needs.

It’s absolutely normal.

this will be the 4 week growth spurt- she’s constantly wanting to suck to increase your supply- bear in mind it’s demand so the more she feeds the more milk you’ll make. If you top up or try to decrease her feeding time you’ll not get that demand benefit.

watch out for the 8week spurt where your body settles to demand only. You’ll feel like your supply has stopped but it hasn’t- you only make what they take and as they grow they have to feed more into increase the supply to match.

breastfeeding is all about feeding as much as you can.

Totally normal! Instead of giving top-ups, I combi fed my second by doing 1-2 bottles at set times each day. The risk with top-ups is eventually they replace the feed / bottle preference develops. Supply regulates faster by having set times I found.

It’s normal. I couldn’t believe how much time I spent breastfeeding DC1, 13 hours a day sometimes.( Yes I counted and recorded!)The more you let them suck, the more it stimulates milk supply. It does settle down, but I did find I’d spend a whole day every 3 or 4 days doing nothing but feeding up until about 16-20 weeks. Look at it as being your main job, it just doesn’t work like bottle feeding.

Thank you all for the replies, makes me feel less alone to know its not just me.

Is it also normal for her to cry continously unless feeding? She crys non stop unless shes on the boob or asleep, and getting her to sleep is such a challenge. My son wasn't like this and my HV hasn't called me back about the crying so just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.
We always check the obvious signs first like nappy, hot, cold, hungry etc but her crying is constant.

I’m going to go against the grain here and suggest you get her checked for signs of a tongue tie and reflux. How is her weight gain? Plenty of wet and dirty nappies? Any sign of discomfort or wind?

My first was similar, but he was relatively settled in between (long, constant) feeds. He had a tongue tie which was missed by professionals. I now have a 5 week old (who has a tongue tie which is far less restrictive, and who has good tongue mobility, so we are monitoring). The difference is huge! Comfortable feeds, quicker, satisfied baby.

I recommend getting a professional opinion.

Hiya, that's less normal. That sounds like she might have reflux. I think the suggestion of checking for a tongue is worth it too (although you'll be best to go privately as midwives are not good at spotting these). If weight gain is good and she's tracking on or above her centile then she's getting enough, but if crying/refluxy and not gaining quickly then I'd say a tongue tie is more likely x

Are you offering both breasts? So feed one side till she unlatches, then offer the other side until she unlatches. When you start the next feed, start from the side you last fed on. Your milk is enough, you don’t need to top up. Plus a four week old will feed for an hour easily. Also look up cluster feeding. My second child used to cluster feed from 5-9pm every night for about the first 6 weeks. It’s to build up your supply

Re your reply, is she windy? The crying could be colic. I used infacol which helped

Completely normal 😍

The almost constant feeding is normal but the constant crying unless feeding is less so.
A period of crying every day is normal- even a long period. But constant crying apart from when feeding isnt right and I'd say needs investigation. Does baby have any time at all of seeming content and calm?

Thank you for saying this. My four month old seems to want to feed hourly and I’m really struggling with getting out and about without immediately making a beeline for somewhere I can breastfeed. Worried it was my supply meaning she wasn’t lasting the full 2-3 hours.

Hi momma! Just want to say well done for your feeding journey. I just wanted to say please get a feed looked at by a trained breastfeeding professional. health visitor will say latch looks good but there is more to it then looking good.

I also wanted to say at this age regardless how full she is due to her suckle reflex she will still drink. If liquid hits back of her throat she will swallow it. So it’s not a true indicator to how much breast milk she is getting from you.

baby wearing will help her feel close to you as they feel so insecure at this age as everything is new and scary. She is growing and changing and learning new skills.

sounds like you are doing an amazing job. It does get easier with the cluster feeding. Wonder weeks is so helpful as it notifies you of development leaps which causes increased fussiness ❤️

If she has reflux, she may not be feeding that much, and using you as a dummy. Is she gaining weight well? How does she react to formula, is she settled and content after it or does she sick up and cry a lot?

Ds1 had CMPA and really severe reflux. He lived on the boob, but only ate the minimum he needed to survive, so was hungry a lot. He gulped down formula, but it made him cry much more and sick up a lot.

In the end he had to go on medication and me on a dairy free diet, but we did turn it around very successfully and he went on to bf for over two years.

Is weight gain going ok? Mine behaved similarly and my concerns were dismissed by midwives, other mums etc as “totally normal” for breastfeeding.

And it turned out my milk had only partially come in and she was very hungry! Please get it checked out. Mine was like a different baby once she was properly fed.

The key consideration is weight gain. If she’s broadly tracking her curve, all good. If she’s not, then you know she isn’t getting enough.
That doesn’t mean you have to stop breastfeeding though - I have combo-fed two babies mostly breastmilk via nursing, with some extra formula, then at a year switched to breastmilk plus cows milk. It worked really well for us!

Thanks for all your messages. She's gaining weight well so I know she's getting enough. Same with wet and dirty nappies, she's definitely hitting the mark for them! The crying is mostly when she's not with me. We thought it might be Colic and have tried drops but to be honest I dont think they made much difference. She's not a sicky baby, she might have a little spit up if she's not got all her wind up and lays down but other than that shes not usually sick. Her latch is really good so I havent suspected tongue tie. But I will book an appointment tomorrow to get her checked out, just for my own peace of mind.

Normal - happened to my friends and I - after time we had to supplement with formula, we just were’t producing enough. It may well be different for you. Good luck!

One potential tip I heard when feeding my first who was also prone to falling asleep was to tickle their ear or underneath their chin to gently wake them and carry on feeding.

my dd didn’t “track her curve” -it’s not necessarily an indication there’s something wrong with supply. Especially at this age when they may have lost a little post birth or put on weight and be settling to their line.

mine it was simply she’d gain quickly, then stop for a few weeks while everything caught up. So her “curve” looked like a series of steps. But before that pattern established it looked like she was dropping the centiles.

I was told the numbers on the scale were largely useless out of context. You need to look at the clinical presentation too- hydration, energy levels, urine output etc. they weren’t unduly worried in my case as she was clearly a well child.

Sounds normal in my experience, they need to feed a lot to get your supply going. Better to stop formula top up if her weight is fine. I never tracked my baby’s weight apart from HV checks, you can tell by growing out of clothes. Get outside and use a carrier, thst helped us lots with crying. Don’t expect to put them down!

Ohhh in that case I wouldn't be worried, mine were with me all the time after one twenty mins period where I nipped to the shop when baby was about three weeks old (having fed for hours!) and I came back to a scene of absolute baby fury! They just want mum. Bung her in a carrier (I had an ergobaby embrace for this age) and don't bother putting her down.