Feeding FAQ: 0-8 weeks – Breast Feeding

My breast-fed son of 6.5-weeks-old seems to be gaining weight too fast

I am concerned my son is gaining too much weight but as he is mostly breastfed I have no idea how much he is consuming.
Since regaining his birth weight by 2 weeks he’s been gaining an average of a pound a week, which seems excessive to me. How do I control his intake when he’s breastfeeding?
All his feeds are in line with the routines ,although I am not able to push the timings of the 10am and 5pm feeds back. He does sleep a little more than he should in the afternoons but he sleeps well at night and wakes between 3.30 and 4.30am depending on how long we have managed to keep him awake at 10pm.
He weighed 8.10lbs at birth and is now 13.5lbs. He is breastfed at 7am, 2pm, 5/6pm and 4am. At 10am he takes 6ozs formula and has 5ozs expressed milk at 10pm.
He sleeps from 9-10am, 11.45-2pm and 3.45-5pm.

An “average” baby of your son’s weight needs about 33-34ozs over 24 hrs, which would mean 6 feeds of about 5-6 ozs each. The amount he takes when bottle-fed indicates that he not taking in too much for his weight, although it has increased a lot since birth. Most doctors or health visitors would tell you that it is impossible to overfeed a breastfed baby. As your son is staying on the routines well, sleeping between feeds and doing well in the night he appears to have a larger appetite than some other babies. Problems could arise if: he began to demand feeds a lot sooner than they were due, wanting more feeds in the day or back tracking at night by waking at 2am again. As the guidelines regarding weaning have changed, you will have to discuss his needs with your health visitor as a baby of this weight at 6 weeks could well be ready for weaning before the suggested age of 6 months. You may find that he begins to slow down with his gains now the first six weeks are over until his next growth spurt around 12 weeks/three months.

A lot of babies of this age will find it hard to push their morning feeds later. One way which can help is to split this feed. Offer him 2-3 ozs at 10am and then give him a break, perhaps using the time to top and tail him and let him have a kick before offering the rest of his feed about 10.40am. Another way to get him through is to move the feed forward very slowly, by giving it to him five minutes later every few days so he gradually gets used to waiting a little longer. It can take some babies some time to be able to do this, so be guided by his needs as well as the guidelines in the routines for his age. Again, a lot of babies will continue to need the split feed at 5/6pm, especially until they are sleeping through from 10pm. It is a way to give them a slightly larger feed in order for them to settle well until at least 10pm.

Keeping your son up at 10pm can help him push on through the night. Make sure he is well awake before beginning to feed him – this can sometimes take at least 20 minutes at this time of the day – so he won’t begin feeding until nearer 10.30pm. If he then is given 2-3 ozs of feed and a short break before a nappy change, with the rest of the feed being offered at 11.15pm he should be able to get well beyond 3am.