EBF 5 week old - wake to feed or let her sleep???

vlcoley

Hi -

My daughter is 5 weeks old.  A little over a week ago I started feeding her every 2-2.5 hrs regardless of "feeding cues".....I found that if I waited until she gave me her "feeding cues" she was already super hungry and therefore VERY fussy when I put her to the breast.  This made the feeding tough because I have a forceful letdown and when she would come to the breast super hungry she would suck more aggressively which only made the forceful letdown worse....she would choke, gulp, gasp and become increasingly frustrated.  So most of the time feedings were very challenging for both of us. 

I thought if I was a little more "proactive" and started feeding her before she was irrate, the feedings would be easier and a little less challenging. Well, it kind of worked.  Every 2-2.5 hrs I would feed her....whether she was awake, sleeping, alert, whatever.  I would just watch the clock and always feed within 2-2.5 hrs.  She would always latch and MOST of the time have a "full meal" (so-to-say) and be content and calm throughout the feeding and afterwards.  But within the last few days, she might latch and only eat for a short amount of time (like a couple minutes - because of my forceful let down and oversupply it is possible that she is getting 1-2 ounces in that short amount of time but of course because I am BFing her, I can't truly measure the amount of milk she is getting).  I am wondering if she is only feeding for a short amount of time because she isn't truly hungry or maybe still has a semi-full belly from the last feeding???  Or is she just getting everything she needs in those few minutes?

I guess my question is - should I be waking her to feed or just letting her do her thing until she shows me true signs that she is hungry (which by the way, are very hard to spot before the screaming/crying starts)????  I don't know if I should just be feeding on demand - whether that's every 2 hrs or 4 hrs or whatever - OR feeding her on more of a schedule (like every 2.5 hrs)?  Please help!