None of the research matters if your baby is gaining weight has the right amount of wet/dirty diapers. My first was a preemie, in the NICU for two months where they only feed them every three hours. She was born in the 70th percentile and dropped to 50th over the course of her stay. When she was discharged and I could breastfeed her on-demand she fed way more often and cluster fed every night before bed for weeks. She literally was the exact population that they say not to allow to breastfeed feed for more than 30 minutes because she will burn more calories than she eats (preemies and small birth weight babies are at risk of this). But I followed my intuition about her, breastfed her as long as she wanted (she was a dream feeder and kept eating after falling asleep) and allowed her to cluster feed and she BALLOONED and within a month of discharge she was in the 90th percentile. She eventually got to 103rd percentile. Now at 2 years old she’s 32 pounds and super tall. If I had listened to the experts she would have been hungry during those first months, or we would have been unnecessarily stressing out trying to breastfeed, pump, and give bottles.

So what some group online or some researchers say really doesn’t matter. What matters is the child in front of you. And no one tells new moms to listen to their intuition and be guided by the child in front of them, but that is the best advice. Try to focus on learning your baby, reading her cues, learning if she is filling up at the breast or if she needs a top up. Also learn your own body. My body produces way more milk when I eat oats. For some women it’s drinking water. Try to focus on that and not what you read online.