Evening cluster feeding- will it ever end??!!!

[littlemonstersmum]

dd2 is 8 weeks old now and cluster feeds all evening (i am breast feeding her which i wasn't able todo with ds1) and its really starting to get to me now because it means i can't give ds1 any time on her own in the evening. ideally i'd like to put dd2 down at 6.30ish so i can have 30mins with dd2(3) before she goes to bed- anyone got any ideas how i can achieve this?? i know it should be do-able!!!

[Meandmyjoe]

DS stopped the cluster feeding about 10 weeks. It never used to bother me though as he is my only child! I can see it would be a problem with other children to think of. Maybe, do as motherhurdicure says and read a book whilst feeding. This would be nice for the baby too as she'd love to hear your voice. I used to get dh to take ds wand walk around in the garden with him if he was fussing but not hungry (admittedly he was born in summer though!)... it seemed to relax us all and ds loved the change of scenery and to be close to daddy. Have you thought about maybe expressing milk for dh to feed her? I know it didn't appeal to me at the time and I just wanted to breastfeed for the first 3 months but it might give you a well earned break! It will end at some point though! Sorry I don't have any more advice.

[littlemonstersmum]

it's nice to know that it might end soon!! i want it to end really for the nights when dh goes out- i have been reading to dd2 while feeding dd2 but dd2 always wants to sit on my lap while i'm feeding which obviously is difficult- i really feel like i need time with dd2 on her own- just feel really giulty that i can't at the moment.

[NellyTheElephant]

Do you have a bouncy chair type thing?? Mothercare do a good one for £12.99 (spring bouncing cradle). With DD2 I would do a marathon feed before bath, then pop her into the bouncy chair, put a dummy in a rock the chair (often with my foot!), I could then sit with DD1 on my lap and give her some proper attention and read her a couple of stories before putting her to bed. I could usually get about 20 mins to half an hour out of DD2 this way before feeding her again and putting her to bed. In my experience, with both my girls, the bf really started to settle down by 2 months (so that I was soon down to just 5 feeds a day). Hopefully you'll find the same so that the end is in sight for your cluster feeding. Good luck!

[PinkTulips]

yes it stops. you'll find she gradually decreases the amount of evening feeds til you're just giving her one right before bed.

how adept are you at moving around while feeding? with an older child in the house it's a very handy skill to try and develope and you need to learn it while she's little and more portable or you'll always be stuck sitting down in one spot for feeds.

i've fed ds while running around soft play after dd, looks odd but keeps everyone happy

[allytjd]

Watch out for banging babies head on door frames when feeding on the move though! I've done it twice.

[PinkTulips]

yes, there is that

there's an idea for dragons den.... little baby safety helmets