Is this cluster feeding or am I reading the cues wrong?

[WildhoodChunder]

DS is 10 days old and feeds at 3am and then roughly every 2 hours from 7am, but at 4.30pm will not come off the breast for more than 30 mins max right through til 1am. Is this cluster feeding? 9 hours of it seems excessive, but only the breast seems to shut him up! Doesn't seem to be wind as he's not drawing his legs up. Poor DD is getting lots of TV in the evenings...

Aw poor you, that sounds really hard work. It is often early evening when babies clusterfeed but it does sound really excessive. Could you maybe try a warm bath or some baby massage? Are you using a dummy because maybe he wants to suck but is not necessarily hungry all of that time?
Sorry I can't be of more help but didn't want your post to go unanswered. Hopefully someone else will have better advice for you.
Good luck.

i agree - a warm bath and a massage - maybe around 6/7/8 - you have to find the right time, using this order: feed, bath, massage, feed in dark room, put gently in cot. if wakes up just feed and put in cot again, all in dark. my ds used to literally pass out after this... hth x

Do you have a DP who could help out in the evenings? I used to tank up the baby as much as poss and then hand over to DH - he would wear the baby in a sling and pace the living room so that I could get a break. If they really wouldn't settle he would bring up to me for a feed, but often they went to sleep.

haha this is a great website!

aah wrong thread, sorry!

Personally I wouldn't give a dummy at 10 days, he's building up your supply and trying to put weight back on.
If you really need a break then a bath, or giving him to DH to take for a walk (in a sling perhaps) might help.
He is unlikely to carry on like this for very long. He will be different within a week.

Thanks, I'll try the bath and massage combo. He put himself to sleep sucking on my finger at 1am so I may resort to dummy if things don't improve soon. DH is great at taking DS between feeds for rocking etc, but DS just grizzles and works himself up til he's put back on the breast. Here's hoping he calms down a bit soon...

My DD did 4-11 for the first couple of weeks. She's 6 weeks now and it's already much better. I tried to see the silver lining - I would rather she did that than be up all night feeding. She fed all evening but then just had one quick feed around 3ish so i got a reasonable amount of sleep at night.

My 6 week old cluster feeds all evening, but I must say it has improved since his latch improved (with a little outside help). I think he can now take in more milk in a shorter period of time.