4day old - is this cluster feeding?

[MrsHende]

My four day old has so far been feeding well but tonight I'm struggling, can you help?

It's now 11.15pm and I've been feeding pretty much constantly for the past four hours. She's not spending much time on either side, maybe 5-10 mins then coming off herself. She'll doze for 5 mins then wake up lip smacking, sucking her fingers or rooting. She then starts to cry and I put her on the other side and we start again.

Is this cluster feeding? What is cluster feeding? Will I get any sleep tonight or is this going to go on for another four hours?????

Should we let her cry? Or keep feeding every time she cries?

Hello :)

I spotted your thread in the unanswered section and wondered how you were getting on?

Has your milk come in yet? From what I recall (my dd is now 5), near constant feeding in the early days is normal. Is there a reason why you're switching sides every time? I'd be inclined to keep putting her back onto the same side for a while to try and empty one breast and ten the other.

If she is waking up crying and rooting you are doing the right thing to put her to the breast. Your milk supply works on a supply and demand basis, and I can assure you that the near constant feeding does not last forever!

It sounds like you're doing a great job. I'm sorry that I cannot be any more help, but if you're still concerned the search function on here will no doubt throw up a whole wealth of threads full of invaluable advice.

Yy, definitely feed every time she asks - the early days are crucial to establishing your supply. I fount that for the first few days ds didn't know the difference between night and day, either. Or maybe he did...he certainly wanted to feed a lot at night!

Have you tried feeding while lying down yet? If you set up your bed for safe co-sleeping then feeding lying down means you can doze.

If you don't want to do this, then your dp needs to leave you set up comfortably for the night - blanket, tv remote, snacks and a thermos with a hot drink all within reach. But honestly, I would go with the co-sleeping every time!

Thank you very much, it's always less stressful when you find out it's normal!

my DD did this around days 5 and 6- it was like being pregnant again she was stuck to my front so much of the time! as a result tho i have loads of milk and she is gaining weight hand over fist.
Good luck

MrsHende - Congratulations on your new baby

It's very normal for a tiny newborn to cluster feed - don't forget 5 days ago she was fed 24 hours a day and could swallow amniotic fluid anytime she felt like it - hunger is a very new thing for your DD. That combined with the huge need to suckle (if a baby is suckling on mum then they can't be abandoned/left behind) means you tend to spend most of their very early days attached together!

She should be showing you feeding cues like 'licking and looking' (baby licks their lips and their eyes track around the room), rooting, squirming, fussing, etc, crying is a very late last resort feeding cue so if you can get her to nurse before she cries it can make life a lot easier for you (a peckish baby is easier to latch on than a starving frantic one).

The thing that makes it difficult to spot these cues is everyone talks about feeding on demand as feeding every time baby cries, not feeding every time baby they start licking their lips or wriggling. This isn't helpful if you don't know what to look out for (and I didn't for my first two babies!) so don't worry if you haven't been told about this by your MW.