Do your boobs know what time it is?!

[Razamataz]

My six week old DS cluster feeds between around 5pm and 10pm, and has just starting lasting through the night until around 5am. I seem to be struggling to produce enough milk for him in the evenings, then in the mornings I wake up absolutely drenched and with rock hard boobs!

So my question is, can you ever get to the stage where your boobs know what time of day it is, and produce the correct amount of milk accordingly? Or is that not how it works, with the body just replacing the milk on an hour by hour basis? These mornings are killing me!

Someone with loads more knowledge will come along and explain things much better then i can but IMHO your breast will get into the rhythm of your baby.

six weeks if very young and your milk supply is only just establishing. I found that my breast settled down between 2-4months.

The way i have had milk explained to me is that each breast has little pockets of milk as baby drains one pocket it moves to the next one and the first pocket starts to fill again. also there is is always some milk available.
I think that cluster feeding is about increasing the milk. As the more the baby feeds the more milk your breast will make. It is very very hard on you but it does pass.
in terms of the leaking try sleeping on a towel. I still take a muslin to bed at 9 months. If your breast are rock hard and painful you can hand express to take the edge off the fullness.

If he continues sleeping throught the night, your boobs will get the message that they don't need to produce loads of milk during the night. Probably in just a few days you will stop waking up engorged in the morning. After a certain amount of time (varies from person to person), your boobs will be fairly soft all the time as milk supply has settled down to match babies feeding pattern

Thanks haschem - makes sense I think.

Hi OP.

That waking up with rock hard boobs is no fun, is it :(

Your baby is sleeping a long time overnight for a newborn so the cluster feeding is obviously filling him up! You will certainly be making enough milk for him in the evenings, but it will simply not feel like it as your boobs are likely to feel soft and "empty", you may find it hard to squeeze milk out and he may be unsettled and going from one side to the other. However, you are absolutely making enough for him as this type of behaviour is absolutely typical and normal, and what I'd expect to happen. At 6 weeks he's programming your breasts to make the perfect amount of milk for him and usually at around about 8 weeks-ish or so you'll see things settling down.

Interestingly, your body does know it's night time and at night your prolactin levels are higher than during the day (this is the hormone which tells your body to make milk) so you've got a double whammy really with your baby sleeping so long! However, it will settle down - either by them recognising that you don't need the milk overnight, or because your baby will start to wake at night and need feeding, even if he's not now. Either option is normal.

Provided that his weight gain is ok the sleeping so long is ok too. If there is any concern about weight gain then there's a valuable opportunity overnight to get a good amount of rich milk into him.

So if his weight/growth is ok then relax, all is well :)

Thanks organiccarrotcake. You're spot on there - boobs feeling empty, DS going from one to the other and being unsettled. You've reassured me he's not starving anyway, and his wait gain so far has been good.

Thanks organiccarrotcake. You're spot on there - boobs feeling empty, DS going from one to the other and being unsettled. You've reassured me he's not starving anyway, and his wait gain so far has been good.

Thanks also marzipananimal. Looking forward to the night that happens!