Cluster feeding and feeding for 45 minutes

6 replies

claireybelle01 · 21/07/2013 20:17

My baby girl is 3 weeks old. She v often cluster feeds in the evening. What are others experience of this? How many weeks does it last? I feel stuck to the sofa every night and it's exhausting,

The other thing is, each feed lasts around 45 minutes, 20 odd minutes on each breast. Most of that she just appears to be nibbling rather than actively feeding. Should I take her off? I don't want to if it means she'll feed even more often cos I haven't let her finish!!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!!!

OP posts:

igirisu · 21/07/2013 20:23

My son is 4 weeks old and cluster fed from about 5 days old until last week, all evening from 6 until 12! I found that undressing him to his nappy meant he was less comfortable on the boob, tickling their back when they start to lul or gently blowing their face also helps, obviously not when they are still actively feeding but when they start to get comfortable "snacking" towards the end of a feed. Babies can also smell your milk so it helps to let dad watch the baby for an hour in the evening (if possible) so you can have a break, i did this but just sat at the other end of the sofa so if he did start to get genuinely hungry i would give him a feed. Good luck, my son has stopped doing it as much and we also found breaking up the evening with a walk in his pram also relaxed and distracted him for a while and gave my boobs a chance to rest and reload!

Newmum78 · 26/07/2013 21:34

I hav the exact same problem literally can't move for 5 hours and it s such hard work... If I thought it would settle soon it would help.. Did her dd sleep well during the night.. My concern was about ack of sleep getting during this time but still no decent break at night..

McBaby · 26/07/2013 22:03

My LO cluster fed from birth till about 11 weeks every evening for 3-4 hours. She also slept through from 5 weeks which hopefully was attributed to the large amount of milk she took in an evenung! Put your feet up watch tv rest get someone to bring you food and drinks. You will have your evenings back very soon.

maillotjaune · 26/07/2013 22:06

All 3 of mine did this for about 3 months. It calmed down then (although they all took almost exactly 6 months before finally settling for the night at a sensible time) and I just got used to lots of tv and mumsnet.

Cooked something earlier and DH reheated for us. It will pass.

Newmum78 · 26/07/2013 22:29

itsaruddygame · 28/07/2013 08:43

My DS fed for quite literally hours for weeks and weeks - it is exhausting and draining!! For most people after 6 weeks or so it eases. It took longer for us but DS was a tad early and only 5lbs so it took a while for him to get to a good size/catch up a bit. From 12 weeks on it has been a peice of cake and I am so glad I stuck it out. He now feeds in under 10 mins during the day and it is so easy and convenient (plus it is a lovely feeling feeding him myself).

To get thorough the hard bit you need a partner to really help you - no housework/cooking just feeding baby and being fed and watered yourself! I also used to pump so that my husband could do one night feed (this meant I would get about 3 hours sleep as opposed to 1!!). Night feeds used to take a hour or so now they are literally done in minutes.

In the evenings when things were v challenging my DH would sometimes be able to take him out for 30 mins in the sling so that I could have a short break - also worth a try!

Good luck ladies if you can hang in there it does get so much easier!

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