Cluster feeding - please advise :-)

[MrsGiraffe12]

I had my previous DD on Monday 1st September so she's not even a week old yet.

She's a right boob fiend though. In the day she goes about 3 hours from start of feed to start of feed which isn't too bad, and she does about 20 mins each side so 40 mins I can deal with really.

Then from about 10pm she's a real boob monster, an hour each side and again about 3 hourly from start of feed to start of feed. So last night/this morning she's spent 6 hours feeding. My nipples are so sore, midwives say her latch is perfect so no concerns there.

Is it normal for her to feed this regularly for this long? Will she slow down? I'm absolutely exshausted and ended up in tears last night when feeding, midwives were great (still in hospital due to infection in 3rd degree tear).
Does it make a difference that my milks not come in yet?

Thanks for taking the time to read this x

Hello mrs...congratulations on the birth of your daughter :-)

If I were you I'd slap on the lasinoh magic nipple cream and stop watching the clock. LO will feed for as long as she wants/needs to at this stage. My DD is now 4 months and feeds on demand roughly every 2-3 hours, but I remember those first weeks rooted to the sofa! As soon as your milk comes in things will change again....and again, and again!!
Hope you're getting lots of support from the midwives x

Sounds about right! Mine was the exact same in the early days and I felt I was being held hostage. She'd be stuck on from about 6pm till she finally nodded off some time around 11pm. But again it was 2 hourly through the night. My milk took a while to come in but even when it did DD continued the feeding frenzy!

The really intense phase lasted about 3 weeks for me but she continued the evening clusters until she was about 8 weeks- but at least that was a more contained amount of time and I could actually get things done during the day. Watched a hell of a lot of box sets though

She still feeds every two to three hours but is much more efficient now.

It gets better. So much better.

And YY to Tomkat's advice on lansinoh- took about two weeks for my nips to toughen up and that initial wincing pain to settle. Absolutely bullet-proof now I should think.

Best of luck with it

Congratulations! Had my first DS two days before you so I feel your pain. He's been really sleepy for the first few days and now seems to want to feed constantly! Half hour each side and even though he falls asleep half way thru the second side (despite still sucking) he's still rooting around immediately for more as soon as I take him off! Swear there can't be anything left in my boobs now!

My dd is the same. Feeding as we speak and usually passes out about 10pm and if I'm lucky goes 3-5 hours before her next feed. She's 7 weeks tomorrow so hoping it calms down a bit in the next few weeks. Just make sure you eat plenty, I feel like I'm going to pass out if I don't snack while she cluster feeds!!

Sometimes the cluster feeds are to stimulate your milk supply or baby may just like the comfort of it. My first baby did 5pm - 9pm cluster feeds for the first few weeks but then suddenly reduced them. I found I actually really missed that time stuck on the sofa watching TV with H sorting out our dinner! It is exhausting but generally it is usually just a phase.

Congratulations OP agree with what the others have said, just go with it! I also had third degree tear and a boob monster DS. I actually found though that because he wanted lots of feeding it meant I HAD to put my feet up and rest while feeding him which was of course the best thing for my body! Get Someone to get you Lanisinoh cream- it really is worth the money and if you're really sore try a cold compress