4 week old DD has been feeding for six hours!

[SallyMischievo]

Have posted before about my seemingly ravenous baby. However this evening, we have far surpassed any previous records as she has been feeding since 10pm and it's now 4am! She's fallen asleep three times but each time I've put her into her bed nest, she's woken up and started crying and bobbing her head for more milk. Nipples are by now incredibly sore and I'm close to tears myself. Any advice would be very gratefully received!

Hello there - another feeder here but at 12 weeks.

Is her weight gain and latch ok? If they are, it might just be a godawful cluster feed from hell. Do you have an OH? If you do can he pick her up to see if she settles away from the lovely smell of milky mum? This occasionally helps my son and just not holding him for a few mins brought my blood pressure back down.

I had a really shabby start to BFing and was going to give up between weeks 2 and 5 but have somehow managed to see through godawful experiences like the night you're having. I hate to say it but if her weight etc is ok, I think it might be normal.

Ps am (clearly) no expert

The thing is she won't actually be feeding for that long, she may be suckling for comfort instead. Have you perhaps just tried snuggling her asleep instead of feeding or is she going straight for the breast? You probably already have so sorry to sound patronising but I do think this is more of a comfort rather than feed thing

Many thanks for your advice. She finally went to sleep for four hours at around 4.30am. Passing her to OH and trying to cuddle her sadly didn't work - she just kept frantically bobbing her head, sucking her fingers and crying until she was returned to my breast! She alternated between big ravenous gulps where you could hear the milk glugging down and little nibbles for much of the time apart from when she slowed down when sleepy. Lots of nappy changes needed too! I'm really hoping this is just a phase... x

oh my son used to do that - one night he literally fed all night, but ofc was not really 'feeding' but using my nipple for comfort.
I got him a dummy after that.

Mine did this. Every night from about 7 up to anywhere between 11 and 1. She grew out of it though! And I think it helped her to sleep through eventually, she was in the habit of filing up of an evening so we lost night feeds really early on.

The longest DD2 did was 16 solid hours. Oh my!

I used Multi-Mam nipple compresses each time switched sides which really helped.

My DD (now 5weeks 3 days) was exactly the same for a week around 3.5 weeks. Only wanted boob but lots of latching, unlatching, head bobbing, whinging etc. She screamed for nappy changes but would quieten down with DP for a few minutes at a time.

I know it's frustrating and exhausting but totally normal. She is building your milk supply so you can meet her future needs. I found a couple of things helped though:

Wind, wind then wind some more. It's uncomfy for them to have trapped wind and takes a lot of back rubbing and patting to get out. The latching on and off massively improved once we persevered with the winding and we now get a huge burp or two at each feed.

Milk flow tends to be slower in evenings so I tried different BF positions so she could milk different areas of the breast. DD was calmer with Rugby Ball hold. I also laid her on a firm memory foam cushion on the bed and leaned over her (on hands and knees) with breast hanging into her mouth. Not the most attractive position but gave dp a good laugh and definitely helped - i think gravity helped flow.

It went on for about 5 nights but then improved. Now at 5.5 weeks she is going through a phase of constant feeding in the day...for past 3 days, but I'm hoping this will be short lived too.

Hang in there

Yes this is perfectly normal breastfed baby behaviour - I wish I had known before having mine. I'll expect it, and plan for it next time.

DD did similar for a couple weeks at the same age, thought I was loosing my mind! She soon grew out of it though. Sometimes giving her my finger to suck for a while would help, tried dummies but she wouldn't take them - have you thought of trying a dummy? Other EBF mums I know have given them at a young age and had no issues (I know there is nipple confusion fear, but IMO I think it's pretty unlikely)

Just remember, it will get easier!

Thank you so much for all of your replies. We are currently embroiled in a second feeding frenzy that is approaching the six hour mark. Have dummies and formula on standby but only want to offer them as a very last resort. Thanks again for the words of encouragement. How do people ever manage to leave the house with an insatiably hungry baby?!

Pretty much didn't

The crazy period then became the oversupply/forceful letdown period and she would only feed in my bed.

Started getting out and about at 15 weeks, I think.

I promise it gets easier. And bloody well done for keeping going. There should be a special badge awarded for surviving the early weeks.

As a by the by get the Wonder Weeks app if you haven't already. Tells you all about the developmental leaps your baby is going through and while it solves nothing, it does give an insight into it all and made me feel much less like I was somehow doing it all wrong.

I had this too! Don't worry about the formula, you're almost there, she'll settle down in the next few weeks I bet. I tried DS with a dummy to see if that would give my boobs a break but he wasn't having any of it, pushed it out and cried for the real thing! She'll be doing good things for your supply anyway, it builds up a lot over the first month (at least that's what I read on KellyMom).

Both of mine did the same, but DS1 was the real marathon feeder. He'd cluster we'd from about 5pm til 2/3am. I really wish the midwives would tell you this before you get started. I ended up ringing my friend, practically hysterical, thinking my DS was ill or something! She was bf her second baby and reassured me!

I went to a La Leche type group and got a lot of good advice, and the bf counsellor checked my latch (all was ok). Kellymom is a good website with a lot of useful info.

For us it calmed down at around 16weeks for DS1, and 10 weeks for DS2. I used to install myself on the sofa with copious amounts of tea, snacks and the TV remote :)

Cluster feed, not we'd. Stupid iPhone!

Thank you! Thank goodness for Mumsnet, I was beginning to think there was something seriously amiss!