12+ hour cluster feed?? My god!!

[BreeVDKamp]

DS is 2 weeks today and since about Thursday has been cluster feeding in the evenings, from what I can tell! Sounds like cluster feeding to me. Hopefully he is having a growth spurt - he still isn't back to his birth weight.

I am prepared to embrace the cluster feeding, and it's meant he's slept really well the past few nights and I want him to chub up, however last night he fed:
6pm-10pm non stop
12 midnight (10 min feed before falling back to sleep),
1am (5 min),
3am (20 min),
4am (30 min),
then from 5.20 he fed until 7:45. DH then took him and I slept, now I'm feeding again since 9:15.

The 12 and 1am feeds should have been longer but I didn't realise at that point that he was still wanting to feed constantly. Between feeds he was only quiet in his basket for about 10 mins, otherwise v fussy.

I don't know what I'm asking, I'm just alarmed that this cluster feed seems to have lasted into the next day!!! DH is going back to work on Weds and I really need to be able to do stuff. Not much, but for example I want 10 minutes to bathe my stitches :( Also I hate all the fussing that comes with cluster feeding, the squirming and boob-punching and fretful breathing and he will not latch despite when not cluster feeding having a beautiful latch.

I like breastfeeding but not this!!! Any tips or do I just have to power through? He has a dummy (2 midwives and a BF expert lady advised using one so don't want to get into the pros and cons of them please), but he spits it out if he wants a boob, and spits the boob out if he's not hungry, and we use it minimally and don't ignore feeding cues. But it will be handy for 2 mins if I need to run to the loo.

Bree, the cluster feeding sounds normal, and not as 'clustery' as some :) ...but the punching and squirming and fretful breathing needs a knowledgable opinion, whether it is part of newborn getting his act together or something that indicates a feeding difficulty that needs fixing.

Have you got some easy-to-contact good help on hand?

Dummy use sounds minimal as you say so doesn't sound like an issue.

Owh I thought that was characteristic of cluster feeding? Oh dear. Maybe I should go back to the BF cafe.

My eldest definitely cluster fed in a similar pattern when she was a few weeks old. One lasted from 6pm - 6am, hours sleep then started all over again...

But agree with tiktok re the breathing and squirming needing a knowledgeable opinion from someone in RL. I don't remember that beign part of feeding.

Also worried he is over tired, he definitely has never slept for the 16-20 hours a day that everyone advises newborns sleep!!

Ok we are on the way to the BF cafe but it closes in 45 mins! Agh. Hope we can be seen.

Sometimes, a bit of fussing and wriggling and the sort of behaviour that makes you ask, despairingly, 'um...what the heck do you want, then!?' comes with the territory! But frequent punching and squirming and breathing 'fretfully' needs investigation.

I think this is something for a knowledgable HCP who understands breastfeeding - at least an HV, maybe a GP, and it's beyond the scope of a peer supporter at the Baby Cafe.

What's his weight gain like, Bree?

I'm not wanting to worry you for one moment - but it sounds like something worth getting reassurance on.

2 week olds rarely sleep 16-20 hours, BTW.

The lady at the BF cafe was also a HV, she said everything sounded normal and to just persevere to 6 or 8 weeks.

DS lost 8%, is not yet back up to his birth weight but has gained since that initial loss.

Thanks for your posts tiktok.

That's great you saw the HV.

He's still feeding every 45mins or so! Oh well!

We've both just had a 3 hour nap, which was great, and now it's all started up again! He had a normal-seeming feed, popped himself off both sides when he was done, but then immediately was desperate to latch back on again, but he can't :( he won't shut his mouth, is just licking and bobbing around and fussing. If he does ever latch on then it's a poor latch. Will go to the health visitor clinic thing tomorrow :(

Also my boobs feel so empty, I know they can't empty but they're so soft I wonder if that's annoying him. After my nap one boob was a bit hard but he sorted that out in about a minute.

Difficult to tell if what you are experiencing is just normal ups and downs of early feeding, Bree. Soft breasts are normal with frequent feeding. Yes, good you are seeing HV tomorrow. Baby should prob be weighed tomorrow too if it's been a few days since last weigh-in.

What colour/frequency are his poos?

Ok, hopefully it's just normal :) he is asleep now and has been for an hour, so tonight is different from last night so far :)

Will get him weighed tomorrow. His poos are definitely yellow now, and seedy in texture! Maybe 4+ poos a day. His wet nappies still aren't 'heavy' in my opinion but he is alert and a good colour etc so I don't think that's anything to worry about.

Hello! We had some fussiness during cluster feeding as a result of being over tired. Baby is 8 weeks so I don't have loads of experience but what worked for me was putting lots of effort in to making the evenings very calm. We'd do about 4 of 5pm to somewhere between 6 and 8 pm downstairs and then at stage where he's still hungry but is getting tired and grumpy I take him up to bed and get clean nappy etc, room dark like for night, calming musical nightlight going or just calm music cd before we had night light and do second bit up there. I think the break helped calm things a bit and gives you a little break too! It helped too in that if he does drop off, everything being calm downstairs or upstairs meant he can doze a little bit before starting again. Finally what also often works is when he is being hungry but coming off and on, I feed him lying down on bed. Usually he either drops off, has a little sleep and then I pick him up and then he's calm enough to finish normally sitting up, or he will decide after a while he doesn't like lying down any more aND we sit up, but he is usually much calmer. I think he likes being able to kick his legs about while lying down more than he can in another position. The main spurt we've had so far have been 3.5 weeks which was sleep an hour, feed for 3 days but 7 weeks was typical clustering in the evenings from what I gather and I do think it's the over tiredness from being awake since 4pm in our case that did it so helping him be as sleepy as possible worked for us!

I meant to say it's been any combination of hours between 3pm and 945 for us