Help.. 6 days old 3+ hour long feeds!

[Frankie72]

Not sure if this is the right place...

My baby boy is 6 days old and after a very rocky few few days, sent to intensive care for the first 2 days due to breathing issues, not enough milk to statisfy him so had to use formula but day 4 managed to fully feed on the breast and hasn't had formula since but I'm getting really stressed. Last night he wanted to feed for over 3 hours. He only stopped because I couldn't do it anymore and get my dh to try and settle him to sleep. He managed to and he slept for a few hours. Is this right?! Should be feed for such long periods?! I know his latch isn't great, painful for me and this is probably due to some tongue tie which has been referred.

I'm at such a loss with what's right and wrong!

My dd did that too around that age. I remember a 10pm - 3am session. No doubt I drifted off at some point during that but I recall thinking that if she didn't go to sleep by 3.30 that i'd have to wake up DP.

It didn't last long. Dd cluster fed until 11 weeks but the feeds gradually became shorter and shorter. My understanding is that this is normal. Long frequent feed are just what happen at the early stage of breastfeeding. Dd is 8 months now and feeds 5 times a day and feed take no longer than 10 minutes so it does get better

Congratulations on your DS What a stressful few days for you. Long cluster feeds are normal. I'm not an expert but can tell you my experience...
DS2 was latched on all the time for the first few weeks. If he was off the breast for longer than about 20 minutes during the day he would cry. I think it was part hunger/part comfort and he just wanted to be close to me. I read about the fourth trimester and ignored the midwife when she asked if he went 3 hours between feeds. I was more relaxed as I know from DS1 they soon grow out of it. I just went with it. Let him feed as he wanted. That would be my advice, follow your DS lead. The suckling increases your supply too. They know what they're doing even when we don't. I set myself up with water and snacks and box sets in the daytime and Co slept at night.
He's 7 months now and has 10 minute feeds about every 4 hours. He's definitely my last baby and already I miss those first few weeks.

The only part of your post that doesn't seem right to me is that it's painful for you. No experience of tongue tie but I would get it checked. And I think nipples shields are good for pain.

Cluster feeding is pretty normal, particularly in the first two weeks, he is busy telling your body what he needs milk wise. The same thing will happen when he has growth spurts. My DD was permanently on the boob in the beginning, there is a good website got breastfeeding called Kellymom.com, found it really helpful in the early days when my Boob was constantly feeding.

Totally normal. As a previous poster has said, it's called cluster feeding. They do it to increase your milk supply to meet their needs, lasts 2-4 days per time with a break of a few days, becoming less frequent from around 6 weeks (ds is now 22 weeks and only does it occasionally for 1 day / few hours at a time).

It's totally normal and doesn't mean he needs formula, my DS did it frequently in the first few weeks but has now doubled his birth weight and is ebf.

Keep going! Don't give formula as it'll make it worse as your supply won't increase and make sure you air your nipples between feeds and get sleep where you can.

Sorry, my ds is 12 weeks.