Loooooong night time feeds.... is the normal???

[StinkySaurus]

My 3 and a bit month old has been breast feeding constantly for 2-3 hours before bed every night for the past couple of months. Does anyone else have experience of this? Is this just a phase? It’s killing my back! Help!

Pretty normal in my experience. It’s called cluster feeding - they do it when they’re v young and also during growth spurts. They do grow out of it as they get a bit bigger. It’s hard going but is made easier if you have enough support to allow you take to the couch or bed and lie down while feeding and have food/drinks brought to you. It doesn’t last forever and might even miss it when they grow out of it

Surely a baby isn't constantly drinking and swallowing for 2+hrs??

My LO has never fed for more than 20mins before bed. Once she starts to fall asleep i take her off and put her to bed.

I treat it as if i was giving her a botyle, once i'm happy she's had a good feed, then its bed time

My 3 have all done this at this age.

My DS was a long feeder and could take 90 minutes to feed sometimes. When he went through a growth spurt or cluster feeding then I would get maybe half an hour before he would want to feed again. This wasn't all the time though and would never last more than a couple of days at a time. All babies feed differently, but if you are concerned then talk to your HV or a breastfeeding support group.

Thanks for all your replies. She only really does this in the evening. A lot of the time it’s flutter/ comfort sucking but if I try to remove her she cries! I will go back to HV for more advice though. Thanks again for the support!