4 week old feeding incessantly - normal?

[PorridgeWithHoney]

Need some advice as going slightly insane....

4 week old DD is EBF. During the day, she wanted to feed ALL THE TIME. I know about cluster feeding and feeding frequently, but this is neither of those because there is no break. She will feed, come off with a milk drunk face, doze for a couple of minutes but then wake and quickly start crying for more. By quickly I mean I don't have time to go to the toilet before it starts, not 20-30 mins. After a couple of hours she will become less settled on the breast and will sometimes come off crying (presumably because there's not enough milk left?). Every school run/attempt to leave the house is done with a screaming baby, and we have tried it all, nothing but feeding calms her even when she's been at it for hours and is clearly exhausted. Right now we've been going 3 and a half hours since she last woke. On a good day she will sleep 1-3 hrs (oh the irony of waking her to feed if it's a long one!) soundly in the middle of the day, otherwise she will only doze on us and wake instantly if put down. She is hardly ever settled, and when she is cries for milk as soon as I come close. Yesterday afternoon I had to do something with my older child so I left DH with some expressed milk - she drained the bottle and then was happy and settled for a good 90 mins. I've literally never seen her like that (he took videos), I just get constant crying.

In total contrast, she's a good sleeper at night and I sometimes need to wake to feed, which can be hard, so we give her a bottle of expressed milk at 4amish as I find she takes that better when half asleep.

So really is this normal? Does it sound like I have a supply issue? Her latch seems ok, she swallows lots and has lots of nappies and her weight gain was fine when i got it checked last week. Am I trying to do the right thing by breastfeeding her and actually just making us both (and the wider family) utterly miserable? I cried when i saw how happy she was after her bottle because I can never make her like that.

Can you get to a breastfeeding support clinic in your area? That sounds really tough, you must be exhausted. I don't have any answers but when I had difficulties BFing my 3 our local NHS breastfeeding clinics were excellent.

It sounds really tough. If you are able to express enough for a bottle, it doesn't sound like a supply issue. Can you find a certified lactation consultant to give you both a check over? If you are anywhere nearby Milk Matters in Huddersfield are brilliant and literally saved my dd from a hospital admission after the hv advice left her seriously dehydrated.

Maybe she has a latch problem ... nipple guards Matt friend found helped with that? Or perhaps express as much as you can ( hard when she is on all the time ) breastfeeding is so hard in the early stages ... I didn’t manage past 10 weeks and that was combo feeding due to lack of production ( weight loss and high sodium levels in my little one though )

I have been told once you get past 12 weeks it’s much easier ... your doing so well but defno seek advise if you can from a breastfeeding support clinic ... ( if you have the energy too ) good luck x x

My friend not Matt friend x x

Sorry if you've already thought of this but have you ever used the national breastfeeding help line? They've helped me loads of times including a home alone with 3 month old 3 hour cluster feeding evening nightmare!

You're not alone and well done for getting this far.

Thanks all. I did go along to a support group last week and got an adviser to watch her feed. It was bad timing though as she had just have decent sleep and was bobbing on and off me and being fussy as was quite full, so we talked about that rather than a normal feed when I'm not engorged. You've inspired me to go back again this week and I'll also try the helpline later. Not near Huddersfield sadly!

Wow, feeding babies really does mess with your head.... I don't mind being pinned to a sofa, it's the fear I'm doing the wrong thing

Breastfeeding is how I got into gaming

She's doing her job, we don't have gallons of milk from the off. The baby has to work to increase supply to meet their growing needs so you will find this feeding round the clock thing happening until supply has increased.

When supply is established properly it gets better but it was around the 16 week mark when my last baby settled down Inbetween feeds. He has SNs though which might have been a factor.

It really does get better. As long as she has plenty of wet/dirty nappies, is growing ok then it's good. Not much fun for you though.