Coping with cluster feeding

[Stefka]

My baby is 6 days old and wants to cluster feed every night. It usually kicks off about 11 ish and goes on through to the seven/eight in the morning. I have cracked nipples and it is really painful to be feeding all night like that.

I am wondering if all the feeds are hunger feeds or if some of it is comfort and how can I tell the difference?

Also I have been switching breasts each side as he only takes from one - he always falls asleep at the end of a feed and comes off himself. But sometimes he will only feed for five mins sometimes for 45. If he has just done a little feed should I go back to the same breast the next time or still swap?

[ScaryScienceT]

New babies have a very nocturnal schedule. It passes.

[CorrieDale]

It will pass - honest. Hard work while it lasts though - much sympathy. No doubt Tiktok will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd go back to the same breast after only a small feed. But when DS did his cluster feeding marathons, I don't think I really had a 'first this side then the other' system - both breasts felt loose and floppy by the time he settled to sleep, so I guess they were both being emptied (sorry if it's TMI!)

[jabuti]

hi stefka. they are killers the cluster feeds arent they? my DD is now 13 weeks old and i can finally breath without her being attached to me all the time.

whether is for comfort or for food, it would be hard to tell because they have so many problems all together. but it doesnt matter anyway because at this stage we have to feed loads to build up the production. you would know better if it was a comfort feed if there was a specific thing happening, for example, if your baby is teething and has more or less a pattern for his feeds, you would know that that unexpected extra feed would be more for comfort.

in terms of going back to the same breast... i would. because until the baby is strong enough to suck all the fore and hindmilk in 10/15 minutes, you should insist in the same breast. i did at least, but lets see what other mmetter say.

[jabuti]

ha! its true corrie, i tried to calculate 20/30 minutes on each breast but usually they were both floppy by the end of the day.