Frantic cluster feeding

[oakland42]

DD is 10 days old and I think is cluster feeding but she is doing it so frantically. She will latch on and feed for a bit then pull away and shake her head and wriggle her whole body and just cry until I can latch her back on then she settles, but she is doing this over and over for hours now. Try to switch boobs and wind her in between but she just screams until she is back on.

My nipples are really starting to hurt where she pulls away so quickly and rough and then has a shallow latch.

I'm exhausted and DH is going to have to give a bottle of formula so I can have a break.

How long will this go on for????

In a similar situation. Interested to see responses. Awaiting tongue tie release which might help. Also both breasts hot and swollen today. Its exhausting isn't it

Have you got a date for the release yet and had anyone suggested doing breast compressions or trying a bit of cup feeding?

OP are you getting any RL help?

Swelling lasted for a day.used cold compresses and made sure baby emptied both. Felt much better following day. Nhs has long waiting list so may look at having it done privately

Cluster feeding lasted until 10-12 weeks for me. But it got gradually less intense from around 6 weeks.

I also pumped and gave the milk via a bottle when things were really bad. I found it helped my sanity and there were no negative affects on my supply.

Im 5 months in now and cluster feeding feels weirdly like a time that was quite nice in that I could just sit and watch Netflix for hours! But I know when other people said that to me at that time it seemed crazy!

There's a mini growth spurt at 10 days pp and another big one at 4 wks and so on. The frantic pulling at nipples (and mine actually motorboats my boobs.) Latching on and off can be because of poor latch, gas if they are gulping air or have a poor latch (try burping them) and because they are trying to stimulate your breasts to make more milk, it could also mean you're not producing enough yet if they won't settle after a feed.

Breast feeding is about supply and demand. They need to empty them or cluster feed to signal your body to produce more. Drink loads and loads of water. Everything they feed have a glass. Also try nipple shields to help with latch and pain. Mine hates nipple cream so sadly I can't use it. Pump in between feeds if you have the energy to. Or try power pumping. Pump for 10 mins a side after a feed, stop for 10 mins and then do another 10 mins. Or put baby back on the boob.

There's no shame in having to top with formula or switching if it's not working for you. Through choices not of mine I'm having to mix feed using formula and expressed milk plus boob. Trying desperately to only breastfeed but my LO is now use to the faster flow of the bottle. Even though we are doing paced feeding.

Also, it depends on whether baby has gained back their birth weight and is gaining well. If you have any concerns contact the mat ward or your hv.

There's a fantastic website called kellymom. It's American(guidelines slightly different to nhs) but there's so much info available.