5 day old - cluster feeding?

10 replies

nightowl89 · 21/12/2023 03:24

Hi,

I have a 5 day old baby and believe she's cluster feeding at night. During the day she will feed and then sleep but in the night she's so unsettled and constantly doing feeding cues ultimately resulting in crying if I put her down to sleep. My milk came in on day 4 and she's only lost 5% of her birth weight so fairly sure she's getting enough and also latching on correctly.

Everything I read seems to suggest cluster feeding won't happen until the 3 week mark, does anyone have experience of this happening earlier and how long it went on for? The nights feel extremely long currently as she didn't settle until 6.30am last night and we're only 6 days in...

OP posts:

chillin12 · 21/12/2023 03:35

Hello, congrats!

I think this is normal tbh. I combination fed for the first 10 weeks, and then switched to exclusive breast. I also remember baby being very unsettled at night, during the first few weeks. I did have to cluster feed at night too, many times. I think the cluster feeding started reducing around 8 or weeks or so. Hang in there, it definitely gets better!

blueberry23 · 21/12/2023 03:43

Hey! Very normal. Babies will cluster feed as and when they want, no two babies are the same. Mine both cluster fed from birth for weeks at various points during the day!

It's really hard, but it does get easier!

Flittingaboutagain · 21/12/2023 03:45

In my experience with EBF multiple babies cluster feeding began the day my milk came in and didn't stop until about 7 weeks (and returns every leap or growth spurt). However, in all that time it didn't go on for the same amount of hours etc every night was different. Eventually settled into a pattern of witching hours 7-11, then 5-9, then 6-10 etc, getting shorter and shorter. Eventually so it'd be about two hours of on and off the boob constantly (and I mean that literally) before a good solid chunk of sleep and whatever time that was I'd get to bed and sleep, as after that mine would be up every hour or so for a while.

Congratulations on your new arrival. Absolutely love feeling it's just me and baby in the world at this time of night. But oh it's tiring!

blueberry23 · 21/12/2023 03:45

Also very normal for them to be awake feeding all night. Try to sleep during the day if you have a partner on paternity leave. Basically sleep whenever you can even if it's just for 45 minutes! You can do this look after yourself x

Original poster

nightowl89 · 21/12/2023 13:23

Thanks all for sharing your experiences and good wishes, it's really useful to read real experiences rather than getting myself into a google hole!

OP posts:

Brightandbreezey · 21/12/2023 13:26

Completely normal! But tough, if you need more sleep I would recommend looking into safe co sleeping. Was a life saver for me and my little cluster feeder!! Good luck x

Flockameanie · 21/12/2023 13:34

Normal. I remember DD feeding all night long when she was about 3 days old and I probably posted this same question (nearly 11 years ago)

I found the US site ‘Kellymom’ so useful for bf info back then.

SeaToSki · 21/12/2023 13:41

I used to try and feed every two/2.5 hours in the day to get her stocked up with the hope of her going longer at night. I think it helped. The other thing is to not jump up at the first whinge in the night, sometimes they just want to stretch and whinge a bit when they come into a light sleep, but will settle back down if you keep your eyes closed and cross your fingers for a few minutes. The flip side of that is that you dont want them to get too woken up at night that they require more settling, so its a fine line

gingerspiceandallthingsnice · 22/12/2023 01:41

Yes @Brightandbreezey I don't know how people don't cosleep. It's an absolute life saver

SiouxsieSiouxStiletto · 22/12/2023 06:56

Yes I used to prop myself up on pillows in the early days and watch a film or two at night. DD quickly got the hang of feeding lying down though so I was able to snooze whilst she fed.

Flip