1 month old baby feeds every hour or less , during the day and the night

[TeaAndMuffins]

He's BF. Is this normal? He feeds every hour or less, round the clock. I'm offering full feeds every time - both breasts and waiting until he pulls off and seems satisfied. But then less than an hour later he'll be crying desperately for more and do another full feed. All the stories I read about cluster feeding are about babies who feed maybe every 2 hours all day, occasionally stretch to 4 at night, and every hour or so in the evening. I'm not hearing anything about babies who feed every hour round the clock.

Absolutely normal in my experience!

I’m sorry, that was my experience too. Only advice is to get good at safe co-sleeping so you can stay asleep, just snoozily help him latch on then go back to sleep.

mines the same at nearly 3 months mines feeds stretched to a hour and a half .Still does not sleep through night but apparently normal

Check baby is gaining weight as they should be

And if you can get some face to face breastfeeding support, ask them to show you how to do breast compressions

When I had this it was because baby was too weak to take a full feed properly and was tiring herself out too much at the boob, so was falling asleep before her belly was full, then needing to feed again soon after

Breast compressions helped, but my baby wasn't gaining weight well so I needed to supplement with formula

That allowed her to get strong enough to take proper feeds

You need your latch checked. If he was doing this just for a few hours in the day (especially early evening), that would be normal, but not all day every day. Please look for an IBCLC led support group near you or have a private visit if that's in your budget.

I note you describe the feeds as hourly but then you say after he's unlatched, "an hour later" he wants to feed again. Timing feeds, time from the start of the feed. So by your additional comments the feed isn't actually hourly, right? Because you're timing from the end of one feed to the start of the next?

How long is your baby attached for from the start of each feed? I suspect what is happening is they're actually napping at the breast a lot of the time, not actively feeding. When you can't hear swallowing anymore/baby appears asleep (eyes closed, heavy body, quiet, still), sucking slows - you could try to unlatch baby gently. Often they're asleep, they were just sucking in their sleep. If they're not asleep they will wriggle and show you they want to latch back on and you can easily do that.

although mine feeds every hour and a half ,my other half gives ours a bottle of expressed milk in the morning to help me sleep.They still get hungry after a hour and half though. Yours may sleep longer though,if yours is falling asleep you can try tickling their feet. But mine unlatches and refuses to feed more after just 10 mins of feeding regardless of if they are tired or not

Mine is gaining weight but he eats little and often ,i hope you can find a solution .Its exhausting having to do this 24hrs a day ,i have not slept more than 2hrs in months .It may just be yours just wants to eat little and often

Hello, this sounds exactly like both of my babies. It is extremely hard in those first 6-8 weeks or so and then it gradually gets easier. I suspect this won't last for a long time, he will be trying to increase supply with his growth. Is he gaining weight as expected? Do you have any breastfeeding support groups nearby? I am happy to recommend some breastfeeding consultants on instagram who have an abundance of information on their pages.

It's really tough, especially in the early hours, you're doing amazing. I used to have a bite of brownie with every feed in the night.

Hunter gatherer babies tend to breastfeed several times an hour so that's probably what we're wired to do naturally.

Have you tried offering more than 2 sides per feed? So going back to the first side again and continue offering another side every time he comes off?

Keep your fluids up and always have a bottle of water near you. It’s not forever so just try and enjoy those cuddles. It’s so exhausting I know but you don’t need to hoover or do jobs.

Ahh every 2 hours and 4 hours? If only ! That would be the dream.... id be ok if jt was that. Currently at 4 months and doing every 2-3 hrs during day and 1-2 at night, granted sometimes at night it's sometimes comfort.
But totally normal.

thanks all. He had a severe tongue tie cut at 1 week and after that lost weight for a while, but now his weight is back to normal. For the first couple of weeks he actually fed every 2/3 hours, just recently, it's gone to every hour. I've been told my latch is fine

Exactly this. My first baby. I realised by 1 month that the 6-9 hours she was feeding per day weren't normal (constantly attached) and that she was barely gaining weight.l (and it's not until I've had my second, who has 5-15 min feeds and is gaining weight solidly) that I realise how slow she must have been.

We'd had her tongue tie released already but I couldn't latch her without shields and we were both miserable. Health visitor suggested we give formula which was good for my peace of mind as I knew she was getting a lot in. I used the time while my partner fed her to pump. Then eventually my partner would feed her once a day while I pumped and rested and she got strong enough to feed better. She put on 500g in a week! Lactation consultant then visited again and improved my positioning and we were much better after that.

People see cosleeping as the easiest option but even my efficient second born (4 weeks) still can't latch himself (awaiting his tongue tie release). I was sleeping with my daughter in a none too safe way but it's the only way I could keep her latched at night and also get some moments of sleep.

Can I ask who said it was fine, and when?

@CocoPlum's question is valid, as I also had various people say my latch with my first was 'fine' when it really wasn't. Positioning is also just as important as latch, I find.

Thank you! I replied v v briefly as in the office! But I have met lots of women (in my > decade of BF support) who were told that latch was fine by, for example, a health visitor with a day's training in BF. Or told it looks good immediately post TT snip but it's SO important to continue to seek out support. From a personal viewpoint, it took me a month to get my youngest's latch right (with skilled support) despite having it snipped at under a week old.

It will get easier.

have you tried a dummy. Some of the feeding will be for comfort rather than hunger. A dummy can give you a break.

I think this is normal for first couple of months but exhausting.
My first had a tongue tie that had to be cut twice, so worth checking again. Also, I took both my kids to a cranial Osteo, I think it really helped them to settle, childbirth can be quite a stressful experience for both of you!
Has the constant feeding been going on long? Baby could just be going through a developmental leap, which means s/he will want a bit more comforting. There’s a good app called Wonder Weeks which was helpful. Good luck, hopefully this phase will pass soon enough

Any symptoms of silent reflux? My daughter only stopped feeding very frequently when her silent reflux was being adequately treated. They can get in a vicious cycle of feeding to get comfort from the reflux only for the fed to cause reflux and they want to feed again to sooth that discomfort.

@CocoPlum much the same, it was at about 13 weeks that D and I worked it out together and a proper lactation consultant said it was 'good enough', and I relaxed after that. Definitely true that it's a skill you and baby have to work on together.

For us this was very normal, she has calmed down a little now she’s 6 months but still a big boob monster. She’s an absolute chunk so I know she was always getting enough, she just liked to feed often.

Our daughter has only now started to take a bottle of expressed milk, the exhaustion in the first few months is so intense. Hang in there mama you’re doing amazing.