4 Week Old has never left the boob

[Emmilouise783]

I just wanted some advice/support, I have a 4 week old that basically all day barely sleeps and just constantly feeds on the boob, falls asleep on the boob wakes up and goes straight back to the boob. This pattern has been ongoing for all of the 4 weeks. The only time I can get him to sleep is my husband putting a baby carrier on and going for a long walk. He previously had his tongue tie cut at 2 weeks and my supply had dropped and I was prescribed donperidone. I don’t want to give up BF but the days are on unbearable at the minute. The nights are manageable he goes to sleep around 10 wakes at 12 and wakes at 3 and 6. Everytime I take him of feeding in the day he screams and just cry’s and cry’s and cry’s. Is this normal. Everyone said this is cluster feeding for a growth spurt but it’s been every day since the day he was born. Any help please!

Mine did settle fine at night actually until 3 months. At 3 months nights became horrendous. I assume that he settled at night as a newborn because he was so exhausted from not sleeping during the day apart from falling asleep during feeds and sleeping as long as I could tolerate staying perfectly still, but might be totally wrong. The only other symptom we had at that age was lots and lots of poos, that tended to be explosive. At 4 months we had blood in the nappy. He wasn’t diagnosed until 6 months, despite me going back and forth to the gp and a paeds referral. Nobody mentioned CMPA. I was told it was a surprise because babies with CMPA have poor outcomes with weight etc., but mine was an amazing weight because he spent all day on the boob.

Are you eating plenty? Drinking plenty yourself? Breastfeeding relentless to start with..

If you want to combo feed you can, and it might help you get more rest if you have someone who can do a bottle feed.

I combo fed with no impact on breastfeeding. DC2 had 1/2 bottles a day from about a week until about 4 months, then I exclusively breastfed for a few months while excluding dairy to check for intolerance, then we went back to including formula after introducing food.

I tried to not swap the same feed two days in a row, so that my body wouldn’t ’get used’ to the lack of feed at that time, with the exception of the feed around 9pm. DH would do that with the bottle (I went to bed at8pm) then I’d get a solid sleep until the next feed.

This sounds so tough. I remember my son being like this and thinking this is so extreme, I have no idea how anyone copes! But it did get much, much easier over time. Four weeks is still very 'new'. If there are no physical issues like tongue tie etc then it might be a case of riding it out for a bit longer, if you can. Or try introducing formula if you're finding it intolerable, there's no point spending his babyhood being completely wrecked by the situation and unable to enjoy him. Just bear in mind, everything is a phase that passes.

Editing for unfortunate typo.

I gave my son a mixture of Breast and Bottle as he was always feeding and I couldn’t get anything done, I also had another child. He helped him greatly, seemed to fill him up and settled him better, I don’t think my milk alone was filling enough for him.

Make sure you drink LOADS of water.

My baby was like this between weeks 2 and 3, gained over a pound in a week, I was exhausted and wanted to stop breastfeeding.

It will get better, but it might not be for another week or two.

Things I did to save my sanity
Used a dummy (sorry to see this does not seem to be working for you!)
Combination fed - last feed before bed was a bottle, and then DP would take the baby downstairs for a formula top up if the baby was still crying and rooting after 45 mins of feeding in the night.
Pram walks to get naps in - I would then park the baby in the warm shady back garden and finally have a rest.

Baby wearing did not work for me, the baby constantly wanted to feed. My DP got good use out of our carrier instead, and often got the baby to sleep that way.

Combination feeding once or twice a day didn't stop me breastfeeding, we continued to eight months, and the only thing that hurt my supply was the baby sleeping through the night at 6.5 months. However until 4.5 months that baby HATED having a bottle from me, but was happy having a bottle from daddy.

If you want him to have a dummy mate sure it's a newborn one and persevere with sticking it back in again. Sone babies just feel comforted by suckling rather than because they're hungry. But one of mine never took a dummy or bottle so it may not be a solution.

That's quite a lot of scaremongering. Lots of babies successfully combined feed. I have many friends who gave a bottle a day but otherwise breastfeeding into toddler years.

Sorry OP but this sounds like very normal cluster feeding behaviour at 4 weeks. My baby was the same at this age - I got through all 14 seasons of Call the Midwife! If he is doing longer stretches overnight then this would indicate that there is no underlying issue. I've found that breastfeeding mums are not given much information about the reality of cluster feeeing leading to many thinking that there is something wrong with their baby/supply, when it is in fact completely normal behaviour.

I would just lean into it if you can, get cosy on the sofa with a good series and lots of snacks and drinks.

It does get better - although we continued to have spells of cluster feeding until around 8 weeks. My baby is now 6 months and feeds every 3 to 4 hours, once or twice overnight.