This is not cluster feeding, is it?

[Thewonder]

My baby is 3 weeks old and it's become increasingly difficult during the night feeds. I EBF, and every evening the baby comes off the boob, then tries to go back on, then pulls off again non stop. He seems to become more and more frustrated as time goes on, but he does this for 10+ hours. He feeds fine during the day, and falls asleep straight after though.

The baby started this again during 7pm, and it's been non stop 'on-off-on-off' boob and its now 7am! This can't be cluster feeding for 12 hours straight? He seems so hungry, and panicked wanting to feed, but then pulls off?

He already had tongue tie division a week ago, and dont think its reflux either. Although he spits up breastmilk at times, there is no crying or discomfort. He also seems fine when i change him between the night time feeds, just constantly roots to go back on boob.

I cant figure out how to help him. Is he not getting enough milk at night? Would it be a good idea to express milk in a bottle for night feeds?

Are you drinking enough, do you have enough milk ?
Sometimes they use you as a dummy, so you could offer one if you agree with them, but what I personally did was give a bottle last thing before bed to get them to sleep that bit longer.

My baby is 5 weeks old and we have had a half a dozen episodes like this. She feeds frantically for hours- on and off, on and off- usually from early evening til about midnight. It is def cluster feeding for us. I have too much milk and have to express the excess to slow the flow down so that she can latch properly. Is your baby putting on weight and having wet nappies? If so I would guess it’s nothing to worry about and just something to persevere with but speak to your midwife or health visitor about it.

Have you tried putting him in his bed when he starts coming off? Mine used to do this because he wanted to be put down. Took me ages to work it out because I thought he was hungry.

Also eating porridge thickened up my milk supply. Dc2 cluster fed. So I sort of started at 3pm. That is, hourly from 3pm. Then they slept through the night for longer periods instead of long sleeps during the day and 15 minute naps at night.

I remember doing a 16hr straight stint of BF at 3 weeks, we had a few verrrry long feeds of off and on or just always on! Still BF at 13 months xx

3 weeks is prime growth spurt time and so he may be upping his activity for that. They tend to do this over a 48-72 hour period. Could it be this?

No 12 hours isn’t normal. What’s his weight gain like? He must be shattered, and you as well!

My first did this until we gave her a dummy. Honestly, if you haven't tried that, give it a go. It made an unbelievable difference.

Don't be offended, but just asking: did they tell you about the aftercare for the tongue tie?
Did they provide advice on feeding positions and latching?

It may be cluster feeding. I would try several of the above mentioned suggestions. Putting him down, drinking etc.
That said, it seems that for many babies there is a growth/developmental jump around 3 weeks. During these days they cry more, need cuddles and cluster feed... if it is this, you will just have to ride it out...

I am still not sure what's going on. Was another night of being up 12-6am :-(. As usual during the night, baby feeds, but pulls off seconds later getting increasingly upset and has a little cry but then roots desperate to get back on boob again. He also pulls his legs up to his tummy, and squirms a lot. He sometimes falls asleep after 2 hours of this behaviour non-stop only to wake up 10 minutes later rooting again. I am absolutely shattered, and starting to dread the evenings.

Now i am thinking could it actually be reflux, or colic? These episodes only happen at night though, so wouldn't reflux or colic bother baby during day too? He does sometimes cough up breastmilk, and hiccups after a feed, but it doesn't seem to bother him. Also he is flat on his back when i change his nappy in the middle of the night, and he goes completely quiet happy to look around for a bit. Surely if colic/reflux then he would be crying during nappy change too?

I tried dummy, but he spits it back out, and he cries to go back on boob if i try and put him down.

What’s his weight gain like OP? How long until he was back to birth weight?

Have you properly burped him, and helped him poo with cycling legs and gentle tummy circles? Look up techniques for both online.

Took me weeks to learn to properly burp my LO, poor thing, and what you're describing sounds very like my DS when he needs to burp. He's 3mo and he still finds burping hard work, sometimes has a cry about it maybe because it's sore or a little uncomfortable, if he's at my boob, he'll be grumpy and moaning and fidgetting on and off, but as soon as the burps are out he's better and settles very quickly. (Getting him then to have a nap in his cot is a different story, but at least he's sleeping...)

Pooping is also exhausting and DS needed a lot of help with that. We'd spend ages moving his legs and rubbing his tummy to help.

But yours is also only a few weeks old, so this could easily be cluster feeding. Unfortunately our milk is best overnight, stupid bodies.

Good luck!

It is distressing to hear and see your little one like that. And you must be shattered!

It seems it may be his tummy, that he has a problem with gass. The squirming and pulling his legs up point to this. Small babies have sensitive 'tummies' so this often happens. Apparently not related to anything you ate the day before.

Our DD had reflux issues related to her tongue tie. She took in too much air while breastfeeding, is a bad burper and the air went down into her intestines... we had to keep her upright for 30 minutes after feeding and use a few tricks to get some burps out...
While she had (and still has) reflux, she was still gaining weight nicely. Sometimes she would spit up on the changing mat, but mostly she would be happily watching her surroundings. So it may well a combination of factors for you guys as well.
When our DD whines while breastfeeding and pulling off, it is one of two things: 1 she needs to burp, or 2 my breast is empty. I often check if my breast is still full or not by quickly expressing a few times using my hand.

You will have to try a few things and also do not hesitate to get some professional help. For us it was the specialist team that cut the tongue tie that helped us a lot. And actually the certified lactation specialist that referred us to this team. They asked questions, looked at how the feeding was going and gave lots of advice. And please know, when the tongue tie is severed, the baby often needs to learn to drink properly (again), getting used to how the tongue moves in this new situation.

Is the baby loosing weight? If so could be tongue tie. If the baby is doing fine it’s probably normal cluster feeding. They go thorough phases of feeding and feeding. They do it at night because it stimulates your body to produce more milk. It’s exhausting. You’re doing really well x

National Breastfeeding Helpline: 0300 100 0212

Is he feeding or just suckling? My youngest comfort fed all night. So was latched on all night long. But he wasn’t feeding. He wouldn’t take a dummy either.

My guess is cluster feeding. / reverse cycling.

Newborns are maniacs. Everything from clustering to night feeds to bad latches to witching hours..
Maniacs!

if he’s not having any issues feeding etc during the day I’d say it’s hopefully just a maniac (development) phase and will pass..

I will add - this is when I learnt the term “breast-sleeping”

It's wind. Tonight, after he's fed well burp him really really really well. Then nappy change. Then put him in a sling and pace around. The sling helps wind as they're upright, and you know he's fed and dry so just walk round for 15 mins patting his back. He will fall asleep.

Are your boobs quite engorged? Does he make a clicking sound when he latches on, before he pulls off?
It could potentially be a fast milk flow and he's struggling to cope with it.

It does like cluster feeding though, he's trying to increase your supply and giving a dummy could interfere with that. Maybe look into safe bedsharing so you can sleep a little while he feeds? - better than falling asleep accidentally and being unsafe.

Take care. This bit is tough, but it will pass and you are doing amazingly. Well done.

And yes - this stage is mental, and you're doing incredibly well!!!!

I have a 6 week old DS, he often does this when he needs to burp.

Like a PP I had cluster feeds that lasted more than 12 hours, all very temporary but mad at the time..

My wee one was like this, it was trapped wind. I would hold her sitting upright, with the heel of my hand pressing gently onto her stomach, and rub her back and eventually she would bring up a huge burp.
Gripe water was our life saver.

It's like she was starving but couldn't settle to have a feed as she was so uncomfortable. I'd give her gripe water and then she would literally fall asleep in my arms within about 1 minute after.

One of mine did this and it was due to a bad latch. He was latching on okay but then slipping down so he wasn't getting an efficient milk supply. I had to unlatch him and let him latch on again until he got a good latch. This might not be the same problem as you of course but my point is it took an experienced lactation consultant to spot the issue. This was my third child that I was breastfeeding so you would have thought it would have been easy but my earlier two didn't have this issue.