2week old breastfeeding all day

[Houndsandbooks]

Hello
my daughter is 12 days old and is wanting to feed constantly. She is fed from both breasts (burped between) and then instantly wants more. She is latching well according to the midwife and I often have to wipe milk from around her mouth when she detaches herself.
these sessions have been happening for over a week and peak around lunchtime and before midnight. It is making doing anything extremely difficult and I am concerned there is something wrong.

my midwife has said that you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby but having her eat 2 or 3 meals in short succession and then vomit, hiccup and writhe in pain (burping doesn’t relieve this) doesn’t seem right.

has anyone else experienced this? if so, is there a solution? How long did it last?

thanks

That sounds normal to me - Young babies do feed a lot - it's cluster feeding. If she's not making herself sick from too much milk, I would keep at it. She could be trying to increase your supply.

With regards to supply, does she have a good number of wet and dirty nappies? If you're concerned, maybe do a one-time formula feed to see how much she drinks and if she stops constantly feeding after that?^^

However I have found it best to just let the baby cluster feed all day as long as they need, rather than go down the long-term path of mixed feeding, because it can quickly diminish your milk supply.

Sounds normal... cluster feeding.

Hang in there - this too shall pass

My baby would feed all day and I ended up with sore blistered nipples and an unhappy baby: turns out he had a bad tongue tie and wasn’t actually getting enough milk when he was feeding. So get baby checked for that as I have breast fed 4 kids and only one fed all day and wasn’t satisfied and it was the one with the tongue tie - worth checking

This is very normal, DS was born in the winter and I spent the first three months on the sofa watching box sets. You should enjoy it while you can, once they're mobile you don't get a minute to yourself, I'd love to have those newborn days back.

It sounds like it's likely to be cluster feeding, but you can always seek some support if you're concerned. Is there any drop-in BF support near you?

I was definitely perturbed when midwives etc kept telling me she might feed every 2 hours (or whatever) and I was like... But she feeds FOR 2-3 hours at a time! It can be normal - but it can be an inefficient latch or tongue tie so don't downplay your concerns.

Look up some different burping techniques if you're worried about wind, some babies prefer different ones.

She's not even 2 weeks old! They don't eat "meals" yet!

Its not uncommon for a BF baby to feed every 1.5 hours or so and they feed for long stretches at a time compared to an older baby. About 40 mins or so wouldn't be uncommon.

Sometime babies want to eat more and more because they have stomach pain from the milk, and sucking soothes them.

I would try changing your diet to very very bland foods and see if that helps. Mine always ended up in agony if I ate onions or garlic and my sister had the same if she ate broccoli or cabbage.