Cluster feeding or not getting enough

[Bluesea14]

Hi,

looking for some advice/experiences with cluster feeding. 10 day old baby has been on the breast at night for around 40 mins ( on each breast), comes off then wants to go back on after 15 mins. Apparently this is cluster feeding but I'm not convinced.

I sometimes hear her swallow but most of the time it's 4-5 sucks to a swallow. I have a feeling she's just not getting enough food instead of it being cluster feeding.

for some background info she lost 5% of birth weight. Gained some when we combi fed ( my milk was late to come in) then lost again when we decided to reduce the amount of formula. I also had her weighed after a mamourh 14 hour bf session and her weight was the same as the day before.

Cluster feeding is really common and normal.

I swear one of mine was on the breast more than he was off it for the first few month. He also lost weight initially until my body got used to his feeding rhythm but he was thriving.

If you have a breastfeeding counsellor you can call, ask her to come and check your positioning. That did make a difference for me and DC.

I would keep a close eye on her weight. If she's not gaining or has a low weight to start with then I'd BF first and then top up with formula to be on the safe side. If you can find the energy, you can pump any excess off and build up your supplies and use it for top ups. If you have a lot of excess that would suggest she is not feeding well and I'd see about latch and technique.

Enormous faff but so is jaundice and a return to hospital so having been around this particular house twice with two disinterested babies, I'd err on the side of caution for your own peace of mind. Both of mine became very enthusiastic breastfeeders in due course, just small and underweight and tired quickly in the early days. Eventually they refused a bottle altogether which was a different headache as I was about to return to work but that's a different conversation.

Your job is to keep them alive and keep yourself reasonably sane. If you have to top up or do a full formula feed once or so a day your baby will be fine.

Lastly, if you are not rested, well hydrated and fed your milk supplies will suffer. It's the perfect excuse for your other half to bring you breakfast in bed while you do the first feed of the day. Finish the feed, eat your own breakfast and have a snooze together with your baby before cracking on with Netflix. Especially while it is so cold.

But did you have a good suck swallow pattern? I've had 5-6 people check the latch and they are happy with it. I've been told I have a low milk supply due to birth trauma so trying to work out if this is actually a cluster feed

I mean this kindly but whether it’s cluster feeding or sheer hunger if your baby is not maintaining and ideally gaining some weight you have an issue. Do you have somewhere you can go and get it checked?
The other way to check is lots of wet nappies and how alert your baby is. A hospitalised baby will have their nappies weighed to estimate how much volume they are peeing out (as people change nappies at different frequencies). If your babies nappies are really not very wet at all then I would top up.

I had a CS and it took 5/6 days for my milk to come in and then not a lot of it. I’d been in hospital for about 8 days by then and was cross eyed with tiredness. I do appreciate just how stressful it is when you want to successfully BF and you can’t figure out whether it’s all working or not and your baby isn’t thriving.

Yes we're having midwife apps and apps with the feeding teams every day to every other day x

And do they seem happy with how your baby is progressing. If so, I'd put it down to cluster feeding, line up several bottles of water and oat bars, settle in and hit the box sets :)

This sounds normal. 4-5 sucks to a swallow is fine. A 5% weight loss is well within the bounds of normal and I'm surprised you were advised to combine feed after just that.

You say "at night", can you clarify what time you mean?

How often does she poo? Is she generally content between feeds the rest of the time?

The infant feeding team said they would expect suck swallow or suck suck swallow. shes getting weighed every other day and has lost weight at each appointment. She poos twice a day x

Is she losing weight, or just not gaining? Supplementing at this point is a good idea, I'm just surprised that they suggested it at 5% because that is normal.

4-5 is really not too bad. 1:1 or 2:1 is optimum but there are lots of other factors we consider so please don't get too hung up on this, it reads to.me that someone has told you the latch looks good but the ratio is off and honestly if the latch is good at that ratio I would expect effective feeding and weight gain so something is not quite right.

When you say she feeds like this at night can you clarify for me what time you mean?

Are you experiencing any pain/discomfort?

I'm sorry you had a difficult birth experience. Is your milk in now - do your breasts feel full, are they leaking, have you tried expressing?

Has someone fully assessed your baby for tongue tie - have they put on gloves and fully felt in her mouth?

When she feeds during the day, roughly how long is a feed, and how long between feeds?

Sorry for all the questions - I've been providing BF support for over a decade and trying to get a fuller picture.

Probably both cluster feeding and comfort. Also her little tummy and how much she can consume is expanding rapidly, it’s her job at the moment to bring your supply up to match that and all the time on the breast is doing just that. If you are worried though, like others have said find a lactation consultant, they are brilliant, it will be money well spent in my experience. And good luck, the BF journey is not an easy one at the beginning x

it can be two sides of the same coin. The more stimulation you get, the more your supply increases.

If they are concerned about weight, have they suggested an SNS? Instead of using a bottle, it keeps baby at the breast which is critical for increasing supply. You can pump or use formula to fill it.

Around that time my daughter had a 1-3 evenings (can't remember exactly it's been awhile) with long 5h on /off feed. I had a good supply.