Eight-week-old feeding constantly for weeks, not just cluster feeding?

[katharine1403]

Hoping someone can relate as loosing my mind a little. Baby fed easily from birth up until about 3 weeks, he’s almost 8 weeks and in that time if he’s not asleep he’s feeding or on the boob. Occasionally get 15 minutes where he doesn’t want feed but it’s few and far between, especially as the day goes on. He had tongue tie separation a few days ago as an inefficient latch was thought to be the issue but had no change so far. Has anyone experienced any of this? The number of times people say he’s cluster feeding is driving me mad! He literally will feed for hours and hours all day for over a month!

what’s his weight gain like and nappies? Tongue tie doesn’t work on its own all the time, did they check for tension, for functional skills? have you got oral exercises to do with him?
How is your supply?
can you follow up with the tongue tie specialist?

So my kid had something similar and it turns out she has a dairy allergy. Are they unsettled in other ways?

The most important thing to check is is he gaining weight as expected or is he not getting enough. If he is gaining weight appropriately and not dehydrated then that’s the first sign he’s feeding ok.

However, I am not a doctor, I don’t know all the possible things that could be going on that a doctor might pick up as a possibility. If your gut is telling you something is wrong, push to get it checked out by a medical professional, your intuition can pick up things others won’t see in a short visit.

His weight gain slowed but is fine now, and lots of nappies. So he’s getting what he needs, it just takes all day it seems
interesting about an allergy, we’re seeing the GP on Monday so I might mention that.
Will keep up with the exercises and hope the tongue tie is part of the problem and settled as he works out his new tongue…
It’s just exhausting! And means there’s no play time or things that should be happening around this time

What other symptoms did they have? He has really dry skin but that’s the only other thing that would make me think it’s an allergy

Maybe reflux? I had one who would constantly drink milk and the impression I got was that it soothed the discomfort of reflux. Other symptoms were being incredibly prone to being sick - lots of spit up but also multiple huge vomits every day (which the endless milk drinking obviously didnt help!). He was otherwise healthy so I just stuck it out and once weaned it was much better. It was exhausting though so you have my sympathy.

I never tried a dummy but did wonder if that would have helped - maybe an option? Even if it doesn't relieve symptoms it might prevent developing a dependence on the boob as the default thing to do.

They do pretty much feed unless asleep or being changed. Does he not fall asleep when feeding? Mine would sleep, wake, get changed, maybe tolerate me making a cup of tea, then feed, both sides, fall asleep, cycle starts again. They were never really put down though. What happens if you just hold him or go out for a walk immediately after waking?

I don’t think it sounds extraordinarily unusual, but yes, certainly I’d expect this of a baby with latch issues. Even if TT has been cut, he has to re-learn how to eat. It’s not automatic. I wouldn’t expect a huge amount of change for a few weeks.

That said, it sounds really annoying, but the early days of just being able to sit down because all they want to do is eat and be held to sleep are the easiest. You don’t realise it until you never get to sit down again. I binge watched loads and read books. I’d make the most of it while you can.

Yeah at 8 weeks I think what OP has described is totally normal. I've breastfeed 3 babies, none of them had tongue tie, they all basically fed constantly until they started to 'wake up' around 12 weeks/3 months ish. DC1 also cried for hours and hours around the feeding which was very tough but there was never any medical issues found and she just grew out of it gradually. My other 2 DC were such easy newborns until they 'woke up', they just spent most of their time attached to me and they were content with that. Don't worry about 'play time' your baby is a tiny newborn, play will come later.