Nights feeds draining the life out of me

[fugde08]

Hi everyone, does anyone have any idea why my week old baby's night feeds are taking forever? He wakes up and I offer him breast and try make it as long as possible by blowing on his face, stroking his feet etc etc. I then change his nappy and offer him the other side. He stops and I wind and swaddle only to put him down in the moses basket for him to not settle because he's rooting for more milk. The feeds are going on for around 4 hours and it's exhausting. My supply is good, so I don't really know what else to do.

Breast compressions are meant to be more effective then blowing/tickling feet, Google how to do them. This may just be your baby cluster feeding, it does improve. Make sure baby is fed every 3/4 hours during day and if this is your first take the chance to sleep when they do!

It might be cluster feeding which happens a lot in the early weeks as they establish milk supply. They also aren't always efficient feeders early on but they do get better over the first few weeks.

@fugde08 it's normal. My 4 week old has had lots of nights completely attached to breast. First week she was frantic 11pm - 5 am every other night. Cluster feeding is normal whilst you're establishing your supply and baby is having growth spurts etc.

Hello! I have a 7 week old baby boy so not far infront of you. I would try filling him up more in the evenings - get him full full full before you go to bed. Are you sure he is getting a decent quantity each time he latches on for a feed.. I thought mine was but then he started to not gain as much weight and when I used the breast pump I thought actually he probably wasn’t getting quite enough to fill him up. Can you pump & give him breast milk in a bottle for one night- it’s a faff - but the advantage is you can see how much he’s drunk and compare his level of ‘settled-ness ’ to see if he will settle at least! Definitely try and fill him up all evening and feed as much as you can from lunchtime onwards really to try and help you through the night. Good luck xxx

Agree with pp it’s totally normal to cluster feed and be glued to boob- just helps you greatly if that can be mostly during waking hours 😁 by filling him up earlier you might help it in the right direction xxx

Cluster feeding is completely normal, its your babies way of boosting your supply. I'd avoid pumping and giving a bottle this early unless really necessary as it can mess with your supply and cause nipple confusion.

Its horrible, I've got a 3.5 year old and a 10 week old so I know the pain of cluster feeding well!

Thank you for all your replies and advice! Makes it much more bareable knowing it's just a phase. I'll look up compressing techniques and will make sure he's getting more than enough later on in the day.

As everyone has said cluster feeding is totally normal in the first few weeks. My boy was attached to the boob from about 5pm - 11pm and it gradually got less and less. I think he used boob as comfort too so I guess you could try a dummy? Not sure what age is appropriate for it but looking back, my boy was a big time comfort sucker.

@fugde08
Thinking of you tonight, how are you doing? Breastfeeding is really tough in the first few weeks but I promise it gets easier!

Unfortunately, it's cluster feeding. It's horrendous. My baby stayed up every night till 5am constantly on my boob for the first couple of weeks. It's really really hard x

As others have said it's cluster feeding. Does improve after a few weeks, just get some support during the days if you can so you can catch up on sleep. I also co slept (look up how to do this safely) which helped us both rest sufficiently. Cluster feeding is very normal and will help you bf for longer if you want to. Even though you have loads at the min, baby needs to do this to establish a long term supply. Also try and start bub on the boob earlier before bed so they're full and sleepy by bedtime, xx

It's normal but hard. It also might not be just about milk but your baby's mammal instinct to be close to the safest place. I ended up bedsharing because I got so much more sleep.

Try playing v loud white noise to help him settle. Hairdryer.