Cluster feeding?

[aidensxmomma]

My LO is 8 weeks old and is currently being combination feed. He is probably 85-90% breastfed with 1-2 bottles per day (totalling 4-6oz).

I have a lot of concerns about my supply. We had a really tough start to breastfeeding. When LO was born, he had a fairly severe tongue tie so around 3 days old, I started pumping and giving bottles of expressed milk. We got LOs tongue tie fixed when he was 2 weeks old and we started breastfeeding again. But I got really frustrated with it and I decided to switch to formula. Starting at 4 weeks, LO was fully formula fed and I didn't nurse or pump. But LO had some severe problems with formula So we decided to try breastfeeding again. We've been breastfeeding again for about 3 weeks.

I'm concerned if LO is getting enough from me though. During the day, LO is constantly feeding, going only an hour or so between feeds. Usually he will nurse from one side, fall asleep for half an hour, nurse from the other side, fall asleep, and then repeat this for hours and hours. Usually from about noon to 9pm. Sometimes he will start doing it earlier in the day. However, at night (9pm-8am at least) he will nurse from one side then sleep for about 3 hours.

I'm still not confident in breastfeeding after all the trouble we went through. And I have no idea what's normal and what's not.

Thanks for any advice.

Also, just wanted to pat myself on the back a little...last weekend OH and I went shopping and out to dinner with the kids. It took longer than we thought so LO got hungry. I successfully nursed in public which is something I was terrified of doing. I'm so proud that we managed to do it and I didn't flash anyone

 

[noon_child]

I'm concerned if LO is getting enough from me though. During the day, LO is constantly feeding, going only an hour or so between feeds. Usually he will nurse from one side, fall asleep for half an hour, nurse from the other side, fall asleep, and then repeat this for hours and hours. Usually from about noon to 9pm. Sometimes he will start doing it earlier in the day. However, at night (9pm-8am at least) he will nurse from one side then sleep for about 3 hours.

I'm still not confident in breastfeeding after all the trouble we went through. And I have no idea what's normal and what's not.

Thanks for any advice.

Also, just wanted to pat myself on the back a little...last weekend OH and I went shopping and out to dinner with the kids. It took longer than we thought so LO got hungry. I successfully nursed in public which is something I was terrified of doing. I'm so proud that we managed to do it and I didn't flash anyone

Well done you for working so hard on this. you definitely deserve a good few pats on the back not just one.

I think from the sound of it, your LO is being very kind and demanding most of his food in the day - some babies just stay on the boob constantly (not even a 20minute snooze in between) between about 7pm and 3am when they are building supply.

If the small gap between feeds is stopping you from doing things, you could consider offering both sides at each feed. Sometimes the act of turning them to the other side wakes them enough to realise they aren't quite full and they start nursing again. Other babies hate being disturbed and fuss and grump about it. It's just a case of trying things and seeing what works for you and your LO.

Just remember, frequent feeding isn't a sign that baby isn't getting enough milk, it is a way of ensuring that they DO!

Cluster feeding slows down and starts to disappear between about 8-14 weeks as supply stabilises.

You may find that if you decide to drop the bottles at some point, that cluster feeding starts again and feeding gets constant for a while, but it should only be for a few days while LO ups your supply. At the moment the bottles make him think your supply is fine so he has no need to do the constant on, off, on, off, hours on end sucking that often categorises a growth spurt.

So long story short - VERY NORMAL!

 

[1nceUponATime]

It sounds perfectly normal to me. Sometimes my baby eats every hour during the day. I try to wake her up by changing her diaper inbetween boobs lol ... sometimes I think too like she's with me all day so even if she's in the mood for a "snack" she's going to not so politely request to eat... I mean, if I'm a little hungry I grab a snack from the kitchen because I can, so does she. My baby has been cluster feeding / having fussy evenings, which stinks because my DH never gets to see the happy lovey baby I see all day ... and she wants to eat every hour or just hang out on the boob constantly.... but everything I read says it tends to go away at or around 3 months. hang in there !

 

[Uni tsi]

It does sound perfectly normal but if you're really curious to see how much he gets at each feeding, see if the hospital where delivered offers a lactation support group. They'll probably have a scale where you can weigh him before and after a feed to see how much he eats. Seeing how much they're getting in a feeding session can be very reassuring, in my experience. Also, it's normal for them to get hungry more frequently on breast milk because it digests easier than formula.

WTG breastfeeding in public! It takes courage!