Light at the end of the tunnel?

[Tuftufwang]

I'm a ftm and starting to get quite overwhelmed by the whole breastfeeding process. I'm on week 3 and my son is cluster feeding loads from early evening till late night lasting 3-4 hours. Sometimes when i
put him down, he wakes in an hour to feed. Sometimes I get a 2 hour break from him between feeds. It's like a roller coaster ride. I get kind of discouraged when he gets hungry within an hour and it's as if my bm is not enough. I have supplemented a few oz a day usually before bedtime. Have managed tto cut down fm from 6 to 3 oz.

For a 3 week old, how long does cluster feeding behavior lasts? When will feeding ppattern become more established? Been reading that many babies are sleeping 2-3 hours constantly n I'm wondering if things will get better for me? really want to be ebm soon......sigh

 

[Jode]

Hi,
Congrats and welcome to motherhood.
When my baby was about 3 weeks old, she was also cluster feeding like mad!
I was literally stuck with her from 6-ish pm to 9-ish pm, with less than an hour in between.
So, don't fret. I was doing a bit of reading while I was going through this period. Was also questioning myself if I have enough milk for my baby. But since I realised that she is cluster feeding, I came to terms with it. And basically, I prepared drinks, snacks, my phone and a book and stayed in my room with baby until she is done with feeding.. So, relax and enjoy the time with your baby!
Cluster feeding lasted til she was 4 or 5 weeks old. And then she also had growth spurts.. so... not sure which is which at a certain point..
Growth spurts happens at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks, 3 and 6 mths.
I would say, go with the flow and feed on demand. And try not to supplement with FM, cos it will affect your milk supply... best way to establish milk supply is to latch and latch!
Before you know it, you would have reached the end of the tunnel...
Good luck!!!!

 

[Lana17]

dont get discourage, it's not unusual for early weeks baby to be fed every hourly.. u hv to keep latching yr baby in order to increase yr milk supply even every hour...
like jode said, there might be a growth spurt at week 3 so baby demand more.. i was basically stuck with my baby duriing his period of growth spurt.. even now he's 8 weeks old, he will cry for milk an hour or an hour n half after his last feed, i will give it to him since i do not know how much he drank....
like everyone used to tell n encourage me - hang in there, it wil be over soon.. n will be much better when yr baby gets older

 

[Eliza]

I'm a ftm and starting to get quite overwhelmed by the whole breastfeeding process. I'm on week 3 and my son is cluster feeding loads from early evening till late night lasting 3-4 hours. Sometimes when i
put him down, he wakes in an hour to feed. Sometimes I get a 2 hour break from him between feeds. It's like a roller coaster ride. I get kind of discouraged when he gets hungry within an hour and it's as if my breast milk is not enough. I have supplemented a few oz a day usually before bedtime. Have managed tto cut down fm from 6 to 3 oz.

For a 3 week old, how long does cluster feeding behavior lasts? When will feeding ppattern become more established? Been reading that many babies are sleeping 2-3 hours constantly n I'm wondering if things will get better for me? really want to be ebm soon......sigh

All babies are different. My nephew was breastfed hourly and he was a huge baby, wherelse mine was three hourly or sometimes longer and he was an average size baby.
When your baby is feeding many times a day, you will be wondering if you have enough breastmilk. When your baby is like mine, you will be afraid he is not drinking enough.
The only way to make sure he is having enough milk is through his diapers. If he gets about eight full diapers a day, this means that he is having enough breastmilk and you don't have to worry. Sometimes fully breastfed babies can go a week without pooping.
As for when will he sleep longer, that will depend on him entirely. We can't rush him for that. The only way if you needed the rest, gather some help from relatives and friends, express out some breastmilk and pass to them to feed while you rest.

 

[felicity]

Wow... I've been thru this and still gg through now! 2 more days to 4 weeks old... Sometimes my bb not just cluster feeding... She could be latching nonstop for 3-4 hrs!!! Last week i was super exhausted and stressed that I hv not enough milk, my supply really dropped a lot... From 110ml (combined both sides) each time I pumped to only 30ml... I was so devastated I cried for two days... But I guess as everyone advised, being stress is not gonna help... Now gg back to 110ml again...

Her slping is still 2-3 hrs and I wake up in the middle of the night to latch for 1-2 hrs each time... It's very very tiring so try to rest as and when possible... Jiayou!!

 

[Alisa]

this phrase will pass, really nothing much but to hang on and get help from family members if u are willing to let go. when u see yr baby weight growing, that is the most rewarding thing!

 

[Tuftufwang]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Guess I was wishing for textbook baby. He was good in the day yday with 2 hour naps and then cluster fed every hour from 4-7am. I call that the witching hour!!