Cluster feeds

Cluster feeding, just another thing i didn't know about.


The first time River had a cluster feed he was a couple of weeks old and i thought, "oh my god, what have i got myself into". He fed on and off for about 6hrs, the tears where flowing and i was exhausted, I looked at Jamie and said "how am i supposed to do this all the time?"and "What am i doing wrong?". I gave him over to Jamie after the 6th hour and hoped he could get him to sleep, he lay on Jamie's chest while Jamie gently rocked him and eventually he nodded off while I lay there and quietly sobbed.

The next morning i googled, baby feeding for a long time and up popped cluster feeding, i had a read and it sounded exactly like what i had just experienced. Here's a little snip it on cluster feeding from a great website called Kelly Mom, which you can access through this link http://kellymom.com/

Cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It’s often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be “tanking up” before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a longish stretch of sleep at night – baby may even sleep all night.

Cluster feeding often coincides with your baby’s fussy time. Baby will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry… on and on… for hours. This can be VERY frustrating, and mom starts wondering if baby is getting enough milk, if something she is eatingis bothering baby, if EVERYTHING she is doing is bothering baby… It can really ruin your confidence, particularly if there is someone else around asking the same questions (your mother, your husband, your mother-in-law).

This behavior is NORMAL! It has nothing to do with your breastmilk or your mothering. If baby is happy the rest of the day, and baby doesn’t seem to be in pain (as with colic) during the fussy time – just keep trying to soothe your baby and don’t beat yourself up about the cause. Let baby nurse as long and as often as he will. Recruit dad (or another helper) to bring you food/drink and fetch things (book/remote/phone/etc.) while you are nursing and holding baby.

I wasn't so lucky the first time to have River sleep for a longer period of time, he woke up after about 2.5hrs. However the second night he cluster fed again and he slept for about 5hrs. The second night although it was still frustrating and upsetting at times at least i new what was going on. I wish i had known about cluster feeding earlier, it would have saved some of the tears and doubt that i was having in my ability to feed my baby. 

Have you experienced cluster feeding?



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