Nightly cluster feeding?

kfry22

I'm wondering if anyone else has experience this and if so what your thoughts are. Thank you in advance for any input!!

For the past two nights my little man has gotten incredibly fussy from 9:45 to 1am. He nurses about every 10 to 15 minutes and then slowly it goes to every 20-30 minutes as we get closer to 1am. During this time he has trouble latching (no problems during the day) and requires a lot of diaper changes. Both nights he has wet threw a diaper or two and required a whole change of clothing. I am able to set him down during the period between feedings but as soon as he starts to fuss it's constant rooting and chewing his hands until I feed him and then he is calm again.

So my question is would this be him cluster feeding? And if so could we be experiencing our first growth spurt? He is a week old today and has been an over achiever so far in his weight gain. He was back up above his birth weight 4 days after birth. If it is cluster feeding and a growth spurt I'm assuming he will come out of it. If it's not any suggestions besides just keep feeding him during that time? Thanks!

alinic916

Yes to both. Cluster feeding at night is very normal, especially the first few weeks. And yes, it could possibly be a growth spurt. Newborns have a growth spurt around 10 days old, which could be a few days early for you.

ChariZae

In my experience, this also helps prep baby (and me! )for a longer stretch of sleep. Whenever he does a marathon feed at night, I find he sleeps a few extra hours for me.

wcm2b

This is my life right now. I feel your pain!

Cmoniga

Exactly the issue I'm dealing with now. My LO is 3 weeks today. She is awake and constantly wanting to feed from early night 8/9pm-1am. The most the can get her to sleep is generally after 1pm and it ranges from 4 hours (have seen this in a while) to 2 hours 15 min. Last night I got 2 hours 15 min total as the longest period of time for her to sleep. Before and after it was constant awake/stirring/crying and wanting to eat. I feel like my supply is depleted bc she starts to have trouble latching and just screams. I've considered supplementing formula but haven't got to that point yet.

capricelili

Mine has been doing this since the first week, going on week 4. He's been growing like a weed, so I'm assuming he's having a lot of growth spurts. I've been hitting up google on this subject and seems like it's normal.
@Cmoniga I was thinking of supplementing too because it feels like he drains my boobs and gets more frustrated that it's harder to get milk, but it also seems like he is just using me as a pacifier (but he won't take a pacifier). What I read is that newborn instinct to nurse like this is to build up your supply and to not supplement because it gives your body the opposite signal to make less if you supplement. For me thus far it's helped to build supply slowly but surely.

kfry22

Ok so at least I'm not alone! I'm just going to assume it is normal and hope we grow out of it. Eventually.