Cluster feeding?

bpwife&mama

I feel silly asking this, but as a FTM I have no clue what this means.  Help??

PsyDr04

It means that LO wants to eat much more frequently than usual. For example, if LO usually goes 2-3 hours between feedings, he or she may want to eat every hour or every 30 minutes. This usually happens when they go through their growth spurts. It can be exhausting but it usually only lasts for a few days during those growth spurts.

michelle_1221

Also some of the books I've read suggest to intentionally cluster feed in the evening to help fill your LO so they'll sleep better at night.  Our pedi told us to feed every 3 hours, but at night we feed every 2 hours with hopes it will help her have some stretches longer than 3 hours at night. 

jnk062602

I don't really know about ff, but I believe they still do it, especially around growth spurt times.

But for bfing, it does 2 things - it happens during growth spurt times and helps to increase your supply to match their demands.  It also may occur more frequently in the evening because that is when your supply is the lowest.

DD cluster fed in the evening all the time.  Because of that, once I got thru the first couple weeks with DS, I started to pump shortly after the "last" evening nursing of the night.  This simulates cluster feeding to my body, helping to boost my supply.  And bonus, I get some freezer stash.  I don't know for sure they correlate, but I believe they do.  DS does not cluster feed at all in the evening.  And that is his longest stretch of sleep, love it!