Community› The Bump Month Clubs› June 2011 Moms
June 2011 Moms
New Discussion

Clusterfeeding vs. overfeeding?

hunny_buncheshunny_bunches member
in June 2011 Moms

I'm not sure if LO has hit her 3 week growth spurt and is clusterfeeding or if she just wants to eat to eat.  The other day she nursed on me for over 40 minutes and 20 minutes later was rooting for more (also she'd been changed, rocked, etc.).  I gave her some formula which she sucked down in a second.  Then 30 minutes less than an hour later she wanted to nurse some more.  I started nursing her and she pulled off after less than 10 minutes.  I picked her up to burp her and she threw EVERYTHING up (the prior breast milk and formula).  I mean it was alot everywhere.  I had an appointment with the doctor yesterday and she told me that she just wants to pacify herself on something and so try to pacify her another way after she's nursed for that long.

So today all she wants to do is nurse and is fussing and screaming and I'm not sure if I should supplement her with formula or not.  I certainly don't want to overfeed her again, but I'm still not sure she's getting enough??  Also, I commented before that she's not napping so all of this has been going on since 9:30 this morning.  Anyone have any advice or has gone through something similar?

Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
Report Reply to Post

Re: Clusterfeeding vs. overfeeding?

  • kas80kas80 member

    Are you using pacifiers?  If so, try that first or let her suck on your pinky.  If she's still screaming around the pacifier or pinky after a few minutes she's probably hungry, otherwise she just wants something to suck on.  At least that's what I've noticed with our LO.

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • hunny_buncheshunny_bunches member
    Yes, we are using pacifiers because she seems to want to use me as one.  But the day she threw up I also tried to give her a pacifier which she spit out which usually means that she's hungry so I fed her and then had her throw everything up.  She's definitely giving me a run for my money.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    Report Reply
  • 11kacey11kacey member
    She sounds hungry to me. My doctor told me you cannot overfeed a breastfed newborn. They don't eat unless they are hungry. However, when giving her a bottle I think she might be sucking to pacify, take down the formula and THAT might be overfeeding her.
    BabyFruit Ticker
    Report Reply
  • celiabethceliabeth
    I am having the same issue except we are on formula only.  She eats and won't let me take the bottle away so I assume she is hungry.  She rarely wants the pacifier and seemingly only cries when she wants to eat. Today she is doing ok, but the last couple days she spat everything up a couple times,  Curious about the responses. 
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
  • Cjohn1211Cjohn1211
    She is comfort nursing...my LO does the same thing. The first few times I thought he was hungry too and gave him formula...it all came right back up. When they comfort nurse they are not ingesting much, its more about the sucking reflex. We're trying to get him on the paci so I can stop being one.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Birdies08Birdies08 member

    image11kacey:
    She sounds hungry to me. My doctor told me you cannot overfeed a breastfed newborn. They don't eat unless they are hungry. However, when giving her a bottle I think she might be sucking to pacify, take down the formula and THAT might be overfeeding her.

    My thoughts exactly! If you just let her nurse, she cannot and will not over eat. I say keep offering- I know it is trying when LO is nursing for hours 24/7, but it's good for her, and it's good for your supply.

    Report Reply
  • bunnymama625bunnymama625 member
    I've started just letting LO comfort nurse-- it seems to ease her gassiness and she's a lot happier the few awake times- I figure if worse comes to worse and I develop some sort of crazy oversupply, I'll donate :)
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"