Question About Cluster Feeding

caranichole · September 2014

Last night at about 2:45 lo had what I felt was a pretty solid feed. After about a total of 45 minutes it felt like she drained me on both sides and she had fallen asleep. I put her to bed but then by 3:45a, she woke up and acted hungry. She spent another 20 min on my left and fell asleep. At 4:45a, the same thing happened again.

Since then she has been asleep except for just now (7:44a here) she woke, cried, I changed her diaper (super wet) and then she went back to sleep. Is this ok? Should I be trying harder to make her eat or is she ok because she did about 2 Feeding worth of work a few hrs ago?

caranichole · September 2014

She regularly eats every 3-4 hrs, usually 3 hrs at night and 4 hrs during the day. She's been producing plenty diapers and I can just look at her and tell she is growing.

Last night was literally two feedings back to back with maybe 15 min sleep in between...she has now slept 5 hrs. I was going to wake her now or within the next hour to eat. I am just confused if I'm treating this situation right.

LunaBug924 · September 2014

I can't see how old your LO is, but like PP said, if her output is good and she's gaining weight, you can probably let her sleep. But the best advice in this situation is always to ask your pediatrician. Mine gave us the go-ahead to let her sleep at her 2 week appointment (at that point she had regained her birth weight plus a pound). Around 5 weeks old she slept one night for 11 hours straight! It freaked me out, but pedi said it was fine, and she made up for it during the day.

caranichole · September 2014

LunaBug924 said:

I can't see how old your LO is, but like PP said, if her output is good and she's gaining weight, you can probably let her sleep. But the best advice in this situation is always to ask your pediatrician. Mine gave us the go-ahead to let her sleep at her 2 week appointment (at that point she had regained her birth weight plus a pound). Around 5 weeks old she slept one night for 11 hours straight! It freaked me out, but pedi said it was fine, and she made up for it during the day.

@LunaBug924‌ She is only 6 days old. I suppose I will call my pedi in an hour. I wasn't sure if cluster feeding for a big sleep/growth spurt was normal at this time or if something different was going on tonight. Good news is, she is waking now so I'm sure she will be ready to eat. It's been 6 hrs.

LunaBug924 · September 2014

caranichole said:

LunaBug924 said:

I can't see how old your LO is, but like PP said, if her output is good and she's gaining weight, you can probably let her sleep. But the best advice in this situation is always to ask your pediatrician. Mine gave us the go-ahead to let her sleep at her 2 week appointment (at that point she had regained her birth weight plus a pound). Around 5 weeks old she slept one night for 11 hours straight! It freaked me out, but pedi said it was fine, and she made up for it during the day.

@LunaBug924‌ She is only 6 days old. I suppose I will call my pedi in an hour. I wasn't sure if cluster feeding for a big sleep/growth spurt was normal at this time or if something different was going on tonight. Good news is, she is waking now so I'm sure she will be ready to eat. It's been 6 hrs.

Yea, I would call your pedi. I think 3-4 hour between feedings is usually the max for that age. She should be taking bare minimum 8 feedings a day(24 hour period) , but more like 10-12.

Also, I might encourage you to offer every 2-3 hours during the day, and 4 at night instead of the opposite. Hopefully when she starts sleeping longer stretches consistently (and pedi says it's ok) that you can get those long stretches at night. It's no fun when they get their days and nights confused.

caranichole · September 2014

I did offer 2-3 in the first few days but she wouldn't wake even in the hospital with the baby nurses/pedi and an lc. So the pedi said not to worry and that 3-4 was ok for now and we will see how she does. I guess I figured that since she basically did a double feeding last night, a double sleep may be ok. I'll see what the pedi says in a bit.

caranichole · September 2014

CurlingRocks said:

theresat858 said:

Going forward, I would wake her at least every 3 hours until she is back at birthweight - and every 2-3 hours during the day regardless. 6 hours is a long time without eating for a newborn.

This is very good advice! But I wouldn't panic about one day. What did your pedi say?

I was told that there's no concern since it only happened one time and it's possible that she was behaving a baby would in later stages and she was fueling up for a good rest.

Her amount of time feeding is still increasing every day and she is waking up at 3-4 hours to eat regularly. Anywhere between 2-4 hours apart is ok. There's no reason to stress trying to get her up every two hours. She is most likely getting exactly what she needs at the pace she is going.

But of course we will weigh her and make any necessary adjustments next week at our appointment.

sarahandeddiejune212008 · September 2014

I also recommend offering every 2hrs during the day and every 3-4hrs at night. This is not only to make sure your lo is getting enough, but to build and maintain your supply. The best way to ensure a successful BFing relationship is to nurse often to establish a healthy supply.

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