Coping with a Newborn
For many moms, “cluster feedings” are a tricky part of their new life with a newborn. Cluster feeding in newborns happens when the baby wants to eat constantly, often during the late afternoon or early evening. Exhausting!
Tips on Breastfeeding a Newborn
Sometimes mothers are concerned when their baby wants to feed constantly because they have just begun to settle into a nice routine, so they get stressed that they have now boomeranged right back to the beginning! But do not worry! This is a normal part of developing for many babies and most often, you will get back to your routine very soon. That at least has been my experience. One silver lining that you should think about if you are in the depths of despair is that cluster feeding has been linked to growth spurts in newborns.
Watch this video for my tips on how to hangle cluster feeding in newborns, and please weigh in if you have experience with this issue or coping with a newborn generally!
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Hi Melissa,
This may not exactly be “cluster feeding” nor is my baby a newborn any more. But this is the closest topic I found to it. My 4 1/2 month old baby eats every 2 hours. She wakes up at 8:30 and from then I feed her every 2 hours. I am sometimes successful at getting her to go 2 1/2 hours maybe 3. But that doesn’t happen very often. She weighs 19 lbs measures 26 inches so I know she’s not eating to “catch up”. She’s taking 3 naps a day but they are only half an hour at most. She wakes up at the slightest sound. I am trying to get her on a schedule like the one you provided but am wondering about the feeding situation first as it is very hard to follow any kind of schedule like that.
Thanks
Menua
I have a three month old and she still seems to want to cluster feed in the early evenings. After her 4pm feeding she wants to eat at 6 and then 8. Is this something I should make her push through since she is older? I also do a dreamfeed between ten and eleven. She will do a long stretch of sleep afterwards so I’m not sure what to do. I really want a predictable three hour schedule.
Rebecca
Rebecca, this sounds almost exactly like what happened to me. I would try for those full feeds and they would keep wanting to eat not so long afterwards… If the baby seems full and burped and then wants to eat 2 hours later, I say of course you feed her and yes, it will often happen that you get really good stretches at night b/c she is super full and super tired. I would bet your baby is going to grow out of this soon, just as mine did. Keep me posted, xoxo M