Did your infant cluster feed? I assume it happens mostly in the evening, just nursing constantly until they finally fall asleep for hopefully a long stretch? And, often enough that it's a pattern not just a random night. Also I think this happens with formula fed babes too I am just not quite sure how that works.
I ask because i thought virtually all babies go through a period of this, but my friend who just had her second had never heard of it. Wondering if it's as common as I thought.
78 votes
eggplant / 11861 posts
She definitely did! On my app there were times I was feeding for hours
persimmon / 1483 posts
@Foodnerd81: yes, we bottle feed LO2 BM and formula and when she was new, she would eat what seemed like non stop from 7-11 pm or even later. At three months, she is starting to settle down a bit.
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
I feel like R fed hourly from like 4-10 at least the first month! He also are every 2 hours for a looooong time after that. Lil piggy.
T I recall feeding more in the evening too, but not to the same extent.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Both my babies have been big time evening cluster feeders. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to get the toddler her dinner, do bedtime, and I don't know, eat my own dinner! But really I'm ok with it since the baby is already sleeping a nice long stretch at night (like 9:30-3). I was just thrown that she didn't know about it!
squash / 13764 posts
Not really for either. LO1 never really did it at all. LO2 seems to want to eat more frequently, but it's like every 2 hours from 3:30-7:30, not like every hour or every half hour.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@hilsy85: mind blown! G eats like every two hours all day unless she takes a long nap.
squash / 13764 posts
@Foodnerd81: DD prob went 2.5-3 hours from the very beginning! And was doing a nice stretch at night...but that has decreased 
cantaloupe / 6885 posts
Not really...I bottle feed and while DD definitely drinks more in the evening to fill up for the night (ie she has 2 six ounce bottles within 2-3 hours of each other, whereas during the day they are more spread out), neither of my girls really did the constant cluster feeding thing I read about on HB
nectarine / 2433 posts
@Foodnerd81: She sure did! I used to nurse her on and off from 5p to 10p every night...so exhausting!
nectarine / 2641 posts
With my first, absolutely, 10-3 every night (and back up at 4). With my second? Not to an extent I would have noticed if not looking for it.
honeydew / 7230 posts
Yep. They'd usually cluster feed in the morning, non-stop nursing from 9-11, then again from 4-bedtime in the evening. It lasted like that for the first couple months.
nectarine / 2148 posts
Another one over here for no cluster feeding. He would eat like every 2 hours but definitely not like what everyone is describing.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
He cluster feeds from 5-8am and 5-8pm 
Eta: and that's why he is gaining a pound per week!!
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@travellingbee: that am one must be rough! G eats a little more often in the morning since she doesn't eat much overnight but she has the decency to wait until 8 am.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@Foodnerd81: well he's only 4 weeks so I'm hoping it's fleeting, but yes, it totally sucks. I've let him just hang out on my boob side lying in bed before but his latch isn't great yet and then I end up with bruised nipples. Ugh. He is such a piglet.
grape / 80 posts
DD fed for hours before she'd finally pass-out (basically) at around midnight and then sleep until 5am. She did this early on and it gradually decreased. DS cluster feeds in the evening as well but it's more on-off-on-off until I rock him to sleep at around 10:30. Consider both cluster feeding. Just different babies!
nectarine / 2994 posts
Yep both my girls cluster fed! Cant remember how long it lasted with lo1 but lo2 it lasted 7-11pm continuously for 2 weeks straight. Then happened again at her growth spurt times.
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
She was the queen of cluster feeding. I think it was comfort over food a lot of the time.
pomegranate / 3658 posts
I would guess your friend just didn't know there was a name for it. All babies have super random, frequent feedings in the early weeks.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@travellingbee: yeah we haven't really done side lying nursing yet. I tried a week or so ago but the latch wasn't good and she was pulling in and off. I feel like she is still too little. Hopefully soon so that makes the early morning feelings much nicer.
pomegranate / 3601 posts
Mine never did it. It was something that I had never heard of before HB. Mine just nursed at their regular 3h interval throughout the day and then slept longer streches at night.
pear / 1930 posts
I couldn't tell. From 3 weeks to 5 weeks she just nursed all day and night. It turns out I had a super low supply.
grapefruit / 4066 posts
Lo1 was a huge cluster feeder- she cluster fed all morning and all evening, I could barely leave the couch all day!
LO2 wasn't that extreme at all, but he did want more bottles more frequently in the evening hours from like 5pm to 7pm
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@travellingbee: hi! Did your baby feed at any other time other than the two stretches you mentioned? My almost three day old is feeding for hours at a time during two time periods only. The stretches of time without feeding makes me nervous! 
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
@agold: my pediatrician told me to wake DD every 2-3 hours to eat until she got back to her birth weight. After that she said I could let her sleep as as long as she wanted. She would cluster feed in the evenings and then sleep over 3 hours (if she was being held, she hated being put down!)
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@Mrs. Pickle: thanks for replying. My baby is in the midst of a marathon sleep right now. Every time she stirs around, I try to get her to feed but she doesn't want to. So it's frustrating.
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
@agold: Have you tried really waking her up? They're so sleepy in the beginning you have to really work to make sure they're awake enough to feed. We used to have to strip LO down to just a diaper and use a washcloth to get her awake enough.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
@agold: we had to do the same as @lawbee11: with both my babies. Strip down to diaper, cold wash cloth on the feet, lights on, etc. newborns shouldn't go more than 3 hours without eating for the sake of their weight gain and establishing your milk supply, so do whatever it takes to get her to wake up and eat.
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@Truth Bombs: @lawbee11: thanks for responding girls. I'm nearly in tears, laying upstairs in bed now in pain from my stiches. Baby is fully awake screaming bloody murder. She does not want to eat. She was feeding like a champ at the hospital so she knows how and I know how. I'm thinking of giving her formula. I have an enfamil sample stuff I got in the mail. Calling Pediatrician ASAP when it opens.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
@agold: How long has it been since she last ate? She may just be so hungry that she's frantic now. If you think a bottle would work better try to pump or hand express and give her that in a bottle. Giving formula will mess with the demand/supply necessary for establishing breastfeeding. If you can get a little milk in her through a bottle to where she settles down, then you'll probably be able to latch her at your breast.
coconut / 8472 posts
Be really careful with giving formula, if you decide to do that right now. You need to go really slowly and burp after every 1/2 ounce. The couple times we've resorted to a bottle, DD has spit pretty much all of it back up. They get so frantic they will down the bottle and then it's too much for them.
But really the best thing you can do right now is find an LC that will come to your house today. We were having similar problems with cluster feeding and then screaming and not eating. The LC thought I was waiting too long to feed her. Problem I had was family members holding her and no one believe ing she really needed to eat again 10 minutes later.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I would say so but not much. More like attached to the boob for hours?
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
@agold: has your milk come in yet? Baby might be so hungry and frantic that she can't latch on. How much weight has she lost? If my LO got super frantic, the LC recommended giving him a little formula via syringe until he calmed down enough to latch on. It's really important to get them to feed as often as possible to get your milk to come in and establish supply. I would also recommend meeting w an LC - they helped me so much when my milk didn't come in for 6 days (!!). Hang in there, first days are SO ROUGH. PM me if you want support - my son is 8 weeks now so I vividly remember how challenging the first days were.
nectarine / 2465 posts
Oh yea! She would feed NON-STOP (no breaks) for about 3-4 hours until she finally fell asleep.
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