Joy in Birthing

Baby’s cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It’s often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be “filling up” before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a long stretch of sleep at night – in new born four hour is really the maximum you should let your baby sleep in the first two weeks, or until there is a definite sign that his body weight is going up. I have seen 9 lb babies sleep through the night as early as three weeks after birth. In my opinion if your baby is thriving, his weight is going up, he is happily breastfeeding and cluster feeding during the day, I would not wake him up to feed, and wait for his clues. Do discuss this with your pediatrician as every baby is different.

Due to the tiny size of their bellies, newborns will eat every hour or two for the first several weeks actually. As long as the baby is healthy and gaining weight, don’t worry thinking that she is not getting enough to eat! Another reason breastfed babies eat more often is that breast milk is more easily digested than formula, so they can easily and quickly digest the food – which means getting hungry more often. After the first couple weeks you’ll notice more of a schedule emerging usually. And daytime nursing may stay at every two hours, but the nighttime may slow down to 3 hours, then 4 then (if you’re lucky) eventually 5 or 6 hours, but my daughter is just now getting to that point at 7 months, and my son continued to nurse one or two times a night until he was a year or so old.

After the initial constant feedings, they usually come back during growth spurts – 3 months, 6 months, etc. And you’ll notice an increase in daytime (and sometimes night time) feedings for a week or so. This can also happen during teething times.

Generally babies will cluster feed in the evenings, though some like to cluster feed in the wee hours of the morning. This feeding pattern can be very different from what the baby does during the day—just when Mom and Dad would like to start unwinding, Baby seems to gear up and want to feed more often.

Mom’s lead cluster feeding is when moms encourage nighttime cluster feeding to get a longer stretch of sleep at night. Please this is not meant to be ‘force’ feeding, so just try it and see if your baby likes it. In the evening it is often observed that babies seem fussier then during the day. For many babies, the fussy time seems to be characterized by a need to have small quantities of milk at frequent intervals, combined with lots of holding, cuddling and movement. In conjunction with the nighttime ritual we discussed earlier, you could implement cluster feeding as you read to your child before ‘bedtime.’ Mom’s encouraged cluster feeding looks something like this:

You have given your baby a bath, a massage and put her pajamas on, now you feed on the remaining breast, but do not swaddle, place baby down close to you on a flat surface, and wait for baby to stir and wake up again. Offer the breast again and go through this ritual for up to five to six feedings, then swaddle and put baby down on co-sleeper. Usually after this ‘thanks giving dinner’ baby will sleep up to 4 hours or more if swaddled.