wake for custer feeds?

[1sttimemom]

hi there...
for those who are cluster feeding in the evening, are you waking your baby to do this?
my ds is 4 weeks old and doesn't usually wake up for this??
thx....

[daisymelan]

With cluster feeding the little one is usually awake, but if your little one is sleeping and it is working for you GO FOR IT! 

[Carter'sMama]

When I used to cluster feed Carter was already awake    He didn't go to sleep until after the cluster feeding was done.  I usually fed at 4ish, 6ish and 8ish and then whenever he woke in the middle of the night.  

Does your lo take  anything at all at these feeds?   How long can your lo last before wanting more food?
If it is a considerable amount of time than maybe the last feed isn't needed and a dream feed would be more suited!?

Just a thought ...

[1sttimemom]

If he's awake he will take a normal feeding (for him it's about 10 minutes).  most of the time, he won't wake up for cluster feedings though (unless he's skipping his nap all together).  the last 2 nights he has gone from about 6 or 7 until 11 or 12 without eating and if i could get the dreamfeed going, that would be perfect, but we're still working  on it.  first he wouldn't open his mouth.  then once i got that working, he wouldn't suck. last night i got a 2 minute suck from him, so we're making progress!
i guess this all means he doesn't need the cluster and the dreamfeed??
the longest he has gone through the night without eating is 6 hours and i woke him up because i was scared that was getting too long.
thing is, the long periods always seem to be from early evening to about midnight, instead of them being from the dream feed to early  morning.
but - like i said - if i can get the dreamfeed going, that should work things out perfectly...
right?

thanks a lot!

[daisymelan]

If he won't take the cluster, just keep going for the dreamfeed.  sounds like he's well on his way to "catching on". 

Good for you!  My lo never went that long when he was that young.  *sigh*

[First Time Mom]

Hi "the other 1sttimemom" ,

When my dd was young and I did the cluster and df she slept through most of it (because she would be up all night ). Not sure if you use a paci but the way I got dd to open and suck is I would hold her in feeding position and then give her the paci for a few seconds (if she was in a heavy sleep). She would always start to suck on the paci then I would pull it out quickly and give her the breast.