Cluster feeding?

[mamabarney]

Hello all!  I'm new to the site, but not the book...my dd is 3 and did great with BW tips.  She is a great sleeper and still takes a 3 hour nap in the afternoon.  We recently moved and I can't find my BW book 

My 5 week old son seems to be more aggressive with the eating...after all...what man do YOU know that WOULDN'T want his lunch out of a boob?? 

Can someone refresh my memory on the when and how of cluster feeding?

[Erin M]

Hi and welcome!
Your LOs are gorgeous!!  Congrats on your new son!

Cluster feeding is basically feeding at shorter intervals before bedtime to try to ensure that your LO won't wake up hungry during the night (or at 5 weeks, won't wake up as often during the night to eat -- a little small to sleep the whole way through!). 

Until my DD was about 8 weeks, she would feed during the day every 2-3 hours during the day -- as the evening wore on, she would want to eat every 1-2 hours.  (As best as I can remember, I have such hazy memories of those early days LOL!)

Going by a 3 hour routine (which your DS may or may not be able to handle yet -- like I said, I think we were more on a  hour routine at that age) -- if your DS woke for his first feed at 7 AM, he would eat at 7 AM, 10AM, 1PM, 4PM and then cluster feed at 6 PM and 8 PM with a dream feed at 10 PM.  This would get my DD through until around 2-3 AM when she'd need to eat and then (hopefully) sleep until morning. 

HTH!

[Carter'sMama]

Hi there!

I personally swear by cluster feeding.  I started doing it at about 4 weeks of age and Carter was sleeping 8-10 hour stretches by 7 weeks! 

I would feed like Erin said, every 2-3 hours throughout the day and then in the late afternoon we would start bringing the feeds closer together(7, 10, 1pm, 3:30pm, 5, 7, 9 and then bed)  We never did the dream feed as Carter was soooo cranky at night and wouldn't sleep before 9-10pm anyway.  We also introduced a bottle of ebm in addition to the last feed (only 2oz) and I think that helped him sleep better as well.

HTH and congrats on the new lo!  Very cute!

[jkendall]

Hi there

I have been trying to cluster feed in the evenings with my lo of 4 1/2 weeks, I am finding it difficult to get him down for a nap after the first feed and then by the time he is asleep I am finding it difficult to wake him for the next one.  Any suggestions? Some days Liam can handle a three hour rountine where as other days it varies between two - three hours and then almost hourly in the evenings!!

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Jacqui

[Erin M]

Hi Jacqui-
At 4.5 weeks, we did the hourly thing in the evenings quite often too.  I think it was really not until 3 months when she started to be ok with truly falling into the 3 hour routine with the 2ish hour cluster feeds at night.  I don't have a whole lot in the way of suggestions, just wanted to let you know that I've been there, done that, and got through it.  I think at this age, you do need to follow their cues and roll with it the best you can.  Do you think the frequent feeds at night are helping him sleep at night?  If they are, that's at least one big plus right there.  My DD used to do the hourly thing for a few hours at night and then give me a good 4ish hour stretch at night, another feed and then another 4 hour stretch -- but like I said, she did grow out of that by 2.5-3 months.  Good luck!