Confused with the concept of cluster feeding

[Mariellamom]

Hello,
I have a question regarding the EASY routines.
My 7 weeks old DD has been on the routine for about 2-3 weeks.
She eats every 3 hours round the clock . Very often she wants to go 3,5 during the day but I wake her up.
I read in BW about the cluster feedings and the dream  feed. And have been trying to implement it for 2 days.  As I understand from the book Tracey says to feed LO fot example at 6, then 8 and then dreamfeed at around 10:30-11.
Now, reading the website I saw in frequently asked questions that she recommends cluster feeds
only during the growth spurts. ( in FAQ in 'how to start EASY. )
Please help me understand if it is ok to do cluster feeds when my LO is not in a growth spurt...?
Also about the EASY routine. I was going through the sample routines that I found in FAQ and I saw that many of them have E time right before S in the evening. Means no A time after the feed.
I was thinking that the main point of EASY is to separate E from S.
 Or right before bed it doesn't matter?
Another question is what can I do if my DD stays up in the evening for 2 hours? She is content mostly , sometimes a little fussy. It's been happening two days in a row. She is falling asleep independently during the day naps and sometimes after the night feed ( it is actually a success story and I feel so excited to see her learning how to self soothe thanks to BW!) But around 7-8 pm she wouldn't self sooth and just would lay in her crib for 40 min. What can I do in such cases?
Also. If she wakes up out of the routine time and cries from gas and starts routing for food is it a bad habit to feed her not waiting for 3 hour cycle?
Sorry if my questions are confusing.
Thabk you for helping me to understand.

[nevinsmama]

Hi there! Congratulations on your new DD! It sounds to me like you are doing a fab job following EASY loosely, which is so important in these early days.
It is absolutely OK to cluster feed before the DF even when not in a GS. IN the evening time, I would go straight from E to S.
Evenings at this age can get a bit crazy and there is always that "witching hour" that everyone speaks of. Some LOs do get fussy and tired and have silly long As and if I were you, I would just pop her in a carrier and do what you can to get by! Even if she doesn't sleep then she will be still and hopefully more quiet and content.
If she is rooting for food, I would absolutely go ahead. There isn't a whole lot you do really WRONG in these early days, sounds like you are off to a great start!

[Mariellamom]

Thank you!
We had a hard start actually. The first weeks were unbelievable hard with all the problems with breasfeeding. Also I was told to feed on demand and that's when things got more crazy with me not sleeping more  than 2 hours a night.
Good I somehow found BW.
If you could please clarify or  explane. I still canot get it about the dreamfeed.
We have a three hour routine.  Day and night. So how the dreamfeed would be something different? If I feed her at 7:30 pm and then 10:30 pm it will not be anything unusual. She wakes up every three hours anyways to eat. ( only yesterday she had a 4 hour stretch and then 3 hour stretch in the night.
I tried to cluster feed for two days and then dreamfeed. She would still get up in three hours after the dreamfeed. Moreover she would want to get all these cluster feeds out. She is pushing and gassy. ( after these extra feeds I don't move her legs or massage her tummy since it is supposed to be a quiet time )
So after that I was too exhausted to not rest in the evening because of feeding her every two hours and then not to sleep at night.
It sounds so unrealistic to me that 7 weeks old baby can eat every 3 hour during the day and then just stop that at night
I know there are many babies that it works for them. I wish it would work for me instead of adding more exhaustion. I also read today from BWSAYP that I am creating accidental parenting by feeding her at night...? ( maybe I misunderstood something...)
So this part is discouraging.
The sleep part is amazing. We've got to the point where I just lay her down for her nap and in 20 min she is out after some fussiness and strange sounds of course it doesn't happen when she is gassy.
Anyways I think the dreamfeed question should be on a different board.

About the EASY routine. Do I need to follow the clock? I know it is all over the book that I shouldn't. And it is difficult with her having different wake up hours at nights because of my experiments with cluster feedings. Then we both are exhausted and just wake up whenever the three hour routine takes us. Should I have the same waking hour every day ?
If you have any comments I would appreciate it.
Thank you!

[Martini~]

Right now when she is waking every 3h dreamfeed is nothing different from a normal feed, but dreamfeed is something you will do for longer than she needs. So... She WILL finally have a longer stretch of sleep and usually kids do it between 7pm and morning hours like 1-2am. With additional feed at 10pm you make them to have their longer stretch of sleep between 10pm till let say 3-4am. Which is useful as you can sleep longer:). For me dreamfeed was done with a bottle and DH did it so it was a great way to relax after the whole day as I could go to sleep right with DS, DH doing the DF around 11pm and F slept till 6-7am when he was about 3/4mo old.
I was doing cluster feeding but always before BT. So I feed DS every 1,5-2h before BT and it wasn't quiet time for us:), just a normal EAEAS routine. I feed before bath as when I was doing BT feed right before sleep he usually was so tired that he slept on my boob and didn't take the full portion. If your DD is gassy try to feed her around 7pm or so, massage her, do bath and put her to bed. Than offer DF around 10-11pm.

[Mariellamom]

Thank you so much!!!
Finally I understood. I had no idea that they sleep well from 7 pm until 1-2am. Several times DD had this stretch. But mostly I would wake her up at 9 and then tried DF at 11 pm thinking I should cluster feed every two hours before the DF.
EAEAS would be the solution I think. If she is content I better just feed her after that.
The bath time. I hope it will help her gassiness. My goal was to do the bathtime right before the last feeding so that she will be really tired, then eat then sleep like I would after such a routine. But probably I was doing all these activities too late.
I will keep trying. Hopefully the gassiness will stop bothering her and will not wake her up during the night. 

[Martini~]

It all depends on you and your LO, honey. In DS early days I was feeding at 4pm than 5:30/6:00pm and top up after bath. Then he dropped the catnap and was really tired after bath, he started to sleep on boob so I moved BT before bath. I was doing the DF from 3mo till 6mo when DS dropped it by himself. In first week dreamfeed was not possible for us as either he woke or I couldn't feed him at all as he was in such a deep sleep:))).

Just look for your way, taking into account your comfort and your DD reactions. You may do cluster feeding but no DF or either way around, do both or neither. Every kid reacts differently.

[Mariellamom]

Thanks! We tried some sort of DF when I was totally exhausted. My DH did it at 9:30 since she was in a growth spurt or a wonder week and behaved crazily. It helped a bit to stretch the next feeding.
It just all difficult to do it always since those 'strange weeks' happen so often at this age. But I will keep trying something