Cluster Feeding and Fussy Times

Baby Boi is 2 months old!! Such an emotional day for mommy. Of course it is wonderful to watch him grow, how he gets more alert and engaging with his environment, and how he responds to us more. It’s such a joy. But I also miss him being a small small baby!

Baby’s been fussy these few days. He’d sleep very minimally during the day, and be cranky and cry during the night. It’s still a “manageable” type of cry so I don’t think he is colicky – poor parents who have colicky babies! Nursing soothes and satisfies him, so he’s probably going through another growth spurt and doing cluster feeding.

“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… Cluster feeding often coincides with your baby’s fussy time. Baby will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry… on and on… for hours.”

 (http://kellymom.com/parenting/parenting-faq/fussy-evening/)

I remember his last bouts of cluster feeding during the first month, where he’d wanna be nursed every hour between 6-10pm for a couple of days. It’ll happen once every week and a half during the initial stages when baby is a young infant. It seems like he’s going through them again now judging by his fussy and nursing pattern for the past 2 nights. It is quite a challenging and frustrating time because nothing else would calm him. And if I detach him from the boobehs even just to pee or stand up for a bit, he’d scream the house down. The reprieve came at about 1am last night, where he slept for longer than 2 hours after a feed.

It’s really not so bad once you know what to expect. I had a lot of doubts during the last bout of cluster feedings – was he not getting enough, did something happen to my supply, does he have trapped gas, is it something I ate? But now that I am fairly confident of my supply, and I know the reason behind the need to cluster feed (he is going through a growth spurt / developmental leap and need more calorie to sustain the growth. His suckling at such close intervals and the very frequent emptying of the breasts also sends a signal to the body and brain that his appetite will get bigger very soon so the milk factory can start making more milk). Some moms have had their babies cluster fed for 6-8, up to 12 hours! Just feed and feed and feed.

During such time, it’s easy to want to throw in the towel and give in to the nagging thought (or actual nagging) that your body is not producing enough for the baby. But you just gotta trust your body and understand the science behind it. As long as your baby is latching well and producing enough soiled diapers, you are producing enough. It may seem like it will never end, but it will and baby will go back to “normal” soon enough. There might be many comments – sometimes from well-meaning neighbours who are subject to babies’ cries – including how breastfed babies never get full (true and false : breastmilk gets digested faster so they get hungrier faster too) and how the baby is always at the mom’s breast (it’s true and that’s the nature of breastfeeding and feeding on demand). Breastfeeding on demand also challenges your need to plan things out in advance, because the nursing pattern could change anytime, but feeding on demand can accommodate growth spurts and support the baby’s increased need for calorie as and when they happen. It is an organic, biological and natural thing that you just have to be patient and allow to take place and for me, the fact that my creaky old body can do that to continuously support and nourish my baby outside the womb is just wonderful.

So get comfortable, enjoy the bonding and hang tight mommy!