Is this cluster feeding or just comfort sucking?

So we got home from hospital yesterday - hooray! DD is a feeding champ - latches well and feeds every 2 - 4 hours.

The problem is that last night there was a period of 4 hours (9pm - 1am) when she would do nothing but suck. She begins to sleep, but not really soundly - she stirs if I take her off her pick up her hand. If I take her off it's a matter of minutes before she's rooting around looking for more, and putting her to bed is a no go.

The only way we fixed this last night was for me to lay down with her on the breast - we finally both fell asleep. But co sleeping really isn't for us and DH was awake the whole time we slept.

So is this cluster feeding? Or just comfort sucking? Would a dummy help? She's doing it again now, has been since about 4:30, so I'm just thankful it's earlier than it was last night

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Congrats on bringing your little girl home xx

Has your milk come in? Does she fall asleep on the boob quickly, or does she have a good feed first?

Sounds like things are going well, congratulations on your new family member!

I'd be inclined at this stage to let her suck if you can manage it; has your milk come in yet? Suckling helps to encourage your supply so cluster feeding is very normal at this stage and it usually does occur during the early evening. If once your supply is more established she still seems to be comfort suckling frequently then a dummy could help. Really it is up to you though :hug:

I'd be thinking its more your milk comming in and Bubba trying to bring that in for you? I remember those days with both DD's torture on the boobs sometimes LOL

Milk seems to have come in, boobs were really hard yesterday afternoon but she got it out pretty well. When she comes off there's usually a white dribble lol.

She usually has a long feed, but during these things she kind of sucks and dozes. She's finished now though, I held her for longer when she came off herself, she seemed to go into a deeper sleep and is in her basinette now. Maybe she just wanted to be closer for that time?

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Could be that she just wanted the closeness. First night at home is so different to hospital and been close to you she can hear your breathing and feel your warmth. Once she gets use to the home environment she might settle better.

Both my DD's ended up with dummies at about 5 days old. Once my milk came in the wind troubles started and I found they wanted to suck to help themselves relax and then they would get rid of the wind easier. Giving them the dummy saved my nipples.

I would also suggest if you are not already. Keep on top of treating your nipples. Lansinoh (sp?) is great for rubbing on after every feed or even just some breastmilk too. That way you wont get to pianful if the cluster feeding keeps up.

Thanks Kazzo. I'm really hoping it doesn't happen again tonight but will just keep her closer for longer if it does. Thankfully I have some lansinoh, which was fantastic last night!

She also seemed windy last night, we could here her stomach and bowels gurgling and there was lots of gas without dirtying the nappy. So I guess that contributed to her being unsettled too

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Yeah, her insides have a whole new role to start doing and it can be a lot for their tiny bodies to get use to it. DD2 still gets bad wind and she is just over 7 months.

Goodlock tonight.

The short answer is that it doesn't matter :)
It's totally normal for babies to cluster feed/comfort suck for hours at a time and it's often around that time of day. Everything is new for them right now, and the looooooong feeds are due to all sorts of reasons but tend to be a very effective way of meeting their needs - and hopefully you can just sit back and relax a bit.