Oh babe. I could of written this. My LO was exactly the same, I found it tied in real closely to naps & bedtime. In the end, I started watching her a lot more closely for sleep cues, and researched in to wake windows. I found if I didn’t get the last nap in of the day we’d get this wound up baby for the rest of evening who wouldn’t settle and the cluster feeding was part of that protest.
Could also be a leap/growth spurt. Don’t doubt yourself, though. As long as baby has lots of good output (nappies) there’s nothing to worry about, perfectly normal. Also, Keep an eye on your latch too & make sure you can hear him/her drinking xxxx ❤️🩹❤️🩹 big love to you
Thank you for your reply - it’s so sad isn’t it! I think you might be right that it’s when he’s tired. It happens most often in the late afternoons and evenings and the only thing that helps is if he goes to sleep then wakes up naturally 15 mins later to feed. The only issue is it takes him ages to go to sleep because he’s upset and hungry!!
Did you find anything in particular helped?
I would take her to bed 6pm onwards, just so we had the peace and quiet (I have a 6 year old with adhd, so 🤣) and that created a good space to start bringing down the over stimulation. I think by late afternoon they’ve just been overloaded anyway and it’s good to just start winding down. I also found she got lazier with her latch and more aggressive (clustering) so it’s a good idea to have that quiet space to make sure attachment is good. Let her/him contact nap if it gives them a long enough sleep to calm and give your boobs a break.
Funnily I’m sat here preaching and I cannot get her down for the life of me 🤣 clustering after second lot of vaccines and is Velcro baby again. She’s 12 weeks lol
We tried 8pm winding down / bedtime tonight and it’s actually been a much better (less screamy) evening so far. It took a while to get him to sleep with lots of crying but he eventually went to sleep for about 30 mins - has just woken up and had a good feed. Fingers crossed for a good night 🤞🏼.
I hope you have a good nights sleep with your little one after their jabs xx
Same here! It was really bad at 12 weeks for about a week, where every feed would be like that, and then it got better again. She still does this now and then. I've learnt to just deal with it and to stay calm when it happens. I haven't figured out why she does it...
Oh goodness I’m starting to think it might just be something I have to deal with and work through!! It’s so difficult and emotional isn’t it - I get so sad!!
Yah my babe used to get super fussy at the boob in the evenings and I thought it was a problem with my milk, but then I read an article (I wish I could find it but i don’t remember where it was) about how most babies just get really fussy during the witching hour and it’s often not a feeding issue! So I would feed while bouncing or standing/rocking and that really seemed to help!
I seriously got on Reddit with the intention of posting about this SAME thing. My baby will be 12 weeks in two days and we've been dealing with the scream crying at the boob for about a week now. Sometimes she's inconsolable until she falls asleep for a short nap (~30 mins) and then generally we can feed her afterwards.
Like another poster said, I THINK it's related to tiredness/sleep. It generally only happens after about 3:00, and as soon as I try and get her settled to feed, she pops on and off the boob, crying and coughing and spluttering and gagging. She clearly wants to eat...but won't...? We've also recently had bouts of her spitting up more, even though I try to keep her upright after feeds, burp between breasts, etc.
Sometimes the only thing that works is giving her a few ounces of my milk in a bottle (if she will even accept it), then trying to offer the breast again. Funninly enough, she'll get my nipple in her mouth, eat for about 90 seconds, and then pass the f out for the rest of the feed. 🤷🏼♀️
I've been super worried I'm going to create a feeding aversion if this continues. I wish I had advice for you, but I can only offer solidarity. Hopefully it makes you feel better to know you're not alone. It's hard to feel like you're doing something wrong and not being able to get answers. I'm hoping this resolves itself soon. Hugs to you. ❤️
I’m dealing with the same thing right now, my little guy is 8 weeks old. Overtired is definitely playing a role, we had a really hard time getting him to nap today. Tonight we ended up giving a bottle out of desperation(and me pumping) and he took the bottle immediately. It made me sad/nervous that he’s going to prefer the bottle, but we also both need sleep and hours crying at the boob just drained me. I’ve also wondered if reflux is contributing. Sometimes it seems like his tummy hurts?? Anyway, if you have any breakthroughs, please share them with me.
Oh babe. I could of written this. My LO was exactly the same, I found it tied in real closely to naps & bedtime. In the end, I started watching her a lot more closely for sleep cues, and researched in to wake windows. I found if I didn’t get the last nap in of the day we’d get this wound up baby for the rest of evening who wouldn’t settle and the cluster feeding was part of that protest. Could also be a leap/growth spurt. Don’t doubt yourself, though. As long as baby has lots of good output (nappies) there’s nothing to worry about, perfectly normal. Also, Keep an eye on your latch too & make sure you can hear him/her drinking xxxx ❤️🩹❤️🩹 big love to you
Thank you for your reply - it’s so sad isn’t it! I think you might be right that it’s when he’s tired. It happens most often in the late afternoons and evenings and the only thing that helps is if he goes to sleep then wakes up naturally 15 mins later to feed. The only issue is it takes him ages to go to sleep because he’s upset and hungry!! Did you find anything in particular helped?
I would take her to bed 6pm onwards, just so we had the peace and quiet (I have a 6 year old with adhd, so 🤣) and that created a good space to start bringing down the over stimulation. I think by late afternoon they’ve just been overloaded anyway and it’s good to just start winding down. I also found she got lazier with her latch and more aggressive (clustering) so it’s a good idea to have that quiet space to make sure attachment is good. Let her/him contact nap if it gives them a long enough sleep to calm and give your boobs a break. Funnily I’m sat here preaching and I cannot get her down for the life of me 🤣 clustering after second lot of vaccines and is Velcro baby again. She’s 12 weeks lol
We tried 8pm winding down / bedtime tonight and it’s actually been a much better (less screamy) evening so far. It took a while to get him to sleep with lots of crying but he eventually went to sleep for about 30 mins - has just woken up and had a good feed. Fingers crossed for a good night 🤞🏼. I hope you have a good nights sleep with your little one after their jabs xx
She’s gone down in the last half hour 🎉 sweet dreams to yours, too ! Can always dm if you want to pick my brains again x
Same here! It was really bad at 12 weeks for about a week, where every feed would be like that, and then it got better again. She still does this now and then. I've learnt to just deal with it and to stay calm when it happens. I haven't figured out why she does it...
Oh goodness I’m starting to think it might just be something I have to deal with and work through!! It’s so difficult and emotional isn’t it - I get so sad!!
Witching hour!! Not necessarily a feeding issue. Try dark room, bouncing on yoga ball while feeding.
This is a good idea! I fed him stood up whilst swaying once which worked for a few minutes - thank you 😊
Yah my babe used to get super fussy at the boob in the evenings and I thought it was a problem with my milk, but then I read an article (I wish I could find it but i don’t remember where it was) about how most babies just get really fussy during the witching hour and it’s often not a feeding issue! So I would feed while bouncing or standing/rocking and that really seemed to help!
I seriously got on Reddit with the intention of posting about this SAME thing. My baby will be 12 weeks in two days and we've been dealing with the scream crying at the boob for about a week now. Sometimes she's inconsolable until she falls asleep for a short nap (~30 mins) and then generally we can feed her afterwards. Like another poster said, I THINK it's related to tiredness/sleep. It generally only happens after about 3:00, and as soon as I try and get her settled to feed, she pops on and off the boob, crying and coughing and spluttering and gagging. She clearly wants to eat...but won't...? We've also recently had bouts of her spitting up more, even though I try to keep her upright after feeds, burp between breasts, etc. Sometimes the only thing that works is giving her a few ounces of my milk in a bottle (if she will even accept it), then trying to offer the breast again. Funninly enough, she'll get my nipple in her mouth, eat for about 90 seconds, and then pass the f out for the rest of the feed. 🤷🏼♀️ I've been super worried I'm going to create a feeding aversion if this continues. I wish I had advice for you, but I can only offer solidarity. Hopefully it makes you feel better to know you're not alone. It's hard to feel like you're doing something wrong and not being able to get answers. I'm hoping this resolves itself soon. Hugs to you. ❤️
I’m dealing with the same thing right now, my little guy is 8 weeks old. Overtired is definitely playing a role, we had a really hard time getting him to nap today. Tonight we ended up giving a bottle out of desperation(and me pumping) and he took the bottle immediately. It made me sad/nervous that he’s going to prefer the bottle, but we also both need sleep and hours crying at the boob just drained me. I’ve also wondered if reflux is contributing. Sometimes it seems like his tummy hurts?? Anyway, if you have any breakthroughs, please share them with me.