When do you stop feeding a baby who might be over eating due to cluster feeding?

I was told by my lactation consultant you can’t over feed at the breast …..only by the bottle. I was also told feed the baby when they’re giving the hunger cues due to the fact of growth spurts digesting the milk quicker. You’ll know if over fed when he spits all the extra up.

From personal experience my 4 week old went thru a cluster around 2 weeks where I used a bottle of breastmilk to see when he’d stop. Over a short span he downed 7oz. Didn’t spit any of it up. He’s 4wks now drinking 4oz on a regular and still has cluster periods going way over 7oz but I just trust him to stop when his needs are met & he always does then SLEEEEPPPSSS HOURSSS. My pediatrician said it’s fine to I let him rock out 🪨

Im also so nervous to overfeed as babe is only 10 days old and I feel like he’s eating nonstop but also I don’t want to underfeed so I just let him eat as he cues?

My 3 week old is doing the same. I'm assuming it's a growth spurt. I exclusively pump and so far he hasn't spit up any of the breastmilk during these feeding times at night. He'll drink between 4-7 ounces over like a 2 hour period so pumping at night is wildly hard for me right now. But once he's satisfied he goes right to sleep. And he'll sleep for a good 3 or 4 hours.

how are you managing night feedings with the pump every 2-3 hours rule? pumping and then bottle feeding by yourself? i’ve been pumping at night and my husband bottle feeds what i pump, but his pat leave is ending and i’ll be doing night pump + feedings and im so nervous!

@lily i try to start my pump session like 45 minutes before the baby would usually feed, sometimes he gets fresh pumped milk, other times ge gets milk from the fridge that I bagged earlier in the day. Before I had a solid supply we were supplementing with formula. I know not everyone wants to do that but for us it worked and gave me a chance to catch up with the baby's feeds.

So before I pump, I get my coffee machine ready to give the breast milk bags a brief hot water bath. I let the cup sit a little while I'm pumping then I dip the bag in until it feels a little warm. I prepare the bottle and if I'm done before the baby wakes up I wake him to feed him or I let him dream feed. Other times my partner helps in the night until I can get the baby.

Dummy/pacifier? After 1 hour of feeding for eg. Sounds like comfort sucking snd there’s nothing wrong with this, just hard when you need to sleep too

It’s ok during cluster but don’t offer boob otherwise without cues and also take breaks to pace feed if you can.


My baby is having gas and digestion issues from over eating via breast feeding. It’s possible. I mistaken comfort cues and fussiness for hunger… trying to cut back to see if there’s improvement.

I also find it hard to distinguish between hunger and comfort cues right now! We were feeding him when he cried (1w old) and he was spitting up some. But my in-laws are here now and hold him a lot more and he seems way less hungry, just happy to be held.