When do babies usually cluster feed

What You Should Know About Cluster Feeding

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

How to Know It’s Cluster Feeding

It's normal for babies to cluster feed. It is especially common during the early days of breastfeeding. Cluster feeding is more common in the late afternoon or early evening, but it can happen at any time of the day.

Cluster feeding usually happens between three weeks to six weeks after birth. During this period, your baby experiences growth spurts. As a result, they may require more milk than usual. Throughout these times, it's important to make sure you provide enough milk to keep your baby full.

You should consider it normal for your baby to cluster feed if you notice the following:

Your baby is gaining reasonable weight.
The process occurs during a limited time, like 3-4 hours a day.
Your baby is having a lot of dirty and wet diapers.
The process occurs after birth when you have an adequate milk supply.
Your baby has short rests or sleeps between these feedings.
Your baby feeds for a few minutes then pulls off and on the breast.
Your baby cries and is fussy during this time.

If you are concerned that your milk supply is inadequate for your baby’s needs, talk to your pediatrician.

Causes of Cluster Feeding

Some babies do not cluster feed at all. The following are reasons why your baby could be cluster feeding:

Your baby is undergoing a growth spurt. If your baby is at a stage where they are experiencing a growth spurt, they will naturally need more nourishment. During these times, your baby may want to nurse every 30 minutes to an hour. In the first month alone, growth spurts can happen every few days or even weekly.

These growth spurts typically happen when your baby is around two to three weeks, six weeks, three months, and six months old. However, your baby's growth spurts may not happen at these exact times as every baby is different. Growth spurts usually last a few days.

Developmental milestone. Your baby may be undergoing a developmental milestone during the first six months. When your child experiences physical and psychological changes, they may need nutrition. The process can cause your baby to cluster feed.

When Is Cluster Feeding Not Considered Normal?

There are times when your baby may frequently breastfeed to the point that you need to involve your pediatrician. Such instances include:

Your baby breastfeeds non-stop.
Your baby cries unless they are breastfeeding and continues to show signs of hunger.
Your baby appears jaundiced (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes), becomes lethargic (appearing tired and dull), or has tremors after long periods of non-stop nursing.
Your baby is not gaining weight.
Your baby is not producing wet and dirty diapers.

How to Deal With Cluster Feeding

Cluster feeding doesn't mean you don't have enough milk. However, some parents are concerned that they may not be producing enough milk for their baby during cluster feeding episodes. If you are in such a situation, be sure to:

Stay hydrated.
Find a breastfeeding partner to bring you drinks and snacks and keep you entertained during the cluster-feeding episodes.
Stay prepared for your baby’s needs.
Do not miss your meals.
Relax, get comfortable, and follow your baby’s lead.
Know when your baby is hungry.

When your baby is full but can’t seem to stop craving more, you may use non-nutritive sucking to soothe them. For instance, using a pacifier instead of breastfeeding your baby every 30 minutes will save you and your baby lots of fussiness and time.

Benefits of Cluster Feeding

Some of the advantages of cluster feeding include:

Providing your baby the nourishment they need to grow
Helping to soothe your baby
Ensuring your baby gets enough sleep after a satisfying nursing session
Providing comfort, security, and reassurance that sustain your baby's emotional needs
Boosting your milk supply to fit the needs of your baby

Challenges of Cluster Feeding

Cluster feeding can make you feel emotionally and physically drained. Studies show that many parents may experience frustration or fatigue from cluster feeding. Some lose confidence in their ability to breastfeed.

You may become worried that you aren't producing enough milk, especially if your baby takes a long time to settle when nursing or your breasts feel empty. Another challenge of cluster feeding is the sleep deprivation that comes about when your baby wakes up frequently to nurse.

During periods of cluster feeding, parents may find it helpful to talk with a lactation consultant or pediatrician. Your doctor may also recommend additional ways to care for your nursing baby.

What You Should Know About Cluster Feeding

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

How to Know It’s Cluster Feeding

You should consider it normal for your baby to cluster feed if you notice the following:

Your baby is gaining reasonable weight.
The process occurs during a limited time, like 3-4 hours a day.
Your baby is having a lot of dirty and wet diapers.
The process occurs after birth when you have an adequate milk supply.
Your baby has short rests or sleeps between these feedings.
Your baby feeds for a few minutes then pulls off and on the breast.
Your baby cries and is fussy during this time.

If you are concerned that your milk supply is inadequate for your baby’s needs, talk to your pediatrician.

Causes of Cluster Feeding

Some babies do not cluster feed at all. The following are reasons why your baby could be cluster feeding:

When Is Cluster Feeding Not Considered Normal?

There are times when your baby may frequently breastfeed to the point that you need to involve your pediatrician. Such instances include:

Your baby breastfeeds non-stop.
Your baby cries unless they are breastfeeding and continues to show signs of hunger.
Your baby appears jaundiced (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes), becomes lethargic (appearing tired and dull), or has tremors after long periods of non-stop nursing.
Your baby is not gaining weight.
Your baby is not producing wet and dirty diapers.

How to Deal With Cluster Feeding

Stay hydrated.
Find a breastfeeding partner to bring you drinks and snacks and keep you entertained during the cluster-feeding episodes.
Stay prepared for your baby’s needs.
Do not miss your meals.
Relax, get comfortable, and follow your baby’s lead.
Know when your baby is hungry.

Benefits of Cluster Feeding

Some of the advantages of cluster feeding include:

Providing your baby the nourishment they need to grow
Helping to soothe your baby
Ensuring your baby gets enough sleep after a satisfying nursing session
Providing comfort, security, and reassurance that sustain your baby's emotional needs
Boosting your milk supply to fit the needs of your baby

Challenges of Cluster Feeding

During periods of cluster feeding, parents may find it helpful to talk with a lactation consultant or pediatrician. Your doctor may also recommend additional ways to care for your nursing baby.

4-7 year old child - Tarkvanem ‹ Meals - Tarkvanem

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As the child grows older, he becomes more independent. This is expressed in his eating habits and food choices. Certain food preferences have formed, he wants to choose more himself, decide what he will eat.

The child's energy and nutrient requirements per kilogram of body weight are still very high, which, on the other hand, means careful menu planning to get everything you need from food.

From soft drinks, potato chips, sweets, buns and cakes, the child receives a lot of empty energy, which is enough or too much to meet the energy needs, but at the same time, he remains without other foods (fruits and vegetables, bread, milk , fish, etc.), which are needed to obtain proteins, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals necessary for life.
Dietary recommendations for children over 2 years of age are similar to adults, but because children have lower energy requirements, the recommended amount of food also decreases proportionately.

Meals

Children should have 3 main meals and 1-2 snacks per day.

What kind of food and how many times to give at home depends on the time the child spends in the child care facility. The body needs to be regularly provided with the necessary amount of energy, so it is important to stick to daily meals.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day - it supplies the body with energy so that the child can start playing or learning. If the child goes to kindergarten, weekday breakfasts must be adapted according to whether the child eats breakfast in the garden and what time he eats it. Breakfast does not need to be eaten immediately after waking up, but it is useful to have breakfast within an hour.

Snacks should be minimally processed (eg fresh or dry fruits and berries, vegetables, unflavored yogurt and cottage cheese, bread, juice, oatmeal, sandwiches). Sweets, crackers, cookies, soft drinks, juice drinks, ice cream, etc. are not suitable as snacks. Even one candy or cookie between meals can ruin a child's appetite for the whole day. Do not give your child food as a prize or consolation, or if the child is bored.

Lunch and dinner can be heavy, especially lunch . Soups and a slice of bread with soup go very well, as well as a dessert using a minimum amount of sugar, or even a small second. The younger the child, the more you need to use stewing-boiling in cooking his food. Perfect for a variety of casseroles. Since children want to see what ingredients food is made of, teaching a child to eat mixed dishes from infancy can hide vegetables in them that children do not really like. For dinner, a dense vegetable salad is suitable, in which you can add an egg, cheese, fish, meat, homemade cheese, or something else. If the child eats properly in the garden, the food offered at home should not be very energy intensive.

Dinner should be a specific time when the family eats together and where they can talk about the day's events and be together (rather than watching TV or a computer screen at the same time). Here you can discuss the menu for the next day, as well as prepare for the weekend.

Like adults, all children are different. Every child has favorite foods, as well as those that they do not like at all. Knowing the preferences of children, the child can slowly teach him to eat those foods that he usually does not eat.

To do this, you can hang on the refrigerator a list of products that the child must consume during the day. In this case, it is convenient to track the choice of products and teach the child healthy eating.

A child should be taught to eat right and healthy from an early age. Habits formed in childhood often influence the choices we make later in life. Some children are quite selective in terms of what he eats and what not; It is important that you, as a parent, be an example to your child and encourage and support healthy eating habits.
Young children in their food preferences are guided by two main factors - whether they are familiar with food and the taste of food (sweetness). Therefore, new products must be introduced carefully and in small quantities, leading by example. Getting used to new foods takes time. If you do it carefully and in a playful way, the children will be very interested.
The more natural flowers will be presented on the plate, the more beautiful and appetizing the dish will be, the more it will contain various essential nutrients.
When eating, the child's mood and environment are important (for example, whether the TV is playing or there are guests), as well as whether the child is hungry.
For eating, it is imperative to set aside time to enjoy food. When eating together with the family, the child will eat faster, the example of parents is important from early childhood. Enjoy each other's company while eating.
Appearance and correct food temperature are important for a child. The child will eat with great appetite if he sees what ingredients the food was prepared from. Try different foods and cook them in different ways to ensure food variety and availability of different nutrients.
Teach your child to choose foods from different food groups so that he understands what a variety of food is. Give your child the opportunity to choose their own food from suitable foods: this or that fruit, various grains, various vegetables, etc. Teach children to eat plenty of vegetables from an early age.
Offer water instead of juice to quench your thirst.
A child should never be scared about food. Food is not a means of punishment or reward. Do not force the child to eat, rather attract. If you force a child to eat, it greatly affects the psyche and behavior of the child and can leave a negative imprint on his entire subsequent life.

The most important child nutrition keywords:

example
joint meal
availability of suitable food
explanatory work
time
choice and decision making

An example is one of the factors that will begin to shape the nutrition of a young child. The younger the child, the more influence on his choice of food is the example of parents and siblings. As the child matures, friends and the environment become more influential.
A child's eating habits are shaped by what food choices are available to the family (including the child) (both financially and based on the parents' knowledge), how meals are organized at home, etc.
Many children aged 4-7 go to kindergarten, and often spend time at home only in the evenings or on weekends. These meals should form a conscious choice. Children can discuss with children and direct their nutritional wishes.

Children grow in periods, which means that there may be times when the child eats too little, and there are times when he eats more.

It is useful to ensure that food intake and energy expenditure are balanced.
If the child is very active, he should eat more.
If the child seems to be eating too little or too much, keep a food diary - for about a week, write down everything that and how much the child ate and drank.
It often turns out that the problem is not in the quantity eaten, but in the choice of food. After all, you can get as much energy from a couple of candy cookies as from a good portion of soup.
It is unwise to immediately grab a jar of vitamins and minerals, you should reconsider nutrition - sufficient, balanced and varied nutrition will provide the necessary substances.
The only exception is vitamin D, which all children should receive as a dietary supplement.
If a child has access to a varied and balanced diet, he grows and develops according to his age, there is no cause for concern. If parents still feel that the child may not be getting all the necessary nutrients in sufficient quantities, from time to time blood tests can be done by a doctor to check the health.

Candy or biscuits should never be given to children as a consolation, reward or dispersal of boredom - on a subconscious level, this may affect his eating habits in the future. Avoid bringing sweets (candy, cookies) home and keep them in a conspicuous place. Instead, put peeled-cut fruits and vegetables on the table.
To satisfy the desire to eat something sweet, nuts and dried fruits and berries are suitable, but one should not be too zealous with them either. Nuts can only be given to young children in a ground or highly chopped form, as well as to both young children and older children so that children do not have an allergic reaction to them.
Clean water should always be available to quench thirst. You can drink up to two glasses of juice per week. If necessary, dilute the juice yourself, do not buy nectars, juice drinks and syrups in the store, not to mention soft drinks.
Although vitamin-enriched water is thought to help you get enough vitamins, one 750 ml bottle actually contains approximately 40 grams of sugar, which is the daily dose of sweets for an adult.
A varied, balanced and regular diet (including cereals, fruits and vegetables, and other food groups) ensures sufficient intake of vitamins, minerals and macronutrients, as well as energy and reduces the desire to eat something sweet.

It is very likely that an obese child will grow into an obese adult.
Increasingly, overweight and obesity are already occurring in young children.
This risk can be reduced through informed food choices and sufficient exercise.
With food you need to get as much energy as it is consumed. Therefore, foods rich in energy, but poor in vitamins and minerals (for example, sweets, cookies, buns, cakes, soft drinks, potato chips, etc.) should be eaten as little as possible.
Food choices should be as varied as possible, including whole grains, vegetables and fruits, as well as berries, unsweetened dairy products, fresh fish, poultry, meat and eggs, nuts and seeds.
The child must be physically active (in the house and in the yard) for at least 60 minutes a day, even more is better.
To check whether the child is growing and gaining weight normally, you can look at the growth and weight curve of infants and children, and in case of underweight or overweight, it is imperative to consult a family doctor or pediatrician for further instructions. You can not limit the nutrition of the child, guided by their own ideas.

Kindergarten children often eat out three times a week - breakfast, lunch and dinner.

According to how much time the child spends in kindergarten, how many times and what he eats, it is necessary to form the child's home meals. The body needs to be regularly provided with the necessary amount of energy, so it is important to stick to daily meals.

Keep up to date with the kindergarten's weekly menu, create different options for homemade dinners or weekend lunches. Also ask teachers if the child ate in the garden and how much he ate from what was offered, take this data into account when serving homemade dinner.

The more flavors and foods you introduce to your child from an early age, the easier it will be for them to get used to food in kindergarten.

In Estonia, food regulations have been developed in pre-school child care institutions, which are regulated by an order of the Minister of Social Affairs.

Too many meals offered to children often include too much salt or sugar. Children's meals may appeal to children (often due to their high fat, sugar and/or salt content), but their nutritional value is often very low. Instead of children's meals, it is better to choose a regular dish or soup and ask for it to be prepared with as little salt as possible.

Fast foods also tend to be high in energy (and high in fat, sugar and/or salt). For example, from one small cheeseburger, small fries and 250 ml of cola, a child can get about 650 kcal, which is about 40% of the daily energy requirement of a 7-year-old child with an average activity. Salt in this choice contains a little more than is acceptable per day (children aged 2-9 years can receive no more than 4 grams of salt from all sources per day). A soft drink contains just over 25 grams of sugar, which is also more than half of the maximum allowable daily amount of sugars. If you absolutely want to offer such food to a child, this is possible no more than twice a year, and then if the daily diet is in order.

Depending on the age of the children invited to the birthday, when choosing food for the festive table, recommendations for their age can be guided.
The food offered at the birthday party must be prepared from minimally processed raw materials. The less sweets, soft drinks, potato chips and other similar foods on the festive table, the better. If there is a rich and convenient selection of fruits and vegetables on the festive table, and the children have something to do, the children will not even remember that such food exists.
First of all, it is great for children (especially if the birthday is not at home, but in a playroom) sliced vegetables, such as carrots, paprika, cucumber and cauliflower with homemade dip sauce made from unseasoned yogurt.
You can offer fruit on a skewer (melon, pear, watermelon, grapes).
If desired, you can prepare more dense dishes (salads, homemade pizza, etc.), but they must be prepared from minimally processed raw materials.
If you offer baked goods, try to find low sugar options (raw sugar, agave syrup, etc. are not good alternatives).
If there are only a few children's birthdays in which the child participates in a year, on this day you can "sin" a little and offer the children a little more food to their taste, for example, meatballs, sausages, oven-cooked french fries, popcorn without salt. But this is again provided that on other days the choice of food corresponds to the recommendations.

Always read the label on food packaging! This will help you make a more informed choice.
The allowable amount of supplements for children is usually less than for adults (the maximum amount is based on adult body weight). Therefore, be careful with colored sweets, drinks, cookies with a long shelf life, desserts and sausages, products containing synthetic sweeteners.
If the child is old enough to participate in the grocery shopping, let the child choose between suitable foods: one or another fruit, various cereal products, various vegetables, etc.
Avoid the shelves with sweets, biscuits, soft drinks, etc., so that the child does not have a desire to buy sweets.
If a child in a grocery store always asks for candy, etc., then it is better to go there without the child or take the child to the store when he grows up and understands what and when is bought in the store.
Always go to the store on a full stomach, with a shopping list, and avoid impulse purchases.

The less time preschoolers spend watching television and gadgets, the better.

The use of gadgets and watching TV is not recommended while eating, as it diverts attention from eating as a process. In turn, this forms the wrong eating habits in children.

While eating, all attention should be paid to the process of eating.

The principle of a healthy lifestyle is that the amount of energy received from food and the amount of energy expended are in balance.
All children should be as active as possible from an early age. Parents themselves should orient their children to the movement, be an example to them.
The child must be physically active (in the house and in the yard) for at least 60 minutes a day, even more is better.
Mobility habits formed in childhood are the basis for adult mobility habits.
If the child is more active (for example, goes to some training), his need for energy is higher due to the energy expended. The additional energy requirement cannot be covered by the energy obtained from sweets and fast food; nuts and seeds can be added to the menu.

Before eating and preparing food, you and your baby should always be thoroughly washed to prevent possible germs that cause disease from getting into the stomach. If food is interrupted (for example, due to a trip to the toilet), hands should be washed again before continuing to eat.
Dental care should be started from infancy. Children of early age brush their teeth with clean water and a soft brush. Toothpaste should be used only when the child can spit it out. Teeth should be brushed in the morning and evening. After eating, you can rinse your mouth with clean water.
In terms of teeth, there should be no more than 5 food contacts per day (3 main meals, 1-2 snacks), with a gap of at least 3 hours between meals.

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Common mistakes parents make in children's nutrition

Russian pediatricians note a rapid increase in the number of overweight children and concomitant diseases. Modern statistics says: more than half of Russian children from 3 to 13 years old eat cakes, chocolate and sweets several times a week or even daily. However, this is only one of the possible mistakes of parents, because you can push your children to be overweight even during the period of intrauterine development.

A slender mother is a healthy baby. The risks of obesity can be “hereditary”: if mom and dad are not eating properly, they themselves are overweight, then children can hardly avoid such problems.

Equally important is a healthy diet for pregnant women. It contributes to the formation of a healthy metabolism in a child, and as a result - the correct development in the future. Therefore, expectant mothers are so strongly recommended to eat more vegetables, fruits, cottage cheese, unsweetened dairy products, lean meat, fish and cereals (primarily buckwheat and oatmeal). But with fatty, salty, smoked, sweet - do not abuse.

In addition, the child gets acquainted with the taste of food already in the womb, where he swallows amniotic fluid. Thus, the taste preferences of the pregnant woman are transmitted to the baby.

Diet for the little ones. One of the first mistakes parents make after having a baby is breastfeeding too short. Of course, this allows mothers to return to an active life faster. But such a step is harmful both for the mother herself and for the child.

Sometimes mothers switch to artificial formula early for the best of reasons: they feel that there is not enough breast milk and the baby does not get enough of it. But in this case, the replacement is not justified. The World Health Organization, just like Russian pediatricians, recommends breastfeeding a child up to 1.5-2 years.

Complementary foods are introduced gradually, in accordance with certain rules. They will help to accustom the child to different types of products in time. The "window of tolerance", when the child perceives new tastes more easily, occurs at about 4-6 months. When introducing new dishes, you need to be patient: one new taste at a time. If you feel that the baby is used to the product, then you can safely move on to the next one. But not earlier than in 10-14 days. If the child refuses, then it is not necessary to force him to eat.

Common table - non-children's food. It is not uncommon for a child to be introduced to adult food very early. This usually happens when the baby physically begins to sit at the common table, that is, at about 1.5-2 years. At this point, many parents show carelessness that can have far-reaching consequences.

The mechanism is simple: if you let your baby taste even the smallest amount of such "adult" foods as pickled cucumber or smoked sausage, then you knock down his taste sensations. As a result, the child ceases to enjoy healthy food and begins to demand dishes with a pronounced taste, for example, salty or sweet. The best recommendation in such a situation is that the adult menu is child-oriented. It will be useful not only for the baby, but also for the whole family.

How to feed a child after coming from kindergarten and school. Pediatricians recommend keeping an eye on your child's menu when eating out. In this case, during dinner, you only need to supplement the diet with those products that he did not receive during the day. At the same time, overfeeding your child in an attempt to "catch up" is by no means worth it.

As a rule, food in kindergartens and schools, including extended meals, corresponds to a healthy regimen and includes hot meals. It is more difficult with high school students: they often have a snack on the go, dry food and not the highest quality products, such as chips, instant noodles and other fast food. Such a menu "sins" with a large amount of salt, sugar, fat and flavor enhancers, and the beneficial effect is minimal. It is quite simple to avoid such a situation if healthy and tasty food is always waiting for the student at home.

Food is not a bargain. It is not uncommon for parents to use food to motivate their child to behave well. As a rule, it is sweet and fast food, that is, harmful products that you should generally refuse. Children delight in snacking on fries, pizza and soda, or a reward in the form of a candy bar. In addition to direct harm to the health of the child, this deprives him of the correct guidelines for a healthy diet. If vegetables are healthy food, but candy is not, then why is it given as a reward?! The problem is exacerbated when the restriction in "goodies" is used as a punishment: the child is "pulled" to the wrong food even more.

Protecting children from such temptations is especially difficult due to the obsessive influence of consumer culture. There are no real restrictions on advertising the most inappropriate products for children. On the contrary, we are told from TV screens that a good dad will cook sausages with ketchup for children, and a real children's holiday cannot take place without cakes and soda. And only parents can become the last outpost that will save children from harmful eating habits.

Being overweight is not normal. “Growing up - losing weight” - this is how many adults argue, especially representatives of the older generation. This is a pernicious and anti-scientific myth. Indeed, in some age periods, the risk of gaining excess weight is higher. For example, at 5-6 years old. But even in this case, one should not wait and hope that it will “dissolve” with age. It is advisable to discuss each such episode with an endocrinologist, identify the causes of overweight and correct it. The sooner this is done, the easier and more painless it will be for the child.

One of the main reasons for weight gain is lack of exercise. Today, this is often associated with children's fascination with electronic toys. They can sit motionless for hours at all sorts of gadgets. At the same time, parents often encourage such activities, without thinking about how the child will pay for their comfort and peace of mind. Do not forget that active games, sports and walks are the most important component of the normal development of your child.