Why does my baby want to feed all the time in the evening?

The day went fine. Around five the asking starts, and then again every half hour. You're stuck on the couch, you think your milk has run out, and the evening lasts three times as long as usual.

What cluster feeding is

Cluster feeding means staying on the breast or bottle at the end of the day. A baby who has a reasonable rhythm during the day suddenly wants to feed much more often at the end of the day, in quick succession.

The feeling that you have too little milk almost always comes with it, as does the thought that it's just comfort sucking. Both are usually wrong.

Why it happens

Two reasons, and both are practical.

Filling up for the night. All those small feeds in a row mean a full tummy going into the night, and so a longer first block.

A growth spurt. Then simply more is needed than the normal rhythm gives, and this is the way to arrange that.

Your survival guide for those hours

• Accept it. This is the most important one. As long as you fight it, it lasts longer and costs you more.
• Clear the afternoon. Plan nothing, sit down, cuddle. See also the three-hour rule, which falls in exactly the same hours.
• Ask for help. Not with the baby, but with everything else: dinner, laundry, the oldest. Then you can keep your attention on the feed.
• Stay relaxed yourself. What you radiate, you pass on. A rushed parent makes a restless baby.

What you can count on this month

For orientation, and they remain guidelines: around the second month, about 75 to 120 milliliters go in per feed, with about 2 to 4 hours in between. For the rule of thumb with formula, see how much your baby should drink.

But don't calculate too hard. The hunger cues tell you when your baby wants to eat, and you learn to read them better and better this month. That's exactly what's asked of you in this phase: feeding on demand, not by the clock.

What does help is keeping the order within the day: wake up, feed, a little play, sleep. Then the feed falls at the moment your baby is really awake and alert, and drinking doesn't get linked to falling asleep. The cluster hours at the end of the day fall outside that; they're the exception, not the pattern.

When to have it checked

Cluster feeding is normal. Some other things that come up this month are too, but deserve a professional looking along: trouble latching, doubt about your milk supply, a lot of spitting up or reflux, or a suspected allergy.

Take those to a lactation consultant, your family doctor or your pediatrician. They can think along in a way an article can't.

And after that, something comes back in return: around this age, the first block of the night can get longer, and you can contribute to that yourself with a dream feed.