Baby is 3 weeks old and has fed NONSTOP since yesterday. Has my supply gone?

Writing this one handed at 3am with a baby attached to me, again, so sorry for typos.

He is 3 weeks old tomorrow. Until this weekend we had something like a rhythm, feeds every 2 to 3 hours, decent stretches at night. Since yesterday morning he wants to feed constantly, comes off crying, back on ten minutes later, all day and now all night. My breasts feel EMPTY, like deflated, they used to feel full before feeds and now nothing.

My mum (formula fed us, keeps mentioning it) says he is obviously starving and my milk has "gone". I was doing so well until she said that and now I've been crying since midnight. He has plenty of wet nappies I think? I honestly can't remember what I've changed today.

Is this the end of my supply or is this a thing babies just do?? I really don't want to stop but I can't do many more nights like this one.

Oh love, I could have written this post twice, once with each of mine. Three weeks is a CLASSIC growth spurt. Both of my two turned into round-the-clock feeding machines almost to the day at 3 weeks and again at 6, and both times my mother in law helpfully diagnosed me as having no milk.

It lasted about 48 to 72 hours each time and then they slept like they'd been at an all you can eat buffet, because they had. The constant feeding IS the mechanism, he's putting his order in for more milk. And the soft boobs threw me too with my first, but by three weeks things start settling to make-to-order instead of overstocked, mine never felt full again after about a month and I fed her for a year.

You are not failing. You are being restocked. Hold on.

Hollie N. said:

He has plenty of wet nappies I think? I honestly can't remember what I've changed today.

This is the bit to actually check, because it's the bit that means something. Not how your boobs feel, not how often he feeds, nappies and weight. When I hit this stage I put a scrap of paper on the changing table and made a tick for every wet and dirty nappy because my brain was porridge too. Lots of wet nappies and steady weight means the milk is going in, however chaotic it feels.

Also, mute your mum on this topic if you can. Mine came around after the health check showed a chunky thriving baby, but the drip drip of "are you SURE he's getting enough" nearly finished me off at week 3 when the actual feeding never did.

Hollie, what you are describing, a sudden spell of near-constant feeding around three weeks, softer breasts, a previously settled baby gone frantic, is one of the most textbook patterns in all of breastfeeding, and Gemma has explained the mechanism exactly right. Frequent feeding at spurt ages is how a baby increases your supply; softening breasts at this stage usually mean production is calibrating to demand, not failing. The site's guide to cluster feeding and growth spurts sets out the usual ages and how long each tends to last, and how to tell your baby is getting enough lists the concrete signs, nappy counts included, that matter far more than how full you feel.

The professional caveat, because it matters: none of us can see your baby. If the nappy count is genuinely low, if he seems sleepy and hard to rouse rather than furious and busy, or if weight checks are off track, have him seen promptly by your midwife or doctor rather than waiting a spurt out. And if feeding is painful or you would simply like eyes on a full feed, a board-certified lactation consultant in person can settle in twenty minutes what a forum never quite can.

Middle-of-the-night posts like yours are exactly what this board is for. Let us know how the week goes.

Update: he slept four and a half hours last night, fed like a normal tiny person today, and is currently milk-drunk on his dad. It was the growth spurt. Nappy tally was fine all along (14 yesterday, I counted this time). Thank you all for talking me off the ledge, and Jess, mum has been shown the chunky thigh photos and has gone quiet.