What actually changes
At around four weeks your baby wakes up to the world. Their brain is developing quickly, their stomach is growing, and your milk supply is settling from the early abundance into something more responsive — made to order rather than made in advance.
All three of those things happening at once looks, from the outside, exactly like a problem. Feeds get shorter and more frequent. Your breasts feel softer and less full. Your baby comes off, fusses, comes back on again. In the evenings they may want to feed almost constantly.
Why the evenings are hardest
Late afternoon and early evening is when most newborns are at their most unsettled, and it is also when your milk flows a little more slowly. This is normal, and it is not a sign that you are running out.
Cluster feeding through those hours is your baby doing exactly the right thing — topping up, ordering more for tomorrow, and settling their nervous system against you. It is hard work, and it is temporary.
What helps
Feed responsively rather than by the clock. Bring your baby in close and skin to skin when you can — it calms both of you and helps your milk flow. Eat, drink, and let someone else hold the baby while you shower.
And say the hard bits out loud to someone who knows newborns. Half of what makes this stretch so frightening is not knowing whether it is normal.
When to reach out
Call if your baby is not having plenty of wet nappies, if feeding is painful, if they are very difficult to wake for feeds, or if you simply want someone to watch a feed and tell you honestly what they see.
That is what a home visit is for. Nothing about calling early is an overreaction.
— Penny