Breastfeeding through growth spurts

Breastfeeding through growth spurts can be harrowing, and I suspect, the reason why many moms who set out to exclusively breastfeed, end up supplementing with formula. When baby goes through a growth spurt he can make you feel like you are not making enough milk, in reality what he is trying to do is to make your body adjust to his demand. Supplementing with formula through a growth spurt diminishes your supply, the best way to deal with a cluster feeding baby undergoing a growth spurt is to just be there if you can be. What to expect and how to cope:

1. Expect baby to basically camp out on your boob. We had our first growth spurt at 2 weeks. He went from nursing every couple of hours to nursing ALL THE TIME. Literally, on the boob from feeding to feeding. I'd put him on there, he would be there for an hour (no joke), and then he would sleep. In an hour he would want to be on the boob again. This can go on for 2-3 days. I once had some guests in the house, they were there for 3 hours and the entire time except for the time it takes to switch boobs, he  was on my boob under a nursing cover. Good thing our guest was also a nursing mom, she made me feel ok and explained that maybe the baby is just making me make more milk.
2. Get comfortable and surround yourself with entertainment. It will get boring. Thankfully, the pain is not so bad because for me the pain was bad when he was latching on, it'll last for a minute then i'd be fine. SInce he was nursing almost nonstop the pain was few and far between. Have a nursing station where you can raise your feet up, keep your nursing pillow there, celphone to have text conversations with your friends, have water and snacks on hand, a book, and a tv.
3. Have your husband or partner or maid check up on you every half hour. Just to ask if you need anything. Useful for bringing you water or changing the tv station etc.

When it seems like the baby is just never full and you think your milk is not enough, take comfort in knowing that you won't need to supplement. What the baby needs is just more time on your boob. It is temporary and you can weather that storm. Sometimes baby is just comfort nursing, not really drinking but he just wants to be near, hey, that can't be a bad thing.