Breastfeeding a 35w6d newborn - issues.

[xSamantha]

Hi all!
My 2nd LO was born on 2/25/17 at 5lbs 8oz. He was born at 35w6d due to some pregnancy related bleeding. Ended up in the NICU for 2 weeks due to a pneumothorax (hole in lung). He is now 4 weeks tomorrow.. home and doing great.
However, the NICU stay has really interrupted breastfeeding. My 1st son breastfed from day 1. This time, I had to pump for the first two weeks to bring my milk to the NICU. Now, I'm being told to pump and add 1tsp of enriched preemie formula per 3ml of breastmilk to help baby gain weight at least 3 or 4x a day. The other times I am breastfeeding directly.
My problem is this.. when I pump, I only get about 2.5 - 3oz total. And that's if I wait around 4 hours. But baby also wants to nurse. So I'm feeling like I am not making enough to give him what he needs.
He nurses throughout the night and seems fine. But I feel like during the day I just can't keep up. When I feed him it seems he is still hungry.
I read that newborns always seem hungry.. but I don't like the uncertainty.
Can anyone give me some input? He left the NICU at 5lbs 4oz. He's now at just about 6lbs two weeks later. What makes it more confusing is the addition of the tsp of formula to add calories for weight gain.
Ugh.. so much more complicated this time.

 

[xMissxZoiex]

My little boy was born 31 weeks and spent a while in the NICU he was tube fed for 2 weeks with breastmilk. He was born 4lbs 0.5oz and went down to 3lbs exactly, he breastfed from 2 weeks and struggled to put on weight for a while, he was only gaining a few grams a week, he struggled for almost 3 months to get to 9lbs then once he hit that he piled on the lbs like crazy.

I saw the lactation consultant in the nicu and she said if you pump on one side while feeding on the other it will really increase your supply and for me it really worked really well!. I was pumping 5 oz from each boob a few times a day as well as feeding him at one point!.

Also have a look at the Haakaa breastpump, its a manual pump that doesn't require pumping!, You suction it to your breast and it does its job drawing the milk out. Fantastic for night time pumping as the sound of my electric pump would wake the baby.

Keep feeding, Keep pumping and make sure your drinking plenty of water, your doing a great job

Hope something I've written is useful LOL