Long feeds and short breaks, still hungry

[Dawnyybus]

Hello

My baby is 3 weeks old he was born 4 weeks early, I'm breastfeeding him and expressing but the last few days and nights he has been constantly feeding and at night never seems full. We have had to top him up with some of my expressed milk and the hp says to top up with formula...

I don't know what to do. I want to breastfeed.

Has anyone any advice or knowledge as to what is going on?

thank you
Xxxxx

 

[AnonymousCAT]

Sounds like cluster feeding. Lo is likely going through a growth spurt and wanting to feed constantly. My advice is to let them bf as much as possible and avoid giving the bottle. The stimulation to the breast will help you make enough milk to meet their needs as their tummy grows. Giving a bottle will decrease stimulation at the breast, especially if you were to move towards formula. Even though your breasts don't feel full they are never empty and lo will continue to get milk even though they appear unsatisifed. My lo was 5 wks early and I remember a big cluster feed around his due date where he fed for 5 hrs straight. He literally outgrew nb clothing in a day after that. When they are born early they need to catch up. There are apparently also growth spurts around 3 wks, 6 wks and later, using their corrected age. So don't be surprised when it happens again. Bf for me was really hard. At the beginning but it is now a lot easier. Lo still bf lots though and doesn't sleep long between feeds. I am hoping things improve for me whene gets closer to 6-8 wks corrected age when they say things improve.

 

[staralfur]

Perfectly normal, there are a bunch of growth spurts in the early days and they need to feed A LOT to keep your milk supply up with their needs.

For us, topping up was a slippery slope and actually really hindered breastfeeding. It took a long time and a lot of effort to get my supply back on track. I would cut out the topups gradually and keep a close eye on diaper output. There were days that my LO was on the breast for all but a few hours but she didn't need formula and everything had sorted itself out and calmed down by around 10 weeks.