6.5 week old with bad cold

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

I'm not too concerned about the cold although will take ds to get checked out if it gets any worse... However he's feeding less and sleeping more - how long will it take for this to have an effect on my supply, and should I express? We've almost got to a scenario of ebf from previously doing quite a few formula top ups, and while I do like mixed feeding and am happy to continue, I don't want my supply to suffer.

Any tips on what approach to take please? Thanks

[SlightlySuperiorPeasant]

Is he still having a decent number of heavy wet nappies a day? You don't want to get into a situation where he's sleeping because he's too weak to feed properly :(

You could try expressing and storing a feed of there's a long gap during the day. That way you could replace one of the formula feeds with expressed milk.

[dwagdays]

Reduced feeding and sleeping more can be bronchiolitis...might be worth checking?

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

Dd has had bronchiolitis before, I don't think it's that - and he's waking for feeds and feeding well when he does, it's just that he's resting more. In fact im wondering if he's just settling down a bit? He's previously been a bit of a high maintenance baby, nought to complete meltdown in about 2 seconds whether its through hunger or over tiredness. All of a sudden he's pretty chilled out .

He's tending to feed for not much more than 5 minutes every 3 hours, with a bit of nice alert time (he's started giving us huge smiles today which is lovely) followed by a sleep in the sling. He alept for a stretch of 5 hours last night for the first time. Plenty of wet nappies. The feeding doesn't seem very much or very often to me, but I'm not sure what's normal, never having breastfed successfully to this point before. Dd was a dreadful feeder and I topped her up with formula after every feed due to slow weight gain and lack of confidence. Other thing is he won't take a second side when offered, just messes around a bit and isn't interested. I've also tried topping him up with another mini feed 15-20 mins later but he just gets stressed and will cry/scream then because he's in a tizz will find it impossible to go to sleep.

Could this be ok, or am I kidding myself? Weight gain has been good, after an initial 10% loss he's put on 3.5lb in 5 weeks! But, as I said before, previously I was giving him top ups of formula (and I'm realising now probably force-feeding him which probably led to h being so unhappy). It's only the last couple of days he's been ebf. I guess he's not going to continue gaining at this rate as he's definitely feeding less, but am I right in thinking it would naturally slow down a bit anyway?

Sorry, this has turned into a lengthy and garbled quest for reassurance! Can anyone please give me the benefit of their wisdom?

[dwagdays]

Could he feed that fast, yes but be unusual if there weren't also cluster feeds and or longer feeds too.

Could a cold make hum seem easier? Yup! Did he need the top ups ... prob not with that gain:)

Watch nappies and your breasts. If fewer nappies you could pump a few times. If you get engorged that is when your body sends signals to make less milk so pump a bit if that happens and he won't feed. Even if your supply does dip as long as you feed as much as is wanted after a cold it would soon bounce back.

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

Thanks dwagdays, he's feeding now after only a 1.5 hour break so maybe that counts as a bit cluster-esque?!

Will keep a close eye on it all, I hope it's just going in the right direction and its not all the cold! I seem to have caught it now and feel rotten so could do with a tiny bit of sleep and maybe a couple of easier days...

And dd is back at nursery tomorrow so I'll have time to express a bit.

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

Well that was wishful thinking, up 3 times in the night and has fed at 7 and 8.15 so far this morning. That'll be him building my supply up again maybe?!

[dwagdays]

Yup:)

Normal, whatever that is bf will often involve some feeds being close together. During colds this happens more so once they can breathe better and are perkier. Sounds like your baby is thriving and feeding when he needs to. You are both doing great, takes a while to be confident about it. Bet you will be soon.