Struggling to get 6 week old small baby to feed

[Hellywebbo]

I have a 61/2 week old who has always struggled with feeding. She was born 5lb 13 at 39 weeks ( I was exact same weight) and initially struggled with breast feeding so after a couple of 'static' weigh ins was advised to start on formula and expressed milk. I am still going this now and also 5-10 mins on the breast each time.

I am struggling to get her to eat the suggested 90 mls per feed (600 per day) some times I will spend over an ht just trying to get her to take 60 mls. She never wakes in the night to tell me she is hungry so I have to wake her to get her to take something .

She us now 8lb so my hrs of hard work are paying off but it seems unsustainable and I find it hard not to get obsessed about amounts and at evety weigh in I'm expecting her to have not gained weight! I hear lots of people talking about how hungry their babies are and would really value heating from other mums who have struggled with feeding as I'm starting to feel like the only person experiencing this!

Xx

[Cobo]

It's very tough, isn't it? Our situation is slightly different to yours, my DS has a congenital heart condition so uses more energy and needs more calories, but I recognise the never ending struggle to get milk into them, the constant worry at the short feeds and dreading the scales. It sounds like you're doing well though, if she's putting on weight?

One thing I found that really helped was spending a couple of days in bed with DS skin to skin. If you can feed lying down, you can let her feed while you both doze. I've found DS's feed times are substantially longer on the days we do this, and he puts on more weight. It noticeably boosts my milk supply too.

Good luck.

[tiktok]

Must be worrying, Hellywebbo :(

The one thing that struck me from your post was the large amount and infrequent feeds, for a still small baby.....would your HCPs be ok with her aiming for 60 mls a day, 10 times? You say she takes an hour to do 60 mls - that's a lot of time sitting feeding, but it's probably what you might be doing if she was fully bf.

You are feeding in the very hardest way - formula, expressing, plus bf direct. I hope things get easier for you.