I posted previously but to recap - DS is nearly 5wks old and I'm taking him to be weighed tomorrow: he was 3960g at birth, last week he was weighed (4wk old) and his weight had dropped from 3820g at 14 days to 3800g. He had a cold virus for about a week around the 14 day weigh-in which affected his feeding slightly but not dramatically.
So, since the weigh-in last week I have been encouraging DS to take the breast as often as possible, grandparents and DH helping out so I've basically been feeding and nothing else since Wednesday last week. The doctor checked him over and said he looked fine and just keep encouraging him to feed and keep an eye on his weight.
However for days DS has been cluster feeding all day and 1-2 hourly at night (I've been very sleep-deprived). As an example of the cluster feeding, on Saturday he'd been on the breast for three hours solid (having had a 20 min sleep after the last feeding session) and throughout the feed he was coming off but then screaming shortly after and wanting to go back on.
I was alternating breasts each time he did this, but fed up at this point with DS still screaming inconsolably I gave him a bottle of formula, which he guzzled, about 60ml. He then slept for 3 hours. I expressed and DH bottlefed that for next feed so I could get some sleep. DS has since had another bottle of formula last night to settle him after a four-hour breast session, and again this morning when after 2 hours on the breast he was still screamingly hungry - he took 80ml. The other breastfeeds seem to have been sufficient to satisfy him.
The latch has been checked by midwife, I'm swapping breasts and waking him up if he drops off so he spends 10 mins each side minimum. I don't have much faith in the local breastfeeding clinic as they gave me duff advice with DD previously.
With DD we had a feeding nightmare at the start, we ended up mixed feeding for 3 months before moving onto FF solely. With DD I tried pretty much everything before going the mixed route - so I realise I should probably be breastfeeding, then expressing, then bottlefeeding expressed milk, then offering formula, to try and get supply to catch up but a) breastfeeds are taking so much time and I have a 2 yr old who needs attention so I can't devote the time to expressing etc this time around and b) with clusterfeeding like DS has been doing, after 4 days I would expect supply to have caught up if it was going to? DD would spend 12 hours a day on breast and weight was still dropping off, failure to thrive situation, and the feed/express/etc cycle didn't work last time so I have deja vu to an extent, although DD had to be topped up at day 10 as she wouldn't wake to feed and weight was plummeting more dramatically than it has with DS. DS remains alert and hydrated, poos and wees as he should.
I really went through the wringer with DD so looking for a solution that ideally means DS keeps getting some breastmilk to at least 3 months but that also means I can still function as a mummy to DD and get enough sleep to stay sane. So I guess I'm looking for any general advice, or tips on keeping some breastfeeding going alongside formula?