2 1/2 week old feeding all the time-normal?

[Loobyloo1902]

Just a quickie whilst I'm managed to put the little one down but is this normal? She's been feeding for the last two days almost all the time. I'm breast feeding but have had to give her some top up formula or risk having a boob drop off. She's putting on weight fine, just cries her head off when I finally run out of milk. Lots of wet nappies btw.

Growth spurt?

Uh oh... here we go again....

Perfectly normal.

Try not to give any formula as it will impact your supply - you won't run out of milk, just keep swapping back and forth between breasts. The flow of milk might get slower which she might find frustrating, but it is being produced all the time.

It's normal, unfortunately! It won't be forever. As Rita says, you can't run out of milk as it is continually produced. Imagine drinking water from a glass with a straw, with a tap running into the glass at the same time. You might get to the point where you're making a slurpy noise with the straw, but you'll never run out of water.

Get comfy at your computer (easier if you have a laptop) or the TV with a few sports bottles full of water and have lots of food in the house that you can eat one handed. Fruit and cereal and microwave meals, get your DH to make a couple of sandwiches to keep in the fridge for your lunch. Don't expect to get anything done except feed, then if you do manage anything else, it's a bonus.

Things should settle down around the 6 week mark but in the mean time this is "breastfeeding boot camp". Are you having any pain at all while feeding?

Thanks guys
My boobs are very sensitive today because of some medication i'm on so I've been expressing and bottle feeding, topped up with a bit of formula to keep up with the little one.
takeaway tonight methinks!

Be careful doing that as a pump isn't as efficient as a baby so you could really impact supply that early on.

My eldest had a couple of nurse-ins where she fed 45 minutes on and 15 minutes off (usually crying whilst someone held her long enough for me to go to the toilet) for two or three days. My youngest was a total boob monster and would feed constantly, wouldn't go down as she'd start crying even if she'd been sleeping at the time. I ended up wearing her in my dressing gown or cardigan (she was prem and tiny so easy to do) so she would sleep without needing to be attached.

For the first six weeks you really just go with the flow, anything goes. At the end of the six weeks you'll probably find that you're settling into a routine (by following her not the clock) and things are a lot better.

So many women give up breastfeeding because they are not made aware of how hardcore feeding usually is in the first few weeks, even months. I gave up bf DS1 because I thought I didnt have enough milk as he wanted to feed so frequently. If only someone had sat me down and told me it was fine, really.

I would also recommend OP that you steer clear of expressing at this stage as much as possible and just keep your baby on the breast. By 6 - 8 weeks, the feeds generally become a lot shorter and much more spaced out except perhaps for the evening cluster feed but even that won't be so bad anymore.

Breastfeeding is short term pain for long term gain.

Thanks again to all the posters for taking the time to give the benefit of your experience. I hadn't realised how tough it could be sometimes but hoping to persevere for as long as possible.