Hi all,
(First post,please be kind!)
My wife and I have a 20 day old little girl, who was born by planned cesarean for extended breech, at full term. She weighed 6lbs 6oz. She has been putting on weight nicely, had a day of conjunctivitis, a day of diarrhoea, has prolonged mild jaundice, and may or may not have oral thrush at present, but she is well. She feeds well from the breast, however we're starting to worry she's not being satisfied by the breast alone. She passes the day well, but after bathtime her feeds seem to become really drawn out, and as soon as she's put down looking all full and sleepy she roots about and starts chewing on her fists again. By the evening my wife feels her breasts are 'empty', and that the baby isn't getting enough milk. Last night we tried giving her a bottle of expressed milk after she fed from both breasts, and she took the for ounces we had and still kept showing signs of hunger after. My wife feels exhausted from the amount she keeps feeding, and Elodie isn't sleeping well either - but that's another thread!
So, we're contemplating using formula at night to top up, because Lucinda feels she couldn't express enough to keep up with that demand. Obviously this raises issues of interrupting the supply/demand feedback loop and reducing milk supply, and also the feeling of failure at not being able to meet Elodie's needs.
Any advice would be gratefully received, thanks for reading,
Max