New mum seeks advice

[smsuckley1975]

Hi, this is my first post so please near with me. I am a first time mum to a 4 week old little girl. I have breastfed and it has been going well but I am just running myself into the ground now. She feeds every 1.5/2 hours and can constantly feed on and off every half hour during 7pm til early hours. I am just exhausted. She has barely slept tonight and has been awake and crying on and off , it's now 3am and this is not unusual. Added to this, I have a husband who works shifts so I am on my own alot of the time, with no family nearby and I am on medication for an infection gained during birth. All in all I feel like I am running on empty. I've decided I'd like to switch to formula so my husband when he can help, is able to. Can anyone give me some advice ? I am really struggling.

Congratulations on your DD and for getting this far with bf!

Tbh I could have written this post when DS was a few weeks old!! It's really hard work! We started giving him a few oz of formula as a top up to give me a break and it really helped. He is 6 months on thurs and still bf.

Have you tried calling the Abm helpline?

Do you really want to stop feeding? You could express so daddy can give a bottle

Abm helpline

Thanks for replying so quickly. I'm just at my wits end - she is constantly crying and no matter what I do, pick her up, rock her, try feeding again she won't stop and sleep ! We have been in this spiral since about 7pm. i bought an expresser a few days ago but when I tried expressing I produced next to nothing. What's the Abm helpline ? Thanks again

It's normal for a 4-week-old baby to feed so frequently as she is increasing your milk apply to meet her demands. If you want to supplement with formula then I think early evening is the best time I give a bottle as that's when your supply is at it's lowest. The frequent feeding will settle down over time. Please fry and get some support; your HV, breastfeeding support group, La Leche League. The kellymom website is very helpful too.

I found the same with ds. We substituted a full feed with ff at about 11pm. I went to sleep about 9-10pm (if ds allowed it) dh gave ds his bottle and it would give me till 1ish before he woke up again. 3-4 hrs of sleep helped so much!

We ended up ff ds as he was one big hungry boy and ff satisfied him so much more. It wasn't an easy decision and did come with its own set of issues. Forever bottle washing, night feeds to prepare and ds kept getting constipated.

Have you spoken to your health visitor about the constant crying? If it's wind then Infacol or baby massage might help. Or it could be a symptom of something like reflux for which you can get medication.

Having a baby that cries a lot is awful so please do ask your health visitor for support.

Thank you all very much. She feeds well on the breast but at night gets a bit agitated - fighting the breast and kicking her legs and arms then when she latches on she is fine and settled. I have been giving her Infacol for a week now and wind her after every feed - and I can hear her burb. She is so restless at night and feeds constantly. I have just fed her now and she is lay upright against my chest as I wind her. occasionally I can hear her stomach gurgle and she moves quickly.

She's not bringing any milk up or being sick at all. During the day she can often just sleep for an hour at a time not often