Is my supply too low?

[laughingeyes2013]

I have a baby who was born premature, had awful reflux, and had a tongue tied cut at 12 weeks.

Over the last month he has begun to clamp hard after about 10 minutes of the feed. He is always writhing and wriggling at the same time.
If I stop to wind him, sometimes he will bring up a small amount of wind but not always, and the interruption seems to really upset him.

He is now four months and still having 2 hourly feeds on the clock. Sometimes even 1 1/2 hours. I feed him on both sides, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Today I gave him a feed on both sides and then an expressed bottle of 5 ounces, and even then he only lasted for 2 1/2 hours.

He dropped a percentile down to the lowest at 12 weeks, And I think this was related to poor latch/tongue tie. I haven't had him weighed over the last month but that is due this week. His legs are starting to get chubby though so I'm not concerned.

I am concerned though that I'm not making enough milk. And wondering why he is wriggling, why he's biting and why he can't last more than two hours max?

I'd hate to give up breastfeeding, but I also am really struggling as I'm exhausted with such regular feeding and i get the feeling he's not a very satisfied baby.

I've tried expressing to increase my milk supply, but this just adds to my exhaustion and doesn't make a difference with his feeding.

Any insight?

Laughingeyes - neither of my babies have EVER lasted more than two hours without feeds. DS2 is six months and would ideally pop on the boob every 35 mins, but definitely needs a top up of some milk/solids every 1.5 hours. I think some children just like to eat little and often (like some adults). In the evening, DS2 still feeds almost permanently from 5-8 to make it asleep for the next two hours!

Mind you, I am a massive grazer myself so I can't blame the children for turning out the same!

Thanks everyone for your stories. It makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing as I was starting to have serious doubts about whether I can do this second time round.

I've got more sleep and feel less run down today, and not sure whether its my imagination or not but it feels as though I have more milk today. Certainly I've had a more settled baby and am managing him differently which I'm sure helps. Instead of trying desperately to stay the full 20 mins, I am taking him off at the first signs of wriggling and biting, then offering the second side.

It feels really strange to take him off at 5 mins but he doesn't seem extra hungry for it so he must be guzzling more than I imagined at the start.
The good news is I've only been bitten once today, unfortunately it was the grazed nipple, but nevertheless once is a massive improvement compared to about 20 bites each day!

Reflux wise he's on ranitidine as Gaviscon was useless. I'd say he is in much less pain but still a bit vomity.

I guess it doesn't really matter why he's a hungry little critter (I suspect it may be catch up as he used to go 3 hourly and had dropped a percentile but was probably due to the tongue tie which is now resolved.) the most important thing to know is that it's not my milk supply. I honesty believed my extreme tiredness was preventing my body making enough milk.

Switch feeding is absolutely a good idea, as you're doing it. If he fusses after the second breast, you can offer the first again.