Help! Messing with my supply!

[Bonnie152]

Hi everyone,
My lb is 4 weeks old and feeding was going well til about a week ago. My baby was extremely fussy and wanted feeding all the time. After about 3 days and nights of constant feeding dh and I decided to top him up with formula. Straight away he was like a different baby, very calm and content. Since then I've continued to bf each feed and top up if needed. I've also been pumping as much as I can to up my supply as I desperately want to get back to bf as much as I can (also having skin to skin, brewers yeast and fennel tea to try to help). My problem is I feel that feeding is all over the place - this morning he had a 30 min breastfeed then 2oz ebm then another 4oz formula on top of all that until he was satisfied (which seems a massive amount!).

Is there any hope of me being able to return to all or mostly bf? I feel I've started on a slippery slope and could kick myself. What would you advise me to do to improve this situation, I'm willing to spend lots of time and effort on this (as much as I can with a 22m old anyway). Tia

Hi,

I'd say with him being so young that feeding will be a little all over the place at the mo. But it does get better I promise. I've just had a dip in my supply and I have no idea why so bought some fenugreek powder and had a tea spoon fill with a little water 3 times a day. By the 3rf day I had loads of milk. You could try that to boost it back up again and let
Him feed when he wants and I doubt he's need topping up then x

Stop the top ups and just breast feed. Might feel like you're feeding all the time but it's the only way xx

Yep, newborn feeding is all over the place. The early weeks are full of growth spurts and some days it seems they are never satisfied. Unfortunately if you top up, your body doesnt get the message that more milk is needed. Its better just to scrap whatever you wanted to do and feed all day long. It settles down after a few weeks and becomes less crazy, but the idea of newborns feeding 3 hourly or whatever is not true for most bf babies. It tends to be a lot more than that in the first two months.

However, 4oz is a full feed not a top up. Perhaps he has an issue such as tongue tie which is preventing him from feeding effectively at the breast? 4oz is a lot after a 30min bf plus a 2oz top up. I would suggest real life support as if he can't transfer milk effectively, cutting off the top ups won't be possible.