feeling like BF all going wrong

[Whippetmamma]

My little boy will be 8 weeks on Saturday, he is BF and was always fairly predictable with spacing between looking for feeds and always fed well, up until about 2 weeks ago. Since then he seems to constantly want to be on the breast, he just never seems full and has started coming on and off lots during the feed and won't settle at all unless he is on the boob!
My husband does try him with expressed milk in the evening but he takes this and then cries until he gets put on the breast, nothing else will settle him.
We've tried to get him to take a dummy as sometime he does seem to be sucking for comfort but he refuses it.

Just worried he isn't getting enough goodness from my milk to fill him up and down because none of the other things that used to settle him seem to now :-(
HV suggested topping up with formula but would this work? And would it mess up BFing further?

It can be tricky in the early days. It's really common for babies to be fussy around 6-8 weeks so hang in there! And you're right that adding formula before breastfeeding is fully established can interfere with your supply. Sounds like you're doing a great job, hope things pick up soon!

More info on normal fussiness
kellymom.com/parenting/parenting-faq/fussybaby/

If baby is taking the bottle of expressed milk and going back and latching on to your breast then it should be OK to top up. I do combination feeding with my 9 week old baby girl, due to awful nipple pain with her tongue tie. However that's been snipped and the pain is gone, I've continued with combination feeding as it means it gives me a break and is easier when I am out and about (my boobs are HUGE!) plus each Friday my husband has her all night and I get a big sleep in yay!

On the supply topic, my supply has continued absolutely fine with combination feeding but this will vary from mum to mum. If I've left it too long then my boobs will tell me! Alternatively I will pump out the milk for ten mins which helps too.

Best of luck but it's worth a try maybe once a day when he's very upset. Also make sure you are burping him well, baby girl Ooo has awful delayed burps (breastfeeding wind!) which was the reason she was so upset, gripe water works a treat!

Make sure you try a few different dummies!! My ds was born at 35 weeks and the MAM 0-2 size were perfect!!

Without more info, this sounds like a behavioural thing and nothing to do with your milk not filling him up - and to be honest, unless your HV is concerned about his nutrition, her suggestion to top up with formula is very poor.

Lots of babies become extra fussy for a time around this age - it's a phase. Lots of babies behave like this in the heat. They want to feed but have to keep coming off cos it's too damn hot to be snuggled up!

I don't think you really need to do anything about this. If your baby is growing and developing well, then expressing, topping up with formula or whatever sounds unnecessary and liable to make life harder not easier. This will resolve on its own , I bet :)

That fussiness could easily be due to a growth spurt, there are loads of them around 8-12 weeks and feeding can be constant! Just stick with it, put the baby on the breast whenever they want, and just try roll with it. Often just coming up to a growth spurt, the baby will latch a lot to try increase your supply in advance of this!

You could try some gripe water after a feed to help with wind - that may be unsettling him also and that stuff is a godsend!

Please don't ever think your milk is not good enough. No matter what you eat, your milk is all your baby needs for the first 6 months.

Just hang in there!!