EBM and breastfeeding - 1 step forward, 6 steps back....

[sunshinebutterfly]

I'm in need of some encouragement as I'm not seeing any light in this breastfeeding tunnel.

Had a prem at 36 weeks. Very sleepy, minimal suck etc so expressed every 3 hours for 3.5 weeks. LO managed to learn to latch just before 40weeks and we were having some success in BF during the day and EBM bottles overnight (needed to be woken to eat). Had 24 hours of violently throwing up at the weekend. Followed by spitting up some of his feed ever since (never did before vomit weekend).

He has now lost weight however we are still attempting breastfeeding but including 2 EBM bottles of 3oz twice a day. Next weigh in is on Friday.

I'm struggling to deal with the expressing, the lack of sustained progress and I'm just worried sick he is going to lose weight (he is 9th percentile as it is).

Any positive stories and hints and tips gratefully received as I just don't want to give up on being able to BF longer term.

Good luck and hugs!
My expressing tips (having done it for 8 months almost exclusively): Put the funnels in a ziplock bag in fridge between expressions and only wash/sterilise once a day. If you plan to express for several months then it may be worth buying a hands free bra and double pump that clips to your jeans, as it's possible to multitask while expressing- mostly I did the washing up and kitchen stuff.
Worth knowing that if still expressing by 2.5 months then supply is probably established and can express less often and get almost same amount of milk.
This made expressing manageable for me, although there were many low points (e.g. expressing in car in corner of a pub car park while waving toys at DC to try and stop him grumbling!).
Definitely need a balance though- I dropped to four expressions a day to make getting out and about easier, but luckily found my supply was established by then.
As for positive stories, we established breastfeeding and stopped EBM at 8 months and I got my reward for all the expressing faff 😀

Hope the weigh in goes well for you and you can enjoy breastfeeding rather than worrying about weight gain. You are doing fab for your little one, be proud!

Keep expressing as much as you can.

Don't worry if your lo has some formula, it's not the end of the world and it doesn't mean you have failed at all. My baby starved for 2 days while midwives thought his latch was fine and he had a TT. He was mix fed for a week and still bf at 7 months

Pump pump and pump some more!