Feeding every 45 mins- help!

[cr1479]

My DD is 6 weeks old now, I'm combi feeding her. My partner will give her a couple of bottles in the evening but other than that she is breastfed.
When she is bottle fed she will have her bottle and then not need another for 2hours or so.
But with me, she is constantly feeding. Genuinely about every 45 mins, especially at night time.
At first I thought she was cluster feeding but this has been the same since she was born.
My health visitor said that she has colic and is feeding for comfort and I should try to make her go longer between feeds.
I'm not sure how to do this because she gets so upset and will scream the house down.
I have my DS who is 7 and I don't want to wake him up & I also don't want to let her cry for ages.
It makes me think that maybe bottle feeding would be easier? But I don't enjoy BF her.
Has anyone had anything similar?
I'm in desperate need of some sleep!!
Thanks x

Do enjoy breastfeeding her*

Have you popped to a breastfeeding session (or lactation consultant if there is one about) to check her latch?
Is she getting a long feed on both sides with you? Some babies do take ages to get a full feed at this age. If she is filling up, then does she take a dummy?

Stuckforthefourthtime
Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I've had her latch checked a few times and everyone has said that it's fine.
Like you've mentioned I think the trouble might be that she's not feeding for long enough?
I offer both breasts each time and her average feed will be about 10 mins. She will fall asleep 99% of the time during feeds. I've tried to wake her up to carry on feeding but it's pretty much impossible and she won't latch back on once she's decided she's done.

I think the problem is that you are combi feeding. Therefore your breast milk isn’t keeping up with babies needs (because you have introduced bottle to meet part of them). Baby knows this and is doing what she is designed to do by trying to increase your supply and flow and the way they do this is by cluster feeding.
So basically you’ve messed the breastfeeding up by bottle feeding.

If she’s falling asleep while feeding that makes me think her latch needs to be checked again. Does she come off a lot during feeds? When you say you had her latch checked who checked it, midwife or a lactation specialist? All the midwives said my DD’s latch was perfect but a lactation specialist spotted her posterior tongue tie at 8 weeks old. I’m pretty sure there’s a growth spurt around 6 weeks too so she could be trying to up your supply. When you bottle feed her are you paced feeding her? If not she could be developing a preference for the bottle as it’s less work for her to get the milk. Make sure she’s on the newborn teats too. Also with regards to feeding for comfort - that’s completely normal and your HV has given you awful advice. You can’t overfeed a breastfed baby and if she wants to feed then let her. This is a good article to read www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/breastfeeding-the-dangerous-obsession-with-the-infant-feeding-interval/amp/

I don't think that's it's the bottles that have "messed up breastfeeding" as I don't think I have messed up breastfeeding. I have a really good supply of milk and she has never shown any nipple confusion.
She will go from bottle to breast whilst feeding with no issues.

It was midwives that first checked, then a breastfeeding support worker then my health visitor. All said fine but I suppose they could have missed something.

She comes off sometimes at first as I think my let down is very fast and she splutters and coughs. But after that she will stay latched until she is done & asleep.
So is a baby falling asleep whilst feeding a sign that something isn't quite right with the latch?
I just presumed that it was because she found it comforting?
Yeah... I did think that my HV had given bad advice! It's impossible for me to stretch her feeds & a bit cruel I think.

Also to add... this was her feeding pattern before introducing bottles

Both of my babies used to fall asleep feeding all of the time at that age. There was no reason other than they're little and breastfeeding is tiring for them. Plus they're warm and cosy with you.
I'd try to stretch the lengths with distraction etc... but in all honesty as they get bigger and more alert it will likely stop being so ll consuming. I think around the 3-4 month mark for both of mine.

DS2 was on boob the whole time. It’s only just eased and he’s 7m old now. At 8wks we discovered a tongue tie and having that resolved helped. But we never really went a couple of (daytime) hours without a feed until he started solids.

I was on my knees at 6 weeks for frequent feeding reasons. Couldn't keep "brimful of Asha" out of my head because of the line a out needing a bosom for a pillow...
It can be brutal. It does get better though. Do you at least manage to get some sleep when your DP is doing the bottle? Assuming all is well with the mechanics of feeding she's building your supply. And like pps have said, being warm and cosy and comforted by her mummy. It is tiring for them. You could try breast compressions which help get extra milk in if she is falling asleep. And/Or switching when she stops actively sucking (not swallowing anymore).