Brief background: at 4 weeks old it was noticed that my baby hadn't been putting on enough weight. Turns outs it was a mixture of sleepy baby not feeding enough and a low breastmilk supply on my side. I saw a lactation consultant who helped me to produce more milk. 4 weeks later and my baby has gained just over 1kg. Lots of heavy wet nappies and very dirty ones too. All the signs point to good milk intake.
Since having the low supply at the start, my confidence in my ability to produce milk is pretty wobbly. I am second guessing myself a lot (this is the third child I have breastfed and I very much trusted in the process before finding out about the low supply).
My baby is now 8 weeks old and feeds all day. I dont mean every hour. I mean all day long. She will wake for the day at 10am and will want to feed. I keep swapping sides over and over and over again until she falls asleep. She will wake up minutes later and will be very unsettled until I latch her on again, and this continues all day long until 11pm when she goes to sleep for the night and wakes for milk every 2 hours until 10am the next day.
I'm in quarantine with covid and have been at home for the past week so we haven't had any distractions like walks in the pram etc, so this might be playing a part. I don't mind the draining nature of the constant feeding, but I am worried that it means I don't enough milk even though she gains just over 200g a week. I still weigh her regularly to make sure she is gaining.
I live abroad and paediatricians here often have very outdated views of breastfeeding, such as telling mums not to feed on demand in case the babies get spoilt etc.
Has anyone had this experience of constant non stop feeding with a well established supply? I do feel the let down and hear her gulping regularly, but also have the feeling that she is sucking an empty breast just as much. Its literally all day.