I’m at my wits end with my four week old DS. Feeding has been going fairly well in that he’s gained a lot of weight and has been having lots of wet and dirty nappies (gone from 25th to 75th percentile!)
But the latch has been quite painful for me. It’s eased a lot now and I had more advice last week which has helped further. But it can still be quite painful for the first few seconds, especially when he is cluster feeding which seems to be all the time.
He cluster feeds from 6pm - 11pm. Then we might get a 2.5 hour stretch of sleep if lucky. After that he will go no more than two hours between feeds, so by the time he’s actually fed and been changed and winded he’s only actually asleep for an hour max before waking again.
Then he tends to cluster feed all morning.
This morning I am at my wits end, I physically don’t feel like I can feed him any more. But he won’t stop crying or settle unless I do. I’ve tried to give him a dummy to buy me a break.
I really want to go and buy some formula to see if that will help. He just seems like a really hungry baby and nothing I do is enough. I understand he’s just building my supply and it’s still early days etc but I just physically and mentally don’t feel like I have anything else left to give.
He’s also been looked at for possible reflux and CMPA as he makes the most awful noises at night, is constantly sick, stuffy nose etc. It might sound selfish but I really don’t want to give up dairy.
Would I be caving too early if I just completely switched to formula? Should I try and persevere in the hope it gets better? Or protect my mental health and stop now.
I EBF DS1 for a year and loved the ease of it but I just can’t see us getting to that point.