Strap yourselves in everyone, this is a long one 😔
I am at my wits end with DD2's feeding pattern. She is 13 weeks old and around 2nd centile. We have been combi feeding since birth - mostly because initially her blood sugars were affected by the labetalol i took for preeclampsia and then very slow weight gain / drop every time we stopped formula top ups. She took 3 weeks to regain birth weight. I combi fed my eldest due to a NICU stay and so im happy with combi feeding. Our pattern is 10mins on each breast and then formula top up.
However the issue is it is taking her over an hour to drink around 100ml formula (barely enough to maintain her centile line). She often falls asleep half way through a bottle and needs around 10mins-15mins sleep in the middle of a feed. She will take 30-60ml ok but then needs winding or a break every 5-10ml for the rest of a feed. I'm constantly having to stimulate her to keep her awake.
No reflux that we know of, poos are a little mucusy and a little bit of back arching but no other signs of CMPA - no rash, sleeps really well, doesnt really cry during feeds, alert and content inbetween feeds. She recently had a tummy bug but the issues predated this.
We saw a number of specialist breastfeeding support in our area, midwives and specialist HVs. All have checked her latch and positioning on the breast and have said it is fine but the suction is very poor. I suspect the milk she is getting is whatever is effectively expressed by milk as a result of the compressions i do. We then saw a IBCLC and tongue tie specialist at 7 weeks who identified a 90% tongue tie. This was cut at 8 weeks. It has healed in a cruciform rather than a diamond, but her movement is hugely improved. However the bottle feeding doesn't seem to have improved. HV observed a terrible feed and referred us to SALT for a feeding assessment. They have identifed a high palate, weak suction, and dropping her chin whilst feeding so she's working extra hard and getting really tired. They have asked our GP to refer her to Paeds but I've no idea how long that is going to take. In the meantime, its incredibly stressful to get anything more than 60ml into her.
Other things we've tried are different bottle types (nuk, dr brown, mam), different teat sizes, lots of skin to skin, stripping off during feeds, tickling feet during feeds.
Feeds in total are taking up to 90mins. I have a 3yr old toddler who is difficult to manage whilst all this feeding is going on. I cant drop the bottles as the breastfeeding wont maintain her weight but if i drop the breast, it still doesnt fix the bottle issue. In any case, on the occasional time that i havent breastfed and she's just had a bottle from either me or DH, then it hasnt sped up the time it takes for her to take the feed.
We are obviously being supported by professionals but whilst waiting for the services has anyone else been through this? Any ideas on tips or causes or other services i could try and access would be amazing. She is my last baby (Im pretty sure!) and i was really hoping to enjoy this mat leave after suffering from PND during my first mat leave, but this is just trapping us from doing anything because every feed is just such a palaver.