10 day old and no milk in evening....help!

[Calico1]

I have a 10 day old baby and am trying to breast feed but have been topping up with formula on midwife's advice due to big drop in birthweight. I am trying to stop the top up feeds which is ok in the mornings but by evening she is feeding constantly (5 hours or more) and still appears to be starving hungry. I have had to give her a few oz of formula in the evening as I don't think she is getting anything from me at all. I have a two year old at home too so finding it hard to spend 5 hours with baby on the boob and look after toddler! I want to continue breast feeding but am thinking that it's not going to work....
Any advice please!

Calico can you organise to see a BFC face to face? If your baby is having problems with choking etc then you could try nursing her in a more upright position but it's better to have someone show you.

I can understand you worrying about not getting enough sleep - can your husband deal with your toddler at night for a couple of weeks while you get the feeding nailed?

When she is twisting as if nothing is coming, is she still swallowing? If you think she isn't then swap her to the other breast and see what happens. DS still gets frustrated at 7 months when it's not coming fast enough for him, and isn't always prepared to put in the effort. Especially while your baby is tiny, anything you can do to make the feed less tiring for her is good.

I really would ring La Leche 0845 120 2918 and get someone to come and observe a feed, it could make all the difference.

the swallowing is only apparent for the first couple of minutes and then she is fussing and squirming so not sure if anything is going in at that point....

DH has been sorting out toddler at night for the last week but is back at work tomorrow so I'll have to deal with it from now on but I am hoping that his sleep problems will get better and might allow me to concentrate on feeding DD!

i am going to a breastfeeding clinic tomorrow so hope that will help. thanks for your advice.

Hiya Calico1 I can also recommend La Leche League www.laleche.org.uk

Their helpline is available 24 hours I think 0845 120 2918, and they can even send a breast feeding counsellor round to you for free if you are really struggling.