DS was born by EMCS at 40+6 beacuse I had Pre Eclampsia and failed to progess in labour leaving us both in distress. We were both a little poorly but avoided any kind of special care although according to the midwife I saw when I got home, I should have had a blood transfusion as I was quite badly aneamic.
It was a massive struggle to get BF established and DS was topped up with a few bottles in those first few days but we got over that and BF happily until DS got to about 4 months at which point he stopped putting on weight.
After 3 weeks of absolutely no weight gain, the HV's encouraged me to introduce yet more formula top ups which I did. After 3 more weeks of absolutely no weight gain, the HV's encouraged me to wean DS onto baby rice (he was just past 5 months at this point) I had been hoping to wait until 6 months as DH and I are both Atopic but followed the HV's advice and finally DS began to put on weight again. Top ups and food were a killer for BFing though and I gave up when DS reached 6 months.
(note - DS slept 12 hours a night plus naps from about 10 weeks. Feeding/teething etc never seemed to affect this)
That was 3 years ago. 17 weeks ago DD was born by ELCS at 38+4 and I was determined to breastfeed from the beginning this time. I put her to the breast while still in theatre (DS had been whisked away and I hadn't seen him for the first 2 hours) and by the time we'd got to the ward, she was latched and feeding. I swapped boobs and fed as often as I could while my milk came in and we avoided FF top ups altogether. We've been doing brilliantly ever since and while DD is small(she was 7lbs 1ozs at birth but dropped to 6lbs 4oz by day 6 - one MW blamed dodgy scales, the other blamed being early and a section - either were worried and she has gained as expected ever since), she's been sticking to a curve on the graph quite consistently - until about 3 months, when she dropped from just below 9th percentile to just below 2nd. She's never slept as well as DS but was only waking for a feed once a night.
But in the past few weeks, that has changed. She's now waking 3 or 4 times a night to feed and feeding every 2-3 hours during the day. She napped for 40 mins this morning and another 10 this afternoon. I need to take her back to get weighed again in 3 weeks and i'm worried that she'll have dropped off the bottom of the graph and the HV's will tell me that I have to start topping her up (which will be a nightmare as she will NOT take a bottle no matter how hard I try, I've been trying to give her EBM so I can have a night out one day) or weaning her early just like DS. I'm worried that once again, it'll mean BF doesn't work anymore and I'll have to give up. I don't want to give up, I'm loving it this time
Is it possible that my body can only sustain a baby for 4 months? That after that, I just can't satisfy them anymore?
I was blaming her waking on teething and a growth spurt (she's gone up 2 clothes sizes in less than a month - she's just into 3-6 month stuff now) but maybe I'm just not giving her what she needs anymore.
Has anyone been through this? Any advice that might help us carry on?
I'm not knocking FF by the way. I used it with DS and it was a lifesaver at the time, I just really wanted to BF DD all the way to the end this time.