Gem - I can't give advice about your feeding dilemma but I can empathise with having a hungry baby. Mine is the same, but as I'm 99% breastfeeding (with a bottle of formula or expressed breastmilk given by DH at 8pm-ish), I've been reassured by the HV that she can't be over-fed. Also she's gaining weight at the right speed too. 5oz a week for your baby sounds about right to me - but as I say, I'm no expert! I hope you get it sorted out ok.
Alux - I have "what to expect the first year" and really like it. Some of the writing style is a bit cheesy, but I find it quite reassuring to read and it covers a lot of ground.
I was resistant to the idea of a dummy, but have found it really useful from time to time. If Anneke doesn't want it, she spits it out, but it really helps her settle at times. Like some of the other posters say about their babies, I find she sometimes just wants to spend her life attached to my boob, which can get rather sore (!), so having an alternative is handy. If I were to believe the HVs, she has been having a 'growth spurt' for the last three weeks! [sceptical emoticon]
Glad to see my mother's comments afforded some gentle amusement . Oh, I'm trying to stay calm but at times it is sooooo hard!!
Does anyone have an opinion about baby swings or those vibrating bouncy chair things? Are they useful? Do they help soothe and settle a fussy baby? Anneke sometimes gets in a bit of an over-tired state and when I pick her up she smells milk and gets confused and stresses out even more. (If DH picks her up at this point she calms down - aargh! But he's usually asleep). I just wondered if the movement of a chair or swing would help settle her a bit...