breastfeeding constantly but baby still hungry - supplementing with formula

[Kay23456]

baby girl is 2 weeks old & has been feeding well since well since birth. she breastfeeds on demand & latches easily - feeds for around 1 hour at a time, yet she is still hungry, especially at night time feed around 11pm.

we have been giving her a bottle of formula then after she feeds at the breast & then she is happy to go to sleep - night feed sometimes my husband gives him a bottle of formula also (2 oz or so) - she is still happy to take breast & seems both

health nurse says this is fine & normal but i worry if i'm not making enough milk for her & why she seems to want to ear so much - does anyone have experience with this?

Totally normal! And I'm not saying don't formula feed (as this is your choice) but make sure you look how formula feeding this early affects your milk supply. How much baby drinks in the day effectively puts their order in for tomorrow, so during your formula feed you are "missing" giving your body the info it needs about how much milk baby needs.

The early times are hard! It's normal, but hard work and anxiety provoking.

I found Kelly Mom a great website for feeding and try Googling the fourth trimester to make you realise what's normal in the first three months after birth.

You're doing a great job!!!

Cluster feeding is a bitch, but yes, normal. I have a 3 week old exactly the same!

The reason she is feeding so constantly is because she is trying to increase your milk supply. By supplementing your body will make ever less milk, especially if you are feeding formula at night as that is when the body signals for the next days supply. Your body will get used to giving a smaller feed at 11pm and moderate accordingly and you will have to keep topping up that feed.

The cluster feeding is not always because theyre hungry, it’s their way of increasing your supply until around 6 weeks when it’s established and your body is well in tune with babies needs.

Some women can supplement and it doesn’t affect their supply but I would be wary.

Also they do feed a lot more in the evening not just to increase supply but so they can go longer at night without a feed.

Ditch the formula and get used to baby cluster feeding and feeding for long periods for the first 6 weeks would be my advice. It gets much easier after that. Good luck!

It's all fine providing you want to formula feed for those times as your body will make as much as your baby needs and over the coming weeks gets used to the supply and demand.

Are you saying you don't have enough milk at 11pm or just she feeds a lot this time of night? Cluster feeding is normal while your body establishes supply, but it is hard work and tiring too! You're doing a great job I'm sure.

It’s normal. Exhausting but normal. If her weight is fine then she is getting enough milk for now and then continuing to feed to up your supply so you have enough for her increase needs. If you start supplement now you risk not being able to keep up your milk supply to be enough for her needs.

Congratulations.

It's cluster feeding and totally normal.

No harm in giving some formula if you feel it's needed. You might find your supply picks up and you can drop the formula if you want to (although personally I think having a baby that will take a bottle is handy if you ever need a break / to be away from her)

If you want to increase your supply then ditch the top-up formula. Especially at this early stage. There’s nothing wrong with mixed feeding of course if it’s working for you but it’s not going to help with increasing supple if you’d like to EBF.

Baby’s are born with a sucking reflex that when something goes in their mouth they’ll automatically suck. It’s a common misconception from parents that baby is still hungry because they had drank formula or expressed milk following a breast feed, they’re not hungry they’re drinking as a reflex. Cluster feeding is normal and is part and parcel of BF.

You produce more milk the more you breastfeed you'll always produce the right amount. By introducing a bottle you'll produce less as she's not having that feed from you anymore. That's fine if you want to combination feed but if you're only giving a bottle as your worried your not producing enough that's not going to help, you'll be producing less. It's around 2 weeks when the cluster feeding settles a little bit and they become more efficient at feeding. So it might seem like they'll not feeding as long but they are just much better at it and so get more milk quicker. So a 2 Oz bottle might take 10 mins to drink but breastfeeding for 5 mins might mean she's had 4 Oz.

Its cluster feeding and totally normal, not a sign of a supply issue at all as long as baby is gaining weight and producing wet and dirty nappies.
Supplementing with formula can affect supply - it is sometimes called the "top up trap"

Kelly Mon here is really useful on working out if you do genuinely have low supply - the a newborn baby wanting to feed constantly, especially in the evening, is almost certainly not an indication of low supply, but is totally normal.

As others have said, by replacing feeds with formula, ironically you are probably actually decreasing your supply, so if that’s your intention (rather than actively wanting to do mixed feeding), then it’s probably not the best course.

With such a tiny baby you basically have to just feed feed feed. It does get better!

My friend was given some advice by her HV that you shouldn't swap boobs everytime you feed because then they can only be having the fore milk and not getting the hind milk which might fill them up for longer. I religiously swapped boobs for my first and she constantly fed so feel this is what happened to me but I'm not sure on the science of it all. I found Breast Start groups were a bit help at local childrens centre if you have one available to you, someone there will be able to help :-) xx