Please help, for the past 3-4 days, my LO has been at my breast just about every 30-45 mins throughout a 24 hr period. After he eats, he will nap for about 20-30 mins, then be up and rooting again, hands in mouth, bobbing head, all hunger signs - acting as if he hasn't had enough to eat. Some of these sessions I will keep him on my breast for an hour (30 mins each side). He did sleep for a 3 hr window the past two nights, and last night, my husband bottle fed him BM - he took 4.5 oz, and then was up three hours later for more. 4.5 seems like a lot to me....is this growth spurt or indicative of my supply dropping? He is still going through more than 10 wet diapers a day, and has enough dirties also.
Last Friday at our doc aptmt the pedi encouraged us to introduce a bottle once in a 24 hour period (given by my husband), which we did, and we do it during one of the nighttime feedings (the pedi assured my I would NOT have to pump during this one session with NO impact to my supply, so I haven't been pumping during this time - could this be affecting my supply?) I do pump about 2 other times daily.
Any suggestions would be welcome, I am exhausted, my nipples are sore, and I am ready to throw in the towel with BF, I feel like I am not able to produce enough for my LO TIA.
Re: Supply prob or growth spurt?
I believe it is just your LO working to increase your supply. My DD ate all the time at least every 2 hours until 6 wks old. Then I would pump for the last night feeding before bed and we started to put some cereal in it (I know not all pedi believe in this but we put very little with 4oz and it help her sleep 4 hourss and then I always woke up and feed her at night. We did the bottle and I pump while DH feed it too her. I went back to work at 8 weeks so we needed her to be able to take a bottle.
It takes a sometime to regulate your supply. I would pump after she was down feeding to help my supply build.
Sounds like you are doing a great job!! Breastfeeding is alot of work but it is worth it. Hang in there!!
I don't remember exactly when DD had her growth spurt, but I remember feeling like that at one point, sore nipples and all. It turned out being a growth spurt because she calmed down with the frequency after a couple of days. Don't forget your baby is having enough wet and soiled diapers = receiving enough food.
Stick with it if you can. It is well worth it.
Definitely sounds like every growth spurt we had with DS. Keep in mind that babies will gulp down a bottle even if they aren't hungry, so don't use that as an indicator of her hunger. I feel like a bit of a broken record with my suggestion to check out Kellymom.com, but it was so helpful and covered every BFing topic possible and made me realize what I was going through was normal.
https://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/growth-spurt.html