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baby feeding hourly at 15 weeks! i'm running out of milk!
hi
my baby is 15 weeks tomorrow and since last wednesday he's been looking to feed every 1-2 hours, all day and all night. He empties both boobs then is looking for more an hour later, and even though i haven't supplemented with formula, i haven't got any more milk coming in and he never gets enough!
has anyone else's baby done that, and come through the other side?
i'm seriously considering switching to formula if this carries on because i'm totally exhausted and my nipples are in agony!!! plus poor little baby is not happy!
any advice would be great!
thanks
Clare
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Replies
i think its at this age that they go through a massive growth spurt so that would be why he is feeding more often.
while it may feel like you have no milk for him if you persevere your supply will catch up with the demand and then it will settle bck down to about 3 hourly feeds...
if you switch to formula, you are stretching your babys stomach which will result in you being able to satify him less and also will stop your supply increasing to match what he needs.
it usually only lasts about a week, so hopefully you'll find it easier over the next couple of days.
xxxx
he's not gaining as much weight as he should be - average of 2-3 ounces a week, rather than the usual 4-5 the hv told me was normal.
i don't have that full feeling any more either - i gave in last night and gave him formula at 3am (after giving breast feed from both sides at 2am which still didn't satisfy him), and he slept until 6.45am, so i was expecting to be leaking by that point, but i didn't feel full at all even after all that time. I used to not be able to go more than 3 hours without leaking all over the place!
can't get through to my hv, it's driving me crazy!
if you want to top up with formula bear in mind you are stopping your boobs having chance to catch up with your los demand.
babies do gain more weight on formula because a lot of it cant be used by the body unlike breast milk where it is all used.
bf babies do gain weight much more slowly than ff babies and until mws/hvs realise this they will always go off the ff charts. Its natural for a bf baby to gain no more than 1-2oz some weeks and more other weeks, not 4-5oz.
ollie hasnt gained more than 1lb in just over 2 months, but noone is worried about his weight because he is happy and healthy and bf.
formula is a 'easier' way to feed, esp when youre feeling low, exhausted, and like you just want to sleep for a week, but if you can persevere with bf it WILL get easier.
another thought - he will be almost 16 weeks now? Maybe he is showing sighs of being ready for weaning? You could maybe try some baby rice in the afternoon, and see if that hels him?
We started weaning Ollie at about 18 weeks because he was a hungry baby, with a couple of tea spoons of baby rice which helped him sleep better through the night.
good luck whatever you decide to do.
xxx