Hi Lalitascharm, we had a similar situation in hospital with our little one 3-4 weeks ago. He was born 3wks early so very drowsy. Was a vicious circle that he wouldn't eat, and the more he went without, the more tired he got. In the end the midwife suggested we give him a bit of formula just to give him the energy to wake up - I was devastated and thought it would mean I wouldn't be able to breastfeed him, but it really helped. We only had to supplement a couple of times in the hospital. Once my milk came in and he got more practice at latching on, things got much better.

I've found breastfeeding quite a struggle - I got mastitis quite badly and we've had a couple of weigh-ins where he's been static, which makes me feel so guilty. I'm determined to carry on though - it's helping us to bond so much and I know it's so good for him. I think he's had a growth spurt this week too so for a couple of days, it felt like he wanted to feed all the time but was never full up. My breasts have caught up a bit now, and feeling much fuller.

Just thought my experiences might help. Keep going, and don't feel like you need to keep supplementing. Like the other ladies say, your body will catch up. All the very best of luck xx

P.S - forgot to add, I was on the brink of switching to formula last week for one reason and another, and the health visitor told me to go to this 'Baby Cafe' we have locally - it's a bus that travels around the area and you can go and get them to watch you feed to give you reassurance and advice - I found it a godsend - it made me keep going, and at the last weigh in, after this, he had finally put on some weight. Would really recommend it if you have something similar in your area. They could help you with the latching on.

Thanks for the comments!

I've had a lot of trouble getting her to latch onto the left breast since she was born, in fact it was my left breast that they tried when she was born and she was having none of it but latched fine to the right. I find that if I put her to the left she will take a lot of the bottle afterwards, I know she is getting some as sometimes when I burp her she brings a little up but from the right she will either take no top up or only a tiny amount.

After reading some threads on here I am seriously considering expressing from my left breast and cup feeding it and then BF from my right, does this sound like a good solution to my latching problems? I know the MW said not to express but I really want to get away from topping up.

I have the community midwife coming out to me again tomorrow as Bethan is due the heel prick test so I'm going to ask her about getting her onto my left side again (when I was in hospital the MWs were able to help get her to latch on) and I'll also see if there are any breast feeding support groups around. I live on an army base and although there is a mother and baby group there I doubt there would be a specialist one like a breastfeeding group. I'd be prepared to travel a bit to get some help with this. Not sure my DH will like that as I can't drive atm but he will support what is best for the baby.

I would like to also encourage you not to suppliment. The nurses at the hospital talked me into supplimenting and it took me weeks and weeks of pumping and bf in order to get him off the formula.

OMG! You are me!!! I had the worst problems getting DD onto my left breast. She was jaundiced and lethargic and lost too much weight and we had to supplement. I wrote out a post to someone about this not so long ago. Let me go and find it...

Here we are:

You can supplement if you're really worried and want him to gain weight. I did with DD. Just make sure that you only give him formula AFTER he's been on the boob and then because he's having formula you have to pump and pump straight after he's fed to keep increasing your supply. Let DH give him the formula after you've BFed him so that you can pump. Then anything that you get out just save and give him after your next BF.

So, basically you BF him, then offer him the EBM from the last pumping you did, then while you pump DH gives him some formula.

Because you always put him on the breast first you will gradually see that he starts to take less and less EBM and formula because the boob is making him fuller and fuller. Take a note of how many mls of EBM and formula you give at each feed so you can see this.

Don;t be disheartened if he guzzles the formula. They do that. It doesn;t mean he was starving, just that it comes fast out of the bottle/cup.

If you don;t want to cause nipple confusion you can offer him it in a cup. We did that.

On saying all that, dont feel you have to supplement if you dont want to. I just thought id tell you our experience so that you can see that supplementing doesnt necessarily mean the end of BFing as long as you work hard with the pump to keep supply up and always put him on the boob first.

I hope that helps some.