Caught my husband not doing paced feeding
My baby is 2.5 weeks old. After 1 day in the NICU baby immediately started latching great and my milk came in quickly. When we left the hospital his weight was great. I thought breastfeeding was going perfectly for the next few days until his first pediatrician appointment. He had lost a bunch of weight. They asked us to come back the next day and he’d lost even more.
I got an LC and we still can’t really figure out what’s going on, but basically he isn’t transferring enough milk even though he latches fine and my supply is good. I started triple feeding to get his weight up. I would nurse for 15 minutes and then pump for 10-15 minutes while my husband gave him a bottle. My LC taught husband to pace feed so baby was less likely to develop a bottle preference. I was really scared of a bottle preference happening because that’s what happened with my last baby.
Baby’s weight is climbing but I’m still doing a mix of pumped bottles and nursing, hoping I can get him back on the breast full time as he gains strength.
This morning my husband was giving him a bottle and I saw he was doing a regular feed instead of paced feeding. He said that it was an accident and he wouldn’t do it again. Later that day he was giving him a bottle again and he did the same thing. Thinking back, I realized that when he bottle feeds him overnight, the feeds have suddenly started taking much less time. The baby had also gotten a little fussier at the breast the last couple days.
I am SO mad. I’ve been working my ass to make breastfeeding work, and I feel like he’s sabotaged me. He said he HAS been doing paced feeds and just forgot these few times but I know he’s lying. I know he will go back to paced feeding after seeing how upset I am, but I am just seething with rage about it. I am nursing, pumping, or both every 2-3 hours around the clock and he can’t do this ONE thing? Ahhhh.