u/Djeter998

LO is 7 weeks old today and the past week has been a rollercoaster. It started off with his first social smiles, first facial and voice recognition (he is always looking for mom or dad), and first interest in toys and books. Great! But it also came with:

-Refusal to nap for most of the day. His eyelids get heavy and then suddenly he is wide eyed and staring at us like he has baby FOMO

-Sudden confusing hunger and sleepy cues. He is basically squirmy and fussy or squirmy and smiley all the time. He loves to go down for a nap like 20 min right before meal times even though he has been awake and ganging out for like 2 hours. He sometimes hunger cues and then cries when you try to feed him like he has no idea what he wants. Other times he will be sleepy or chill and it’s been like over 3 hours since he ate so I offer bottle or boob and he downs it like I should have guessed that he was hungry all along!

- Distraction during eating: He will attack the breast hungrily, then latch and unlatch in quick succession. Then he will get distracted and stare at me and smile or stare at the ceiling with the same smile.

It’s like the world came into focus for the first time, he is overstimulated and forgot how to baby 😫

PS: Idk if this is related but he suddenly has the world’s stinkiest farts.

I am 5.5 weeks postpartum and LO has bad reflux and is not gaining weight so he has had a lot of weight checks and is now seeing a GI doctor.

As a result, I have tried a LOT of different ways of feeding over the past month and change, from exclusively breastfeeding to triple feeding (LOL never again!)

We just switched from mostly breastfeeding (with some pumping sessions so my husband could do nighttime feedings) to exclusively pumping this week with a teaspoon of Nutramegen (powdered hypoallergenic formula) and I cut out dairy and soy to see if this helps LO spit up less and gain more weight.

I went from pumping 80 ml (2.7 ounces) in 10 minutes on average at the start of the week to pumping 70 ml (2.4 ounces) in 15 minutes on average today. I also noticed it takes me 4-5 min on massage mode on my Spectra to get a good flow going whereas it used to only take 1-2 min. I am also not getting clogged ducts or leaking overnight at all anymore. I am not going more than 6 hours without pumping so I pump 6 times a day with a 6-hour break overnight for sleep.

I am struggling honestly. LO has been waking up more at night so I went from 6 hours of broken sleep to about 4 hours. I have been trying to keep up with the extra calories and drinking water but have definitely slacked (though that has not changed over the course of my postpartum journey. I basically eat when hungry and drink when thirsty). I am really tired and it feels like a struggle to squeeze out what he needs— especially since he seems to be graduating from 60 ml to 70 ml per feed.

I might be ready to switch to formula, especially given his reflux and gas issues, but I am wondering if anyone had similar experiences and what I can do to prevent supply from dropping further.