Hi ladies,
I'm new to this thread.. my little princess is just 5 weeks old, and after a rough start in neonatal intensive care, we are now settling in at home. However, the feeding issues are STRESSING me out. My bubs got dehydrated after birth because of difficulty establishing breastfeeding, poor attachment etc. Whilst in the NICU i was expressing and decided to continue with this method once she was discharged. Lucy's weight gain has not exactly been fantastic.. it isn't going backwards, but her gain is not fabulous either. Birth weight 3570g, discharged at 10 days at 3600g, weighing 3850g at 4 1/2 wks. I am producing tonnes of milk and the paediatrician isnt worried about the quality of it, as he says it is about the volumes the baby takes. But Lucy is only having on average 5 feeds per day. She sleeps well overnight (6-7hours) and barely ever complains. She has several wet nappies per day and a few dirty ones also. I have been writing down the volumes and she is only getting about 530-550ml per day, rather than the 600ml the paediatrician has told me she needs. I try to push her to take more, but she ends up just fiddling with the teat in her mouth or getting grizzly. It now seems that i am spending more time worrying about how much she is getting and counting mls of milk than anything else. The paediatrician doesnt seem to think there is any value in substituting any of her feeds with formula.

Any advice? My major concerns are that a) is 550ml per day much too little for her to be taking given that she is well, good colour, not lethargic, not crying & wetting several nappies per day.. and b) should i be concerned about her having only 5 feeds per day and sleeping 6-8hours at night?

i think i am tearing my hair out with this whole new baby at home experience.