Phew, well, its been a rollercoaster of a few weeks and I'm just about drawing breath now, and typing with both hands while my daughter sleeps snugly in her Ellaroo sling. She is a little cuddle-monster and will only sleep in people's arms - if you put her down in her pram or cot during the day, she is awake and crying within half an hour. At this age and with her weight problems, we are certainly not letting her cry it out, but at least with the sling we can eat/type/do a few jobs while getting her to sleep.
After a week of feeding every 2 hours on the breast, which was pretty intensive and exhausting, she had put on no weight whatsoever. I felt she was getting very scrawny (because she is growing a lot in length) and was really worried about her weight, as was the paediatrician who saw her at her six month check up. So we have been supplementing with formula for the day feeds since then, and after a week of that, she was up to 8lb 14oz from 7lb 12oz! Once we heated the formula, she really takes to it. I am still breast feeding (I feed first and then she gets the bottle) and I am also expressing, so my nickname is now Daisy the Cow!
I am very relieved at her weight gain, and if she carries on at this rate then by the end of this week, she should be at the weight the doctors would expect, which is fantastic.
I am not a good responder to the pump, which is a hospital grade electric double pump, and usually get between 10 and 20mls per pumping session. The most I've ever got in a session is 40mls. I am drinking loads, eating loads and trying to get as much rest as possible, but my output doesn't seem to be increasing, although I think she is getting more from me. My aim, if possible, is to first get to all her supplements being of expressed breast milk and then back to full breast feeding. Some days it doesn't seem as if it will be possible and that its all too much work, but other days, like today, well, just call me Daisy and we'll go forward with breast and bottle together!