Hi all, just looking for a bit of advice really.
I have a little boy who was born prematurely 6 weeks early. He's now 11 weeks old/5 weeks adjusted age and whilst he's always been a good feeder, is now constantly hungry.
I breastfeed but use a nipple shield as my nipples are small and because as he was born early he hadn't developed the sucking reflex and the shields helped him to latch initially but now he is dependent on them. As great as they've been (we couldn't have BF without them) they're incredibly messy and unsubtle which means I'm not comfortable feeding in public because we always both end up with milk all over us and my boob needs to be out for a while getting the shield on and off, so I've been expressing to feed him when we go out.
Until last week I had 10 5oz bottles in the freezer as back up and he's gone through them all this week! He's also feeding every 1-2 hours day and night and I'm pretty exhausted. I know my milk supply is good as he's gaining 7oz a week (due to being prem he's weighed weekly) but I feel I can't leave him and have no 'me' time because I'm constantly feeding and have no respite in between feedings to express and leave him with my OH so I can go out with friends etc.
I'm very tempted to supplement with a couple of formula bottles a day just for a break but OH is incredibly against it - I'm just at my wits end and need a bit of a break! It could just be a growth spurt but he's been like this for a week! Does anyone have any advice before I turn to formula? X