Hi Bees!

I am sure there are lots of posts about this, but as a brand new mom I'm so exhausted I barely have the energy to write this post let alone search for similar ones, plus I really need advice specific to my situation.

I gave birth last Sunday 8/16. Wonderful experience - natural childbirth, med-free. Baby girl weighed 7 pounds even at birth, and 6 pounds 10 ounces by the time we left the hospital on Tuesday. She was down 4% at that point and the doctors were happy with that.

I feel like I really did not know how often I was supposed to be breastfeeding her. My mom, grandmother are in town and had both been telling me to "never wake a sleeping baby" so I wasn't. I was just waiting to feed her when she woke up which was about every 3-4 hours, and then I thought the goal at night was for her to sleep as much as possible, so we had a couple 4 and 5 hour stretches in the first two nights at home. I was starting to feel well rested and thinking this newborn thing was easy!

On Thursday morning we had her first ped. appt. with a lactation consultant and she was down to 6 pounds 5 ounces. LC told me to start feeding every 2 hours (15 mins per side) during the day and 3 hours at night. Then after each session to pump until no more milk comes out, which is usually about 5 minutes, and then to syringe feed the pumped milk after the next feed. I've been getting on average 5 mL pumped milk after each session. So we did that for a full day, and at her weight check yesterday (one day later) she had gained 1/2 an ounce. So we're up to 6 pounds 5.5 ounces now. The pediatrician said that was good but not great and that she wants me to continue to do the same routine, but also supplement with 1-2 ounces of formula after each feed, and then we will re-weigh her on Monday.

In my head, I didn't have a huge problem with this. I want this baby to be exclusively breastfed but I felt it wasn't a huge deal to me if we had to do formula for a few days to get her in good shape. But I tried to do the formula last night and I had such an emotional reaction to it, my mother is pushing me to continue exclusively breastfeeding bc she doesn't want the supplementation to affect my supply, and I feel that way too.

I'm not sure what to do! For now I decided to not supplement, but I may change my mind later today or tomorrow. I just feel like I wasn't feeding her enough bc I didn't know, and now I am - and I'm doing everything to get my supply up. I've had lots of lactation cookies, and DH is on his way to pick up mother's milk tea right now. I feel like if I don't get the chance to just nurse & nap all weekend that I'll never know if I could do it.

Any advice and similar experiences? Is gaining 1/2 an ounce really that bad? I want so badly to be her only food source.

Also she has a great latch. My nipples are already toughening up so I'm not in a lot of pain which is awesome. Oh and I have small boobs but they feel fuller every day. Baby is also definitely swallowing, I've been listening.

Please any advice you have is so so welcome, I'm a mess over here!