How to stretch newborn feeds apart?

We ended up having to go to A&E/ER this morning for my 6 day old baby girl. She's been vomiting that much in the last 24 hours she's been having quite a lot of blood within it. Alongside very frequent episodes of diarrhoea, 14 episodes in 12 hours as of current. She's always been sick but only when you lie her flat on her back, but it's been getting progressively worse. Last night it got to the point the moment she finished a feed majority of milk was coming back up. The paediatric doctor came to the same conclusion as I thought which was she's getting too much milk. She said feed her every 4 hours, 3 if I have too but no less. She's currently fed about every 2 due to her demand, could be every hour she wants fed in early hours of the morning and during the night she needs woken to feed or she'll sleep forever. Obviously with being told you can't over feed a breastfed baby and feeding on demand it's going to be difficult to cut her back. Any advice on how to do so? She usually feeds about 14 times a day!!!
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Are you doing upright paced feed, burping every ounce, and sitting upright for 30min after? We had to do all that with my baby because her reflux

@Trinity Yes feeding upright, we are feeding for 10 mins, taking a break and swapping sides. Sitting up for about 2 hours after as the moment she lies down it all comes back up. She doesn't really bring up any wind. The issue is her being too full and milk not reaching her tummy so she's bringing up the milk she has just drank or if we keep her up right the moment she is placed flat she will bring up majority of her last feed. We need to cut down the amount of milk she is being given and how often.

I would get a second opinion from a doctor my cousin son had this problem and ended up needing surgery on his stomach. Can’t remember what it is called but after he ate fine without throwing up

I'm in shock the doctor advised this! You can't overfeed a breastfed baby and with her being so sick and so much diarrhoea she will need more breastmilk if anything to rehydrate her!

Might need to have an ultrasound done to check for pyloric stenosis. We had one done and it was negative, but it is something that could possibly require surgery

@Rebecca I would tend to disagree, we come from a farming background and deal with plenty of young livestock, it's essentially the same but when they get too much milk they would have bad diarrhoea as their body is trying to dump the milk. It can actually be more dangerous giving more milk in that case as their body can't absorb the nutrients.

It could also simply just be lactose intolerance or a different allergy. I’d probably try bottle feeding at this point

I think OP needs to get a second medical opinion with so much conflicting information.

It really sounds like you need to get a second opinion, this sounds like way more than a baby getting too much milk. Do you have an oversupply / fast let down? There is a real risk of your baby becoming dehydrated which is really dangerous at such a young age. I really think you should see a different doctor.

Also when you say 14 times is that in 24 hours? That’s not really that much, the NHS advise babies should feed 8-12 times, or more, every 24 hours for the first few weeks.

@Harriet Rose the first option was reflux by a gp, the second was over feeding by gp and third was over feeding by paediatric consultant. She's on the boob for 40 mins at a time and I'm still filling collection cups within half hour after. My breasts are still firm after she feeds. With the haakaa on the opposite side I'm collecting about 90ml in 5mins. 14 40 min feeds and maybe 3/4 15 min comfort feeds.

I think you need to advocate for more tests. Did they give reflux meds?

Is it normal to have blood in the vomit from overfeeding? If you feel happy with what they’ve said then you obviously know best but it sounds quite extreme to be over feeding.

@Harriet Rose small amounts of blood can be normal from excessive vomiting

@Trinity @Harriet Rose if it pursues after 24 hours of reducing her milk intake I'll be demanding further tests because clearly something isn't right. No reflux meds given. They said the blood was from excessive and forceful vomiting which has been happening.

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90mls in 5mins in just let down sounds like you have quite a rapid letdown and big supply. It’s worth contacting a lactation consultant as well. If you’re UK based, speak to your HV or midwife for a referral to the infant feeding team. There are plenty of private ones UK and abroad too. If you haven’t already, try introducing a dummy/pacifier. Newborns will feed for comfort and the drive to suckle, whether they’re hungry or not. I’m sorry you’re going through this, it must be so distressing seeing your little one like that. I hope you get answers and a resolution soon xx

Em, you could try expressing and giving her in a bottle just to know how much she is having and then regulate the timing as well. Otherwise, you could observe your let down and her drinking speed and try to evaluate how long is best during each feed (it could be 20-30 or 40 minutes) and then distract her for 4 hours with a dummy or sth.

Also, maybe a bottle with slow flow teat might help. I don’t know if you want to add a bottle, I know it’s not ideal!

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