5 weeks and about to give up... help please.

amandafink

well, BFing has been TOUGH.  I wanted to do a whole year. or at least 6 months.  I am so frustrated lately I dont know what to do.  So, first of our son was 5.5 weeks early, so that made BFing more difficult because he didnt have his suck, swallow, breathe down quite right.  So we started kind of getting the hang of it after a few days (but we always had some latching issues).  Then at 1 week old, we had to go the NICU for an intestinal infection.  I couldnt feed him for 10 days.  So then we get back home and try to breastfeed again.  Sometimes hes ok, 20 minutes and happy, and sometimes it is horrible.  Sometimes he just wants to eat all the time, or only eats for 5-10 minutes and then wants to eat again in an hour.  At nights, he wakes up every 2-3 hours and sometimes it is very frustrating because he will take 10 minutes to latch and then only nurse 10 minutes.  So sometimes I give up and give him a bottle with breastmilk afterwards or instead of even strssing myself out trying to nurse.  Please, do you have any tips?  Is this normal for 5 weeks?

 how long does it really take to get breastfeeding down?  I am trying to be patient but this is really stressing me out some days.  I don't know what to do.  Plus, my friends that formula feed says their kids sleep 4-6 hours in the night at 1 month old.  Thank you for any and all advice! sorry this is so long..