Breastfeeding a big baby in the first few days

[anchovies]

Please can someone advise me? I am having a caesarean section tomorrow and it looks like I am having another big baby.

Ds1 was 10 pounds and breastfed well (he was very hungry) from birth. In the night (1st or 2nd after him being born, I can't remember which, my milk hadn't come in either way) an auxillary came to see me because I couldn't get him to settle and said it was because he was still hungry. She came back with a bottle and suggested she gave it too him. Thinking I was starving my baby I let her.

Basically I wanted to know whether it could ever be the case that he could really need a bottle in the few days before my milk came in? I really don't want the same thing to happen again but on the other hand I need someone to tell me for certain that I will be doing the right thing if I say no!

[sweetkitty]

Anchovies - I don't know as much as others on here but it seems she was out of order to suggest your baby was starving and bring you a bottle. Colostrum should be all they need until your milk comes in. I'm feeding DD2 whos 5 weeks today and was 9lb 3ozs at birth and now over 12lbs. Trust your own body to provide for your baby.

Best of luck too look forward to the announcement.

[LIZS]

Don't think so, although it may depend on why he is big (ie. if you have had diabetes in pg) in which case establishing regular feeding could be important for blood sugars. Colostrum should be sufficient as long as he takes to feeding well. Hopefully tiktok or mears will spot this thread and advise you more profesionally.

[NotQuiteCockney]

The colostrum that your body makes, before the milk comes in, is amazing stuff. The more of it your new baby gets, the better.

Babies don't need bottles in the early days. But they are often unsettled, and sometimes that's just how it is.

[gomez]

Hi there - I have had two big girls (9lbs 9oz and then 10lbs 10oz) both by c-section. In both cases my milk didn't come in until day 5 and both girls dropped more than 10% of birth weight, but with no blood sugar issues. I fed them both on demand over those five days and when my milk did come in we were drowning in the stuff!

BUT with DD2 on nights 2 and 3 in hospital I gave her around to 50 to 70 ml of formula by syringe just to settle her and let us both get some sleep. Worked a treat for us but I was happy to give her such a small amount of formula and I must have latched her on about 30 times during the course of the day anyway....

I think they DON'T need it so if you feel strongly about the virgin gut theory just keep latching your new baby on and I am sure you will both do fine.

Good luck - look forward to your birth announcement .

[anchovies]

Thanks for your replies, I think I will just play it by ear and see how things go then. At least this time I will know to just keep trying and I hope I will be confident as far as trusting my own judgement. I don't have gd (and didn't last time) so there were no problems with blood sugar. If it came to it, would a syringe be better than a bottle?

[tiktok]

anchovies, you were badly treated. If the same thng happens, you can hand express colostrum and give it to your baby on a spoon or via a syringe.

No need for formula.

I think it is shocking the auxialiary even took over the bottle feeding.

[anchovies]

Thanks tiktok, just what I was hoping you would say :)

[hunkermunker]

Good luck with tomorrow, Anchovies - looking forward to your birth announcement!

Remember, your body grew this baby and has nourished it throughout pregnancy - it can keep nourishing him or her once born.

If you need to, I found hand expressing directly into a wide syringe worked well - make sure there's a bung on the bottom of it though or it'll all just pour straight out again!

[koolkat]

anchovies:

Newborns SCREAM no matter what, it is not always for milk, I wish someone could get this message across to all so-called health profs.

It has a lot to do with being born. They leave a lovley warm, soft, watery place where they are curled up and cosey come out into a cold, sometimes horried, hospital environment, so natural for them to scream as they are not used to their new environment.

I refused the formula route because I knew that babies do NOT starve if they do not get bm for the first few days. Colostrum is all your baby needs, big baby or small baby.

It is a huge myth that big babies need formula. If your baby is hungry and needs more milk than a small baby, your body will simply produce more to satisfy him. That is why mothers of multiples can also breastfeed.

The more demand, the more milk boobs produce !

Good luck with the birth

[Rach69]

Hi anchovies, hold out if you can! My first 3 babies were all fairly big 8'12-9'5 and I bf them with no problems, babies do cry - most of all at night! This time, I had to have an ECS and ds3 was 10lb 4. Whilst traumatised and still on the operating table, I was told that because he was over 10lb 'hospital policy' was to ensure he received 42ml milk every 3hrs to stablise his blood sugars. Although I protested at bit - I really believe in the 'virgin gut' and didn't want to sensitise him to cow's milk, I gave in (I had no fight in me after an awful delivery) and he was tube-fed formula - this was awful! I was given no encouragement to bf at all and had to nag the mws to pass me baby to feed - I insisted on bf first and then to top-up with formula. I refused the tube and then tried syringe and cup but he was too frustrated by them. Finally just gave him bottles. I found out afterwards I could have just given him colostrum (very high in sugar) and expressed to get my milk to come in quicker. Despite all this my milk came in on day 3 (although I was told it wouldn't because of the c-section). It was implied by the paediatrician that I wouldn't be discharged unless I gave him complementary formula because he could get dehydrated, being so big and he was mildly jaundiced (caused by his traumatic failed ventouse). I was stronger by then and thought he was fine so I filled in their feeding chart as they wanted but hardly gave him any formula at all (he only took about 10-20ml anyway). I felt I wouldn't be let out otherwise! In retrospect I feel very angry about this and that I wasn't given adequate information about blood sugars.

PS what is it with auxillaries/mws wanting to cuddle and bottle feed babies? it really annoyed me that all these 'strangers' would pick up my baby if he cried while I was in the loo or something - the poor dab had a huge bruise on his head from the ventouse and should have been handled as little as possible - how dare they touch him without asking?

[Kelly1978]

Hi,
good luck with your section tomorrow. My ds was 9lb7 and he was very sleepy at first and wasn't that demanding. I was told at the time that bigger babies are often more laid back. I breastfed him with no problems, and he gained weight by the time he was weighed a couple of weeks later so it is possible, and you don't need to top up if you dont want to!

[singersgirl]

DS2 wasn't that big (just under 9lb) but slept most of the first few days and then fed like crazy until the milk came in. He was a brilliant feeder and grew massively - by 6 weeks he was over 99% centile for weight. I produced loads of milk for him - fully BF until 5.5. months, BF until 26 months.

[milward]

Just bf as much as possible to get a good supply when your milk comes in. You don't need formula your colostrum will be fine.

My ds4 was 4.570 kilos - he lost only 70g at hospital & had regained in a few days. µ

best wishes xxx

[SoupDragon]

DS1 was 10lb 1oz. I exclusively breastfed him from day one despite doom and gloom from the MWs who said I'd never feed a big baby myself. Like Smellen's DS, he dropped a huge amount of weight - down to 8lb something - but soon began to pile the weight back on.

It was a struggle in the early days but we got there without resorting to a bottle.

[Gloworm]

I had 2 CS, and my second baby was 10lb1, and I breastfed her with no problems (other than the fact that I seemed to feed her twice as much as everyone else on the ward!)
I thibk I was very lucky though as she fed when I came around from GA, then slept for 12hrs, then fed, then slept for 12hrs, so I'd had lots of rest before all the continuous feeding started.

[Gloworm]

forgot to add she didnt really lose any weight, a couple of ounces maybe.