...to think weighing newborns on day 3 undermines breastfeeding confidence?

[Nessalina]

My DD was born on Monday and weighed at home on day 3. She'd dropped from 7lb 3oz to 6lb 6oz, a 10.5% drop, which obviously triggered something for the midwife because she went into overdrive with how often we're feeding, wet & dry nappies etc. and I was told not to leave her more than 2hrs without a feed.
We're BFing, and my milk hadn't come in, so a drop was totally expected, and as her latch seems good and she was feeding/weeing/pooing often, I wasn't concerned, up until the midwifes visit that is. Day 3 also coincided with the baby blues hitting me, and I was quite weepy in the evening.
Anyway, my milk came in by the evening, and when she was reweighed on Day 5 she was back up to 7lb 1oz, so she's doing well, and I'm feeling good again.
I already BF my DS when he was born, so I guess I knew it was going to be fine, but I still felt super stressed and down by the whole process, not helped by sleep deprivation, swollen stitches, and very tender nipples.
So AIBU to think that weighing BF babies on day 3 is potentially damaging to mum's confidence in her ability to BF her child?
Is there a better way? Or was my midwife just lacking in empathy?

Those saying that 10% is “massive or loads” are being alarmist.

“A healthy newborn is expected to lose 7% to 10% of the birth weight, but should regain that weight within the first 2 weeks or so after birth.”

So 10.5% in the OPs case was a trigger for more investigations but 9.9% would not have been. 10% is the threshold of normal/healthy to “let’s just be aware and look a bit more closely”.

YANBU. It can knock confidence BUT the thing is, the weighing isn't done for bf confidence it's done for the health of the baby which is more important.

Saying 10% loss in 3 days is a lot, is not alarmist at all.

That's a lot of weight for a baby to lose in 3 days.

I agree that a 10% loss is notable and that encouraging the monitoring of wet and soiled nappies is sensible.

I think how this message is conveyed may be the key factor here though. There seems to be a complete black and white between "trust your body, all is well" and "ff is the answer" and really the reality is somewhere in the middle.

A midwife talking to a woman who is 3 days post partum should be sensitive to her emotional state while also being able to ensure the health of the baby. The message this midwife has given doesn't sound OTT to me but we weren't there to hear how it was delivered

In my area they don't weigh on day 3 anymore, as they were apparently sending lots of babies into hospital, but when leaving weighing until day 5, most had been found to have picked up. It is annoying that all areas are different.

It’s all well and good to say “10% in 3 days isn’t bad” but if that isn’t highlighted at that point as something wrong then waiting another 2 days could make it so it is a big problem rather than taking the simple steps others have said they had to at that point to stop it becoming a major issue

I don't think not weighing is the answer, teaching MWs that it's only part of the observations is probably a better way of looking at the issue.
Some MWs are better at this than others, so we should be working on those skills and how they communicate with new mothers so they encourage rather than panic them but also pick up problems in a timely manner.

My 1st dropped a large amount and took ages to put it back on, then boy did he put it on. The second one never dropped any weight from birth, he was very keen on feeding and amazingly was far far easier to latch than his brother (pure luck and a slightly more relaxed mum) he was still weighed quite a bit though as I think she & my HV used it as an excuse to come out and check how I was doing without being too intrusive (I'm disabled and very bad at asking for help)

I was glad of it -with first bf baby the 11% drop trigered more bf support as milk was slow coming in.

I was told to pump or be feeding for day and loads and loads of skin contact. Did the trick - got latch and feeding posotions checked and re-checked.

I was glad of the extra support and visists and it meant I kept bf even though I had unsupprotive family who were anti-bf and trying to insit of 4 hoursly feeds.

BF next two neither lost weight - one was same weight as born last put on weight. So being weighed in those cases reassured me.

It is important to weigh them at 3 days as with breastfed newborns you just don't know how much they are actually having.

My midwife was very kind and caring, and told me before the weighing that it's totally expected for babies to babies to lose 5-10% of their weight initially. As it happened, my constantly feeding baby had gained a little weight by day 3, which of course was very reassuring to hear, as I had been finding breastfeeding difficult and painful. However my close friend with a same-age baby got told her baby had lost 12% and was taken into hospital as he was dehydrated. She said it was of course definitely better to know.

I've had 5 babies ranging in weight from 6lb 15 to 11lbs.

None of them had lost weight by day 5. They had all gained.

2 of them were bottle fed formula and 3 ebf.

I think over a 10% loss is quite worrying actually. If a baby is not feeding well it is at a very high risk of dehydration.

I think there are still so many myths around infant feeding still that it is very important to monitor a newborn very carefully whether they are breast or bottle fed. Nonsense like 4 hourly feeds, spoiling babies and never wake a sleeping baby are just some of the ridiculous things people spout to new mums.

I would say that it is important for a HCP to be sensitive to how emotional an issue feeding can be, whether breast or bottle but ultimately the babies wellbeing needs to come before the mothers hurt feelings.

Perhaps it's less about the weighing and more about how the midwives/hv's handle or respond to it? I'm guessing the 10% weight loss figure did less to worry you than the response of the midwife?

Seems like a tiny thing to take issue with a in the whole scheme of child birth. Particularly if you are apparently confident n your abilities anyway.

I still wonder how much weight loss is normal for a newborn. Mine were both born 12 days late, and extra 12 days of meconium gathering in them. Which inevitably will contribute to weight loss.
My first lost 12% triggering a trip to scbu, reweighed and drop recalculated to be less. Few hints and tips from their infant feeding advisor ( that I should have been told on the postnatal ward), who interestingly said that the weight loss sounded absolutely right for my circumstances, sent home an hour later( even more knackered than before) and birthweight regained in 10 days. Second baby weight loss was just below 10% possibly because she was about 2 hours old when she was first weighed, had weed and pooed ( all over me). Regained birthweight at the same rate as first.
Weighing is obviously required to identify issues, however I wonder if these "big" weight drops are actually very normal. Weight alone should not be used as a discreet trigger other factors should be considered such as am observed breastfeed, but like so much it's much easier to quantify when we use a number thus removing professional judgement.
I do think that babies should be weighed at day 3 as much to give a ballpark for further gain, I do think though that some research is needed into what is actually normal.

Depends what you mean by normal I suppose - I think I remember reading average/typical for a bf baby is 7%, ff baby was 4 or 5%.

Imagine how an adult would feel with no food for 3 days and a 10.5% drop in body weight?

Imagine if they hadnt weighed her and you didnt know there was a problem?

Baby's well being trumps mum's confidence with breastfeeding.

think how this message is conveyed may be the key factor here though.

^Exactly this.

I think women should ve in hospital for the first 5 days to assist with breastfeeding support and to have round the clock care....im still shocked at being sent home 12 hours after labour with my firstborn knowing i wasnt going to see a midwife for 3 days.

Yes i know their stretched and the above isnt achieveable but it should be.

My son was born weighing 7lbs 9oz and discharged at 7lbs 4oz 3 days later, that's WITH bottle feeding every 2 hours. He lost more again in the first week at home but still above 7lbs.

I like knowing it's going well. I hate the idea that breast fed babies are essentially starving for 2+ days until milk comes in. There has to be a better way.

I don't think YANBU either.

None of mine had any problems with feeding or weight loss, but DD3 did have a tongue-tie that hadn't been picked up during the paed check on the postnatal ward- so I guess I think the more checks, the merrier.

I think it's important to keep on top of their weight especially when breastfeeding.
Can't remember if it was Day 3 or a few days later but a visiting MW used the word underweight with my pfb after she had gained only 1/2 oz in so many days. She was 9lbs 5 oz's born so most definitely not underweight.
But that and other issues definitely made my breastfeeding journey more difficult and ultimately it came to an end at 8 weeks (started weaning her off at 4 weeks) as I was so worried about her weight.
I'll never forgive that stupid woman

We weren't sent back to hospital with a 10% drop because dd2 seemed okay. The next day we were back with a baby we couldn't wake up. Nothing wrong with double checking it is a normal bf baby and not one intent on starving itself

In my experience breast fed babies do loose 10% so just over is not a huge concern and you should not worry. But it is important that baby doesn’t continue to loose. Baby could have an underlying health problem. Or you may find he/she gains weight now so not a problem.
No good be so sensitive as a mum you need to toughen up and put your babies health first .
Feed on demand, eat well, rest etc

Yabu. It is the MW job to ensure the baby is ok and pick up problems early.

DD1 was breastfed. She lost 10% and yes I was glad to know. I'd never even held a baby before her, let alone been solely responsible for keeping one fed and alive! She finally got back to her birth weight at 21 days.

What I found much more difficult was the massive amount of conflicting advice I got from every HCP I encountered!

DD2 went on the bottle at 6 days because my milk hadn't come in.

Not all mothers are like you and have done it before and "just know it will be fine". I think most of us would rather take a confidence knock than see any babies come to harm because the chance to help was missed.

While I do understand your point and definitely think the midwife should have handled it better I really disagree with your suggestion of not weighing on day 3, my dd had lost more than your child and was dehydrated and readmitted to hospital, we had only been discharged 12 hours before. If I have another I would like them checked before we leave hospital as I never want it to happen again.