AIBU To go to A&E/Urgent Care with my baby?

[MyBabyIsntGainingWeight]

I have a 5 week old that has gained less than 7oz since birth. She is ebf and feeds all the time. Will go 2-3hours at night but literally feeds nonstop the rest of the time. If not feeding is crying /screaming. I took her to be weighed yesterday AM and she hadn't gained at all in a week. She's fallen off the chart. I managed to get a GP appointment in the evening and didn't really get any advice, just told to try topping up. But not how much or how often. No mention of monitoring weight. They said they would refer to paediatrician but not given any indication of how long this would take. I'm really worried and want her seen asap. WIBU to go to hospital? So as not to drip feed there is a big family history of food allergies. DD1 ended up on prescription formula and reflux meds and baby is suffering with silent reflux.

sorry I wasn't clear, I meant "ordinary" formula, if for some reason I had not been able to BF they would have had to go straight on to one of the non-dairy formulas.

You say that there are plenty of wet and dirty nappies so lots is going in. If your baby isn't thriving and you have a family history of food allergies have you examined your own diet?
Cows milk protein allergy in particular can affect BF babies if their Mum drinks milk/has a cup of tea etc. Try cutting out dairy, gluten and citrus for a few days while you are awaiting your consultant appointment and see if it improves things.
I really don't think a+e will be able to help you. HV/GP/consultant is your best route.

OP; incomplete tongue tie revisions are very common so it could well be that.

I’m sorry your HVs are so unutterably shit. This isn’t an A&E issue.

OK, so potential things you can do:

1. Call the infant feeding team at your hospital in the morning. Ask if you can see someone today; you do need to start topping up by the sound of things, but this can be expressed milk at the start and I think needn’t be from a bottle either, you could try a supplementary nursing system or cupfeeding etc.

1. If you can afford to go private, find a local lactation consultant (IBCLC), they are usually only around £70 for a consult (outside London).

1. Google Milk Matters; we used them and they are bloody brilliant. If you’re not local they also do Skype and phone consults and it might help you feel reassured.

1. Join some breastfeeding FB groups; Breastfeeding Younger Babies and Beyond is ok. This is not in place of proper qualified people giving you advice, but so you can get some support from people who are not just going to tell you to start formula because you have hit a bump in the road on your bf journey.

You can get this sorted, I promise! But you do need to contact someone today.

I’ve had to mix feed and top up with both kids due to tongue tie, as I couldn’t express. So this is also an option, but it’s worth trying to express first so you don’t damage your supply. I’m still bf my 10 month old, who is having solids and no longer having bottles, and I mix fed my eldest until she was 2.5. Doesn’t have to be all nothing.

It's mot an A&E issue if it;'s een ongoing for weeks, is it? Wait until morning and ring your HV. They will be better placed to help.

Have you tried pumping between feeds & topping up with a bottle of ebf once a day? Do you suspect any issues with your supply?

Also good advice up thread about cutting known allergens from your own diet too.

Contact the childrens centre or nct as they can let you know where the local breastfeeding advisor is. I know one advisor goes to our local baby playgroup and sits quietly at the back and is available for any help, support free to any mum who needs it. Another gp appt today or contact hv today. Do you have a walk in centre. We have that here (as no one can get to see the gp with their silly telephone on the day and we call you back and if we think you ill we book you an apptbut you cant book ahead ever) and it works as dd sawa consultant within 30 minutes. Id try some formule (mixed feeding) to see if that makes any difference. Good luck x

Good point kay. Friend had to stop eating tomatoes as they reallyeffected her baby when she breastfeed.

I’m so sorry you’re having issues OP. My HV said effective breaths feeding should only take an hour (I had BF my DS for 7 hours without a break the day before) and to stop after that and offer a top up. You should offer a feed every 3 hours, whether they want it or not. It is possible that if you baby has an intolerance they will struggle with formula too but you won’t jniw until you try. In my case my DS didn’t want to feed as a result of his intolerances so if he is taking BM well then there may not be an issue here.

I’m really sorry but I’m afraid A&E is unlikely to help at this stage. If your baby is otherwise well - alert, good colour, plenty of nappies, feeding well - there isn’t anything they can do; they will want to see whether too up feeds are helping. If you had them weighed yesterday can you get them weighed again on Monday to see if it’s had any effect?

If, on the other hand, your baby seeems unwell, then please do call 111 or go to A&E. Similarly, if that was the advice your health visitor (wasn’t sure from your second post) then you should follow it. They will know better than the rest of us about your baby.

Good luck

We ended up in children's A&E with both of ours. DD is lactose intolerant and multiple GP visits resulted in the GP treating the symptoms, not the cause. The day she finally refused to take any formula all day was the day we took her in. The paediatrician we saw was lovely, listened to DH's lactose-intolerant family history and prescribed lactose-free formula. DD was like a brand new baby within days. Feeding had been a real battle up to that point (4.5 months' old) but became easy and she was clearly much, much happier.

With DS, we saw the signs of intolerance and tried him on DD's LF formula (13 month gap, so we stil had some left over) which didn't help him, so we went to the GP who referred us straight to the paediatric team and told us that if he started to refuse feeds before our appointment, to access the team via children's A&E. Which is what happened.

I think where there's known intolerance / allergy in previous children they're more likely to take you seriously with subsequent children, rather than being written off as neurotic first time parents (which is what our GP did).

As long as your baby is still feeding I probably wouldn't go to A&E. But, if nobody will refer you to the paediatric team then A&E may be your only way into them, which is daft given the history.

In our area the HVs can refer, and ours was going to refer DS if the GP didn't. Could you see if they're able to do that this week for you? We had baby weigh clinics every day around the town, so HVs were easy to access. Hopefully yours are too?

Oh, DS is CMPI, not lactose intolerant, hence DD's milk not working.

Trust your gut op, get a bag packed with some snacks and drinks, clothes for you and baby and get to hospital.
I just knew something wasn't right when my baby was 2 weeks old, kept getting fobbed off, I genuinely think they thought young first time Mum just being over the top, so in the end I said to the paediatrician "I'm not leaving until you run further tests because my baby is seriously unwell" sure enough we were then rushed off for surgery within 24 hours of me putting my foot down, because the tests lead to the discovery of the problem.
My baby didn't have similar symptoms to yours- don't worry! What I'm trying to say is mothers instinct is not to be ignored and you are their only voice.
Good luck and I hope little one is ok x

Thank you for your replies, it's really helpful to hear others' thoughts.

I stopped dairy in my diet a few days before birth, so there should be no dairy in my system now.

I've tried to express, but unless I'm holding her upright in a sling she literally roots and feeds all day. So I don't get chance to express as she's feeding!

A fair bit of the time she isn't actively feeding and swallowing but I suspect she is feeding for comfort due to the silent reflux.

I'm going to ring the Dr to chase up the referral and see the infant feeding specialist from the hospital again - but I don't know what more she can advise as we've already seen her.

Forgot to add, can you see another gp today? If so they might handle the situation differently?
I'm not sure if it's the same everywhere in the UK but doctors in our area can refer you straight to the children's department instantly, our gp printed a form and said go there now. They really should do something if little one has dropped off the chart

Cutting dairy won't remove lactose as it's in your breast milk regardless of whether you've cut dairy out or not. Might be worth considering that as an option.

Or it could be an intolerance to a food group you've not cut out.

You can buy LF formula in the shop. Might be worth trying just one tin and seeing if there's any difference?

Tongue ties can reattach - has it been checked again recently? If the problem has only started again in the last two weeks then it sounds like that might be the problem.

As I understand it, a dairy allergy would be apparent from the poo?

Just switch to formula. Problem solved. It's not poison, you know.

This is the worst reply I have read, if the OP has an inkling it could be an allergy, then the ingredients in normal non-prescription formula may not help at all.

At 5 weeks I would go to a&e, can’t do any harm. I’d also push with the GP for a quick paediatrician referral. If it is an allergy better to find out sooner so it can be sorted

I’d try topping up with Formula first. You can then at least be reassured that she’s actually getting enough which would be my worry.

I just want to bring to people's attention that formula is poison to some babies
My daughter had anaphylactic shock the moment formula touched her lip at 6 months ambulance arrived within in minutes and blue light to hospital.

If Op is concerned it could be due to an allergy she is right to avoid formula, and only try it at hospital.

My daughter had to be held up right constantly. She would turn blue from silent reflux when laid flat. She cried and fed and slept for up to an hour at I time. I was a zombie by the time she had her reaction.
No one listened.
She dropped from 50th centile to 7.
it was only after I eliminated dairy egg wheat and soya that things improved.

She did have impressive projective vomiting episodes but not every day
Her nappies were normal breast Fed nappies
She was a very unhappy baby and I was exhausted and didn't know what to do for the best.

Things would have been very different if the gp had listened to me at 6 weeks rather than dismissing me until she was in crisis.

Obviously it may be nothing to do with allergy. But something isn't right and you deserve to be listened to.

Hoping you get some reassurance and action very soon.