Please help me: newborn not gaining wt

[mrsbean78]

Hi

My son is 10 days old today. He lost 10% of his body weight in the days after birth but gained 60g in two days when monitored after that.. now he has lost that 60g again, although he has been feeding every two hours and the midwife says his latch and suckling are strong. You can hear him swallow and gulp milk He has a rash that the midwife thinks is a general rash newborns get 'but mmore severe' and he hasn't done a poo in five days, although he has a full wet nappy every two hours and is otherwise bright and alert. I have been told I have to express and cupfeed him and I am beside myself, I am so upset.. he fed last night every hour and a half and I thought this was the ten day growth spurt I'd heard about so fed him liteally 8, 9.30, 11, 1.30, 3 and 4.30 for 40-50 minutes each time so have had NO sleep and now to be told I have to express too? I don't know if I can..
Please, please help if you can.. what could it be? Is there something terrible wrong with him? I don't understand..

Mrs Bean,

So sorry you are having a hard time. Sounds like you need RL help. You need to get back in touch with the midwife and find out if there is a local lactation consultant who can watch you feed - as a matter of urgency.

Hopefully tiktok will be along soon.

I would also post in the 'breast/bottlefeeding' topic.

Good luck with this.

OK I've BF three children but am no expert but will try to help.

They need to feed alot in the early days - mine fed every hour sometimes - so any chance of having a nice lie down with him for the day and just feeding whenever he shows any interest. Just feed and feed. Eat chocolate. Relax.

Skin to skin and you being relaxed can help milk supply. Make sure you are eating and drinking plenty.

Is there a breastfeeding group at your hospital? Or locally? Can you access a counsellor? Call your midwife and ask to see one. You are doing really well. Just keep feeding.

I had this problem with DS, in the end my MW had to advise me to give up BF as he wasn't getting enough milk from me but even when he went on to formula he was still very underweight, MW suggested I try SMA White and he started to put weight on (he was about 8 months at this point)
My DS is now a very healthy and active (but still skinny!) 10 year old so I wouldn't worry.
(And I'm not telling you to go onto formula, it's just what MW suggested to me and it happened to work, I would definately go back to your MW or Doc/health visitor and get some more advice) HTH