2 week old BF baby loosing weight please help

[Candinha]

My baby hass lost 10% of his body weight. I am BF and MW advised to express after feeds to stimulate the breasts and feeding him what's left as a top. He takes more than an hour to feed by constantly having to wake him up and switch breats. Anyone else has sleepy babies when feeding and can give me some re-assurance I am going to be able to carry on BF. I have done it twice before so I am a bit confused about what's going on. HV coming to weight him again today and I am totally stressed!!

Oh you poor thing! No one needs extra stress with a 2 week old!

I don't have any words of wisdom cos I'm quite new at this myself, but I hope I can bump this so someone more wise will see it and help.

Are you seeing enough 'output' from your baby? Wet and dirty nappies? That's a reassuring indicator of food going in effectively.

Poor you, that must be very worrying. But with the right support and good information, there's really no reason why you shouldn't be able to BF, even with a sleepy baby. And 10% is not necessarily cause for concern, so long as he doesn't lose any more.

It sounds like your MV is supportive - good advice she has given you by the sounds of it? Do hang onto her if you can, especially if the HV turns out to be less than helpful!

Do take a look at this from Kellymom - it's quite comprehensive, and if you follow the links there is stuff on sleepy newborns, things you can do to increase supply like breast compressions and loads of other useful suggestions, including what not to do.

Good luck, and keep posting - there will be lots of people on here with experience of this.

How often are you feeding and how often are you expressing?

I had supply problems initially and the BFC who was helping me had me waking up to express during the night (in the midnight-3am period) because prolactin levels are highest then and so your body gets a very strong message that more milk is needed.

Have you had his latch checked and had him checked for tongue-tie?

I don't think that taking an hour to feed is a problem in itself - how many times are you switching sides during that time?

How is he generally? Wet nappies?

I really sympathise, DS lost 11% of his birthweight and was 5 weeks old before he regained what he had lost. I remember well the stress and anxiety of waiting for a weighing visit.
Don't panic, keep posting and keep feeding and keep asking for help from your HPCs if you think you are being fobbed off. Have you called any of the BF support lines?

My SIL just had with my niece, who had to be hospitalised as she'd lost 16% of body weight. It turned out she will not open her mouth very wide hence difficulties in latching on and they are using nipple shields, although she knows they need to get rid of them...

When they were discharged she was told:

• normal for feed to take an hour, if she falls asleep put her on floor and wait for her to wake up, stroke jaw/ feet etc to try and keep her sucking, keep on going for full hhour, 30 mins on each side.

• feed every 3 hours (or less if she demands)

• if breasts still feel full after a feed or if feed didn't seem to go well, pump and top up 1-2oz with bottle (3 weeks in they have got ride of top ups. SIL hired hospital grade pump.)

• set alarm in night - can go 4 hours.

• her GP found her bfing support group which is helpful. Now baby is gaining 1/2 lbs a week.

Feeds taking more than an hour can be an indication that something is wrong ...

Also with a sleepy newborn baby you have to be a bit careful about feeding on demand, because they simply may not ask for a feed when they need it. 3 hours may not be often enough for one of these LOs. They may also fall asleep at the breast before they have had enough.

Here is a very helpful article about making sure that a sleepy newborn is getting enough

Thanks this is very helpful HV came today and he lost more weight despite all my expressing (even at night!) and topping him up with a spoon. She of course suggested top up with formula and GP had the same suggestion. Helpful MW is coming tomorrow so she will be more understanding of me wanting to carry on with BF. I will discuss topping him up with a bottle using my own milk to see if we can get more into him.

Hi I had a very sleepy baby who lost weight and was slow to gain weight, I introduced a bottle for a bit but found it made no difference other than making me feel more depressed!!! I know how difficult it is but do keep going, is there a bfing support group anywhere close by? Are you drinking and eating loads? Im sure this helped me produce more milk when I was struggling. I used to tickle dds feet when she started drifting off when feeding, also taking her legs out the babygrow seemed to wake her up a bit! It does take a newborn a while to recover from the birth and to learn how to bf effectively so its still early days. I found The baby whisperer book gave some helpful advice for when my dd was very small. Good luck xxx

I was in exactly the same position as you three weeks ago. My ds had jaundice which was making him too sleepy to feed properly, although he was on th breast for hours, and my milk supply dropped.

I breastfed him every three hours, then expressed and syringe fed him whatever I got out and then 20-30mls of formula. Tbh it was a nightmare but after a week of constant feeding/expressing, my milk was back up he was gaining weight and we quit the formula top ups.

Poor ds looked a bit like a forcefed goose sometimes but it was the best thing for him. I think syringe feeding instead of using a bottle is a good idea if you want to return to exclusive breastfeeding

Thanks for the latest advice MW has been again and he lost another gram in total now 12,5% of his body weight so no hospital admission yet but she has advised formula as a top up using a spoon/cup, so I shall be doing that today and she is back again tomorrow to weight him again. I agree with Graciescotland it is a nightmare sitting in the kitchen at 3am in the morning expressing milk when I have just spent 1 hour feeding him upstairs Anyway it is reassuring to know that others have had similar experiences and got through it. I will keep you posted on what happens tommorw. thanks for all the support - I reall apreciated it as you can imagined

I'm sure you know that using formula may reduce your supply (but understand why you're taking that advice and good that she recommended a spoon or cup). But the key is to get to the bottom of the problem as otherwise you're treating the symptoms (weight loss) not the cause.

Tongue tie needs checking of course and has a qualified lactation consultant checked your baby's latch and feeding?

He is very young and often babies wake up in the 3rd week quite nicely. Is he getting 5-6 wet nappies a day? Does he look like he's not getting enough food? If you just look at him and use your instincts, does he seem like he's getting enough food?

Mu DS lost 9% of his birth weight and took ages to feed in the first few weeks (and months). One thing which may also have contributed is that apparently if you have a difficult birht with IVs and fluids, this can increase the weight of the baby at birth, making the weight loss more "dramatic". He is 12 weeks now and going strong, and his feeding is now becoming more efficient.

One thing thats worth checking out is Kellymom, where there is info about latching, how to identify when baby is feeding well - I found this useful in knowing when he was and wasn't feeding properly, and when I should take him off and wake him up (you may have this figured already, but I was pretty naive about the whole thing).

All the very best with it - many of us will have experience and empathy for where you're at.

If you can afford it consider hiring a hospital grade pump for a few weeks, that way can keep supply and and top up with your milk.

Candinha poor you!

Agree with organiccarrotcake's points about getting to the bottom of the problem of the weight loss. It could be that the latch is not deep enough for example.

Is the mw using the same set of scales each time and placing them on a hard floor (ie. not carpet)?

Further down this article are some more suggestions about how to deal with sleepy babies including breast compressions.

One last thing- you need to eat well and drink to thirst to recover from the birth but what you drink and eat won't affect either the quantity or quality of your breast milk.

It will feel like a hard slog at first, but you'll get there.

I feel for you. My first son lost a lot of weight and the midwife told me she was considering re-admitting him to hospital. My DS was premature and a little jaundiced and his problem was that he just didn't have enough energy to take enough milk. I can't remember if this was recommended or if we just tried it ourselves, but after I was told that he would be readmitted if he lost any more weight I put DS to the breast every two hours and expressed after he had finished. DH fed him the expressed milk via a syringe. We did this for two days. I also fed him almost constantly before the midwife came to the house in an attempt to boost his weight. He put on an ounce or two and we avoided a hospital admission. It may not work for you, but it may be worth a try. It was exhausting though and if it wasn't for my DH I don't think I'd have managed it. If you do wish to do that I'd suggest getting your other half to commit to washing the breast pump and feeding the expressed milk and doing all nappy changes throughout the night to give you a chance to rest.

I'd be cautious about feeding using a cup. We tried it with both our sons and just found it utterly demoralising. In both cases that hard earned expressed breast milk just seemed to end up on their clothes. My aunt who is a retired health visitor told me that it works best with babies born before 36 weeks as they lose the ability to lap after that time.

Good luck

Candinha- how are things now?

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back and post the latest. Ended up spending a night in hospital as baby was loosing too much weight. I am now being followed by a very helpful BF Specialist and he has put on some weight but not yet reached his birth weight. To cut a long story short:

• Formula has been stopped straight away.
• Cup feeding was not being effective so now I BF switching breast and breast compression then feed him 60ml expressed milk using a bottle.
• BF specialist has since then discovered he has a posterior tongue tie and is releasing it next week.

It has been very stressful but I am pleased we seem to be getting to the bottom of the problem.

Apart from this he is the perfect baby, sleeps really well at night and when his tummy is full is very content.

Thanks for all the advice it's all very good and re-assuring.

Will let you know any developments thanks again.