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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Baby still losing weight, please talk me down from the mountain!

48 replies

emskaboo · 19/09/2010 12:26

I feel like I'm inundating this thread, sorry!

I had my DD 8 days ago she was 6 weeks early and in SCBU for five days due to low blood sugar and inability to keep herself warm.

We came home on Thursday, as blood sugars were stable and breast feeding was established.

Now she weighed 2150gr at birth then on day five was 2050gr and today (day 8) is 2000gr. Midwife is coming back on Tuesday to weigh her again.

DD is feeding on average every four hours (if I try earlier she doesn't feed for more than 1-2 minutes).

MW suggested expressing and then trying to syringe feed after each breast feed. Alternatively I do have a Haberman feeder and could try that.

So what do you think? Arghhhhh!

OP posts:

larrygrylls · 21/09/2010 11:17

Emska,

How is your baby in herself, that is the most important thing? I think you should have at least midwife, if not paediatrician support in your position. Demand it if you are at all worried.

From what I remember (we have a 15 month old), new borns are meant to drop up to 10% of their weight over the 1st five days. In that sense, you did fabulously as yours only dropped about 5%. And maybe (though I do not have a clue) small babies drop for a few more days. I can think why they might.

If you happen to have a baby scale, you can find out how much a baby is taking, merely by weighing them (in nappy) before and after a feed.

Our little boy dropped to the 0.4th centile after about 12 weeks due to reflux and we ended up having to supplement bf with special formula. this had about 100 calories/100ml as opposed to breast milk, which has about 70. I do not know if that would be appropriate for you but we are talking about a really tiny baby with a really tiny stomach so it may be about calories, and, as someone said, it needn't have any effect on your bf later. Our baby got at least some bf until 10.5 months and then just went off it as he liked real food too much.

RubyBuckleberry · 21/09/2010 15:48

hmmm its difficult to really say anything definitive online like this. take all the advice on this thread. read the links and get real life support from someone who knows what they are talking about. have you got a BF clinic nearby?

how did the weighing go today? hope it was all good.

bubbahubba · 21/09/2010 17:09

is she having lots of wet and dirty nappies? i think she should be put to the breast every 2.5 - 3 hours. change her nappy aftr that inital 20mins to wake her up and offer her more and then whatever you get out of expressing, give to her via a syring and finger feeding.
can you see a breastfeeding counsellor?

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 04:30

Hi everyone, wellmidwife didn't even turn up, spoke to their office at 4pm and I apparently 'didn't exist'! I'm down for a morning visit tomorrow so hopefully they'll turn up.

I'm feeling anxious but have a plan;

Will ask to see bf consultant, met her when I was pregnant with DS and thought she was great, so hopeful that she would be helpful

Spend the day in bed tomorrow, DS is at pre school for the day

Keep expressing and topping DD up with syringe after every feed

Put DD to breast every 2.5 to 3 hours

Wish me luck!

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Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 04:54

Oh sorry, DD is great, several wet and pooey nappies a day. When she's awake she is alert and wiggles about. She's just not that interested in food.

I am slightly worried that syringe feeding is going to put her off the work involved in bf, what do you think?

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Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 05:03

Gosh sorry, thank you all for responding

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BooKangaWonders · 22/09/2010 05:20

agree with your reservations about syringe...

But, when I had my dc, docs and midwives suggested 2/3 hourly feeds for even normal birth weight dc. I think you need to keep the skin-to-skin going much longer. Stay in bed another day (more than 1 day if poss!). Don't get out of bed apart from to go to the loo. Your bigger dc will be fine, let them ucuddle up too.

4 hours is not enough; neither is 3 hours when your baby is so little...

Can you call a b/f counsellor who will talk you through things? (in the morning)

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 07:28

Thanks BooKanga, I'm going to aim for skin to skin for the next three days (DS at pre school for all three days).

Will def ask MW today for a referral to bf consultant.

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BooKangaWonders · 22/09/2010 08:53

you don't have to wait for your midwife - you could call the NCT breastfeeding line: 0300 330 0771
They can talk things through with you.

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 09:37

Fab, thank you. I'll call them now.

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tiktok · 22/09/2010 09:40

emskaboo - the NCT breastfeeding line is great, but I still think the key to really sorting you out is someone who can give the correct medical assessment for you, as well. NCT will offer support and give you good information, but they aren't a replacement for good midwifery/medical care....just so's you know :)

larrygrylls · 22/09/2010 10:04

What Tiktok says is good advice.

Maybe I am naive but I would have thought that, given everything you have said, you should be getting at least daily support.

Is the hospital far from you? Why not just turn up to the post natal ward and demand to be seen?

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 10:24

I totally agree TikTok, I really would like to see a real person, and will demand ask nicely for a referral to the bf consultant.

Although given I was promised a 'phone call and an early mornng visit and so far have had neither I'm not feeling wildly confident!

I'll let you know what the mw says if when she gets here.

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tiktok · 22/09/2010 10:26

emskaboo - you have been treated poorly and when the dust settles, you might want to write a letter to the relevant people saying how :(

jaffacakeaddict · 22/09/2010 10:40

I had difficulties with my DS1. He was premature and lost a lot of weight. Although he was discharged from hospital the midwife was threatening to readmit him due to weight loss. I fed him every two hours and expressed as well for a couple of days. My DH fed him the expressed BM by syringe. It was very hard going but looking back I felt that it helped greatly.

I'd recommend a BF consultant. I felt I was getting completely conflicting advice from every midwife and SCBU nurse who was involved in DS1's care. The BF consultant recommended a consistent approach and gave me the confidence that we could carry on with breasftfeeding. All the midwives seemed to defer to whatever the BF consultant recommended.

The BF consultant may also be able to give advice with positioning that may help your baby to latch on both sides. DS2 only latched on to one side initially and it was one of the midwives who helped me to get him to feed on the other one - turned out my nipple was lightly squint so he needed to be positioned slightly differently.

Good luck.

jaffacakeaddict · 22/09/2010 10:44

Sorry, should have added - although we did a lot of syringe feeding with DS1 and some with DS2 it didn't seem to put either of them off feeding. Both of them were not taking enough milk due to lack of enery (DS1 was premature and DS2 was jaundiced). Once they gained sufficient energy through the milk they were able to take more from the breast and I noticed that the amount I could express decreased dramatically. THe BF consultant will be able to give advice re this.

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 11:45

TikTok, gosh I feel really conflicted, I know this isn't right but feel like I'm being demanding wanting more when everyone I've seen (when they've turned up) has been lovely, just not wildly helpful!

Thanks Jaffa, that's really reassuring, that was a big worry for me.

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cory · 22/09/2010 11:56

Syringe feeding did help my dd to start feeding better at the breast: she was basically getting too weak to suckle effectively. So the extra rations just gave her that little bit that she needed to pick up again. The hospital BF counsellor was very good.

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 12:42

Ok midwife did turn up and was very nice. DD has put on weight, yippee, she's now 2090g so only 60g off birthweight, 3% off her birthweight.

MW advised waking to feed every three hours, as I have been doing and only topping up with ebm if she feeds for less than 20minutes. She did say to stop with the syringe and move to cup feeding, so we'll try that today. She also said to carry on expressing and to offer both breasts at every feed but not worry if she only took one.

MW is coming back on Monday as DD is still jaundiced, although not badly.

Thank you all so much for your advice and support, I don't think we'd be here without it.

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crikeybadger · 22/09/2010 12:50

Great news emskaboo- glad you finally got seen and DD has put on weight.

Have to say though - it comes to something when you get better advice from people in cyber space than trained HCPs.

Hope things continue to go well.

Original poster

emskaboo · 22/09/2010 13:21

Thanks crikey, me too :)

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RubyBuckleberry · 22/09/2010 14:57

emskaboo that is great news! keep going and bloody well done for coping and not losing it with all the conflicting advice - how infuriating , so nice one .

Original poster

emskaboo · 01/10/2010 20:10

Hi,

Just wanted to update everyone, probably more so I can see it written down! DD is now 5lbs 1oz, and we're no longer topping up.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

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