Weight Issues/Breast feeding

[Lynzjam]

Hi All

This site was recommended to me by a friend so here I am with my worries!

I have a 3 week old (plus 2 days) baby girl. The birth went well and breast feeding was off to a good start to begin with. She was jaundiced (still is a little) and was having difficulty latching on on day 3 when my breasts got engorged. So I started expressing like a madwoman and feeding her by bottle as she wouldn't latch on to my nipple.

To this day she still won't latch on. IT's not that she doesn't want to, she tries but it just doesn't happen. Only way I can get her to feed at the breast is via a nipple shield so that?s what we are doing at the moment. Every now and again I'll try her with just my nipple but I'm not too concerned about weaning her off it at the moment. I'm just glad she feeds at the breast.

So she got weighed yesterday and has only put on half an ounce in a week. She has grown a bit lengthwise (noticed some of her baby grows don't fit) and she is feeding ALL the time so I don't know what more I can do!

I feel my milk supply is fine. Away to express some actually to see how much I'm getting. But I do leave the baby to suckle for as long as she wants! She feeds well most of the time and is sometimes sick what seems like all of her feed :(

Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance. There?s probably more info I can give but feel like I don't have time to write it all!

Lynz

Lynz, sorry you're having a difficult time.

Have you called any of the breastfeeding helplines? Having a proper conversation with someone can move things along.

From what you say, I suspect there is a difficulty with the effect of the shields - they can be a useful tool, but some mothers find they reduce the amount of milk that gets into the baby. Nipple shields rarely fit perfectly over the nipple/areola and they just do not permit the same sort of attachment at the breast as the baby 'direct'.

Someone knowledgable could observe you feed and help you feed her without the shield. You could try self-attachment/biological nurturing positions (google biological nurturing).

It is also possible that the slow weight gain is i) an error on the scales ii) a blip and next week she will show a much greater gain. But I think with your history - the jaundice and difficulty latching - you'd be better not sitting and hoping, but taking some action to turn things round.

If she is sicking up actually whole feeds regularly and not gaining you need to go to GP to discuss. GP wanted to give my DS2 reflux meds because of this - luckily though the sicking stopped before I got the prescription.

Just bumping for you dude, hope you are ok today :) x

If there's a latching issue I really think you should see someone in real life. You could see if there is a BF cafe near you (or LLL). If money isn't too tight then you could hire someone to come round

Good luck

Did the breastfeeding lady that the midwife sent round help much with the latching?

HV not happy with breastfeeding lady. Says that she must speak to HV first before phoning me! HV worried I'll get too much conflicting advice.
So baby got weighed today and she has put on half an ounce in two days. HV mentioned supplementing her feed with 4ounce formula once a day for a week and that brain development was really important just now. She also mentioned that some babies don't get back to birthweight until they are 6 weeks. My baby is not even 4 weeks and is 5ounces over her birth weight so was thinking what's the problem then?
My baby seems happy, alert good wet and dirty nappies. I'm not concerned about her or milk supply. But then I'm no expert, she's my first baby!
I'm not against the idea of supplementing my milk with an extra formula feeding a day, I'm just wondering is it really necessary? She has put on weight well before so I'm not concerned about nipple shields slowing supply. She always comes off herself satisfied!

Lynzjam - I am no expert in bf but like you I am a first time mum and found the whole BF experience very difficult. The only thing that helped was seeing someone who is an expert in BF and getting them to check my latch. I am confused why your HV does not want the BF lady to contact you, this seems really odd to me! Are there any BF cafe's/drop in's in your local area. If so try to go along, honestly they should help, even if it just gives you the opportunity to talk it over with other mums.

Hopefully someone with more experience will answer your questions about FF. But my understanding is that if you are worried about your supply then adding FF won't help. And like you said, why add it when baby is putting on weight?

Good luck, you are doing really well.

Tiktok - do you mean that although baby may seem to feed ok with the shields, she would be able to maybe get more without them if she was able to latch on ok?

I heard that babies still get the same with shields, just takes them longer? My breasts are always soft when she comes off! Thanks for comments guys :-)

Also a few people have seen me feed with shields and say its fine. They have to make a different mouth to feed from one, it's not the same as feeding without one. My breasts start to leak milk as soon as I put shield on sometimes! Hence why I'm not concerned about supply.

Oppps, sorry just reread you inital thread and realise that you are not worried about supply. Please ignor my comment about supply! Sorry sleep deprivation makes me unattentive :)

Lynzjam- could it be that you are getting her weighed too much? You stated that she is already over her birth weight and is having plenty of wet/poo nappies. Surely she shouldn't need weighing two days after the previous one as this will just lead to anxiety.

Like you, I'd be dubious about giving formula as it can fill them up so they take even less bm at their next feed. If she does need extra, they why not extra breast milk? And of course there's the impact on supply that you already recognise.

I think you should hold out to see the bf lady- she'll have a lot more specialist knowledge than your HV.

Seems like a bit of a power struggle going on between the two of them

Summerhols - I appreciate your comment! Don't worry. :-) feeling that way myself!

Crikeybadger - BF lady is lovely though and I feel sorry that HV is kind of undermining her role.

I ended up phoning and helpline and explained that I wanted to speak to someone different soldiers obviously didn't feel like I was going behind anyone's back! Lady in phone said unless there is something clinically wrong and a doctor tells you to use formula, then there is no need to go down that route. She said go by instinct and that its up to me at the end of the day. Going to discuss it with partner tonight!
Another thing - I don't think my milk supply is established yet, not sure how long it takes to settle? I just want to give it time!
The only thing I'm concerned about is the weekend bit of jaundice hanging about her still. Last time I saw midwife she decided that there was no need to get her checked as it is not that bad. I saw a nice pink baby today in asda and compare with my baby, she is still obviously jaundiced!

Sorry about typos! It's my phones predictive text! Will check messages first before I post in future!

- I did wonder where the soldiers came in to it!!

Lady on the phone sounds like she's talking a lot of sense. I think you need 6-8 weeks for a milk supply to establish. Not really sure about jaundice, but I thought the best thing was just to feed lots.