Please help.
My DD is 16 weeks and EBF. Over the past month or so her weight gain has slowed down to an average of 1oz per week :(
At 8 weeks DD was on the 25th centile. Now she is on the 2nd.
Rather than try to find out what the problem was my HV has been bullying me to top up with formula. So far I have refused.
I suspect something is wrong with the amount of milk my DD is getting due to the way she acts on the breast (and her lack of weight gain of course). After sucking and swallowing properly for about a minuite (sometimes less) she starts to squirm and get frustrated. Eventually she will pull off the breast and cry. At this point I put her to the other breast but she repeats this behaviour. It's heartbreaking to see my DDs face as she cries whilst looking at me in the eyes and I can tell she is still hungry. She carries on rooting. I have often spent hours putting her to the breast, she gets frustrated after a minute or so, then I switch breasts, etc, etc.
I have spent a lot of time researching what could have caused this problem (I found Kellymom and Dr Newman sites very useful) and I think I have located what 2 factors may have caused this:
For weeks DD got EBM in a bottle 5 nights per week (I pumped during the night). This frequent use of bottles has resulted in DD becoming frustrated at how slow milk comes from the breast. Thus she pulls off the breast sooner, and thus she gets less milk.
Also,
I have only been offering one breast per feed. I thought this would help DD get the fatty hindmilk at the end of the feed. I was wrong. I should have offered both breasts at each feed. I know this now.
So I have stopped all bottles. I now feed DD myself at all times. I have also started offering both breasts at least once per feed.
It has only been a few days since I made these improvements. Will my DD start to improve her weight gain? Or have I left it too late and DD will never BF properly? :(
Is there anything else I can do? I'm taking Fenugreek. Should I be taking Blessed Thistle too?
Also another question: DDs length was measured for the first time last week. She is on the 2nd centile for length (also 2nd centile for weight). My question is: Is DD on the 2nd centile because she is not getting enough milk, or is DD on the 2nd centile because I am only 5ft and being small runs in my side of the family?
Extra info: DD is bright and alert much of the time. She has several soaking wet nappies per day (not sure if its enough as 6 though?) She poos very infrequently (about once or twice per week). Her poo is greeny brown (it used to be orangy yellow a month ago).
Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated.