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Infant feeding

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

baby lost weight

9 replies

suzi2 · 22/09/2005 16:26

My DS is 7 wks old and is exclusively breatfed. He has gained between 6 + 10 oz a week the last 5 wks. But this week he has lost 1.5 oz. He was also a bit constipated all week and the HV said to give him water and a teaspoon of orange juice - we did that yesterday and he pooed.

I;ve been told not to worry but I am. Is this normal? I have lost all confidence in my breastfeeding ability and milk quality. If I express I get almost no hindmilk at the moment.

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 22/09/2005 16:33

Please don't give him orange juice. He is very unlikely to be constipated if you are exclusively breastfeeding. It's just that breastmilk is very efficiently digested a lot of the time, especially by six weeks - and there's not much waste.

He may look uncomfortable and strain - it's because they're not really used to the sensation of pooing and it can feel peculiar. DS used to strain and strain and produce the softest most explosive nappies - they got less frequent as he got older. Some breastfed babies poo every time they feed for weeks, some begin to go less frequently and anything from every feed to up to a week-ten days is normal.

He may have been going to poo anyway when you gave him the orange juice. If it's soft/runny, don't worry.

How often do you feed him? Can you try lots of skin to skin contact and feeding him every time he opens his mouth for a day or so?

Expressing will give you absolutely no idea how much milk you're producing, or whether it's foremilk or hindmilk. Breastmilk doesn't go from being foremilk to hindmilk immediately - it gets progressively fattier as the feed goes on. But plenty of women successfully breastfeed their babies without ever being able to express anything much, so stop stressing about doing it.

And don't get your baby weighed once a week - once a fortnight is plenty - as long as he's wetting plenty of nappies and seems alert and happy. Look at the baby, not the scales. Weight gain often tails off a bit as they get bigger.

DS used to lose oz here and there too. Think how much an ounce actually is and if he'd done a big wee just before he was weighed this time, but not last time, that could've made the difference - hence not weighing so frequently.

HTH a bit xxx

Miaou · 22/09/2005 16:40

I was coming on here to post some advice suzi, but hunker has said everything I would have said! Would just emphasize what hunker says about look at the baby - plenty of wet nappies and happy in himself = no problem. Some hv's seem to obsess over weight. If he is losing it hand over fist then yes there is something to worry about, but 1.5oz is nothing.

Well for someone who had nothing to add I seem to have taken up a lot of space

hunkermunker · 22/09/2005 16:41

And just want to say - your DS has put on between 6 and 10oz a week in the last five weeks - don't doubt your milk or breastfeeding ability please!

Breastfeeding just changes as the baby gets older so that it gives you new and different things to worry about

(Miaou )

lummox · 22/09/2005 16:42

Is he being weighed with the same scales each time? I got really stressed about ds around that age because he seemd to have dropped loads in a week, but when he was weighed with the original scales he had actually stayed much the same.

Also as HM says, 1.5 oz is a tiny amount to lose. If he was weighed before a feed, or after a wee or poo this can make up to 6 oz of difference either way.

I've found that the weight gain is very stop/start. Please don't lose confidence in your milk supply. Particularly not on the basis of what happens when you express. When I started expressing I got nothing out at all. Now I can do a reasonable amount provided I do it every day, but I "lose it" quite quickly. The apparent division between thin and thicker milk varies by the day.

One last thing - I posted a thread when I was feeling rally bad about breastfeeding a while ago, and somebody (may even have been HM) gave me the best piece of advice I have received which was to make a promise with yourself not to give up bfing during the night. If in the morning you still want to, fair enough, but not when you are sleep deprived and feeling low.

ds now 17 weeks and still exclusively breastfed largely as a result of this advice.

suzi2 · 22/09/2005 16:48

thanks guys. He feeds often (8 times day +) and wets often. He seems fine - getting plenty of smily playful times. I think he is happy and well .

I think the HV started to knock my confidence when she questioned his attachment etc. She even said to use the expressed milk i have in the freezer to top him up each day. I agree HM that the OJ wasn't necessary - his poo was just excessively runny - I think it would have come anyway and he seems to be a bit out sorts anyway. Won't be doing that again.

Thanks again - you've both boosted me.

OP posts:
Miaou · 22/09/2005 16:54

Ignore your hv. She's talking poo

Miaou · 22/09/2005 17:12

Actually, seriously suzi, don't assume that hv's are always right - they have an opinion, which you can choose to listen to or not, or balance her advice against other advice and your own instincts. Sometimes I think hv's cause a lot more worry and stress than is necessary, particularly in first-time mums.

hunkermunker · 22/09/2005 19:25

No need to use the expressed milk - doing so won't boost your supply. If you're feeling particularly pesky, ask your HV how it would do that

You're doing a brilliant job - he sounds just fine. If you're worried, talk to someone who knows about breastfeeding - a counsellor, not an HV, in most cases, sadly.

alux · 22/09/2005 19:34

gah, another hv creating a problem where none exists.

have nothing else to add. all been eloquently said already.

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