DS not gaining enough weight...

[MrsMcQueen]

My DS is 7 weeks and I had him weighed today and he had only gained 7oz in 2 weeks. I'm breast feeding and he feeds day and night every 3 hours but he feeds 30 minutes on each boob which the HV thinks is quite a long time. I'm wondering if my milk supply is a bit low. Any suggestions to increase milk supply?

Heya! Congratulations on your baby!

I can only really suggest pumping when you get a chance to increase supply! I know in this situation you might have a lot of people saying top up wirh formula but i would be worried about that negatively affecting your supply.

Do you kniw about any local support groups? Here in cardiff we have a few and I've found them really helpful.

I can't remember but don't think half an hour each boob is particularly long for such a small baby!

How is your baby otherwise? Does he seem healthy?

MrsMcQ - a single weighing is not really enough info....what really counts is i) your baby's rate of growth over time ii) his general health and development

What's i) and ii) in your baby's case? :)

The length of time he feeds does not sound all that unusual - does the HV know enough about the wide variation in normal bf, I wonder?

Many babies age 7 weeks feed more often than 3 hourly - if it's actually the case that your baby needs more milk, then simply feeding him more often would be easier and more effective than expressing, for most people anyway.

Yes - agree with Ann that a support group would be a good idea :)

Ooohh yes tiktok is (as usual) right. If he's only feeding every 3 hours I'd try feeding him more and only express if he's sleeping/refusing.

And has it been a slow but steady increase?

My dd2 was very similar. She gained 8oz in 2 weeks etc. She fed lots but was qute sleepy. The initial problem wasn't my supply but dd's inefficient feeding. She would take enough to tick along and was very happy in herself. But she didn't take enough to put on enough weight imo. After a few weeks I feel my supply did start to dwindle a bit as my breasts obviously thought they were only feeding a very little baby. Lots of expressing got my supply back up.