Little confused - breastfeeding

[TeacupTempest]

I have a 3 week old DD who is right at the lower end of 'normal' for weight and although has gained in the last week it was below what was expected.

I have been bf on demand and DD has been appearing to feed well. Cluster feeding in the evening. Lots of wet and dirty nappies. But still a tiny weight gain.

The HV yesterday told me that DD might be using me as a dummy and if she was not fully feeding to take her away from the breast for a couple of hours. But that doesn't really seem to be demand feeding anymore as she cries when taken away...

She also suggested that I should wake DD in the night so she doesn't go more than 3hours without a feed.

Any thoughts or advice? I would rather not have to top up with formula.

DH and I are not exactly giants so maybe DD is just a bit weeny?

It's hard to say, some babies do just take a little longer to get back to birth weight. In some cases there may be an underlying reason (not saying that is the case) We can't really advise though, as Organic said, the best thing to do is to see a Breastfreding counsellor/lactation consultant in real life. They can see you and your baby and make a more informed decision

Ok. Thank you :)

Hi teacup! I SO feel your pain!! My DS struggled to gain weight too and even now at 11 weeks is only 4oz heavier than his birth weight. I too was told to feel every 2 hours and wake him at night. Don't want to worry you, but you might want to have your little one checked for tongue tie. I thought that couldn't possibly be the problem as I had absolutely no nipple trauma and he was able to feed to a certain extent. He ended up having a 95% tie so you never know. Had it snipped at 9 weeks and things are now on the up. Might we worth you checking if you haven't already?? Good luck, and just remember, you know your baby best xxx

You can probably get a breastfeeding specialist to do a home visit. You can also speak to a breastfeeding ('counsellor', I think) through phoning the LLL. As for the advice you've been given, I'd ignore the advice to unlatch your baby (I certainly give my baby as much time on it as he wants). I might agree with waking your baby in the night, but use your instinct on that).

Teacup - some good stuff already here. Your baby's slow weight gain is a concern, though - some babies are just fine when they don't gain but others are signalling they do need to bf more often ....much more often, sometimes, and to feed more effectively. You can ring any of the bf helplines and discuss this more. She may need more 'sides' each time as well as extra feeds.

It's important to get this sorted rather than just hope everything is ok, though.