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Infant feeding

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

Is my 2 day old dehydrated?

7 replies

Spagbolagain · 14/01/2012 16:42

DS2 was born less than 48 hrs ago. It was a homebirth, so since the delivery midwives went the only HCP I have seen was a midwife yesterday who came do newborn checks and see if we were ok. She was lovely and said we were doing fine. I am breastfeeding, he seems to be latching on ok, am feeding every couple of hours although both nights he has been wanting to be constantly on the boob, so have just kept putting him back on.

Today I get a phone call of "breastfeeding support" from a midwife at local hospital to see how we are doing. She asked me how much he is feeding and I described above. She told me I shouldn't be letting him access the breast so much or I would get sore, I should be expressing between feeds instead and not let him use me as a dummy. She then asked me about nappies, to which I told her we had a big dirty one yesterday and a couple of wees, and just one wee so far today (lunchtime). She said this was not enough, there should be 6-8 wet nappies a day. I told her that this didn't sound right to me for a 2 day old, given my milk has not come in, and told me to wait while she checked the guiuelines. She came back and said no it should be 4 wet and dirty nappies.
She's now sending someone else round to review us tomorrow as she thinks we have a problem.

Basically, should I be worried about dehydration? He's now done a second wee but still no poo today. Th only other thing is that his lips do seem dry and his cry is a bit hoarse.

If I should be worried, should I follow her advice, which feels wrong? My strategy has been maximum skin to skin and as much feeding as he wants, but she is telling me this is wrong. I feel this woman has phoned, undermined me and left me confused and upset, without even seeing my baby, and has now just left her opinion and pissed off. I BFd DS1 for 13months, so I have done it before, although the newborn bit was a couple of yrs ago. Please, someone with proper knowledge advise? Thank you.

OP posts:
GodisaDj · 14/01/2012 16:48

You sound like you are doing fab to me Smile

Nipples are there to sucked, yes they may be sore, but she had no right to say that.

Lots of skin to skin, feed on demand, turn phone off and do what comes natural is my advice. Milk will come in soon

Grrr it frustrates me when professionals undermine mums who are exhausted from birth and doing their best.

Big hugs and let us know how you get on with the visit x

Bucharest · 14/01/2012 16:50

Feed feed feed. When he wants. As often as he wants.

You might not be able to tell how many wees there are in one nappy.

You sound like you're doing fine to me, but I'm no expert, though I'm sure someone will be along soon who can tell you more clearly...but the phonecall sounds bonkers to me, esp the expressing thing/dummy.

Congratulations btw!

crikeybadger · 14/01/2012 17:32

What a bizarre conversation Confused.

To me it sounds like the 'tea trolley lady' has got hold of the phone and is having a go at being a midwife Grin.

Frequent feeds and skin to skin is clearly the way to go here- exactly as you are doing. According to the Unicef breastfeeding assessment here a baby of 1-2 days would be doing 1-2 or more wees a day and having 1 or more stool on day 1-2.

I cannot imagine why she thinks you would get sore nipples from frequent feeding- as long as the latch is comfortable, she should know that this will not happen. Expressing?? -for a baby that has been assessed yesterday and was said to be fine, is latching on and feeding well - I really can't see why on earth this would be necessary.

I totally understand why you would be left feeling upset, confused and undermined from this phone call and if you have the strength tomorrow, then I wonder if you could convey these feelings to the mw that you see then.

It's just not on is it.

ShowOfHands · 14/01/2012 17:45

Woah, the work experience girl's been given a bit too much responsibility hasn't she? When you're feeling more together I'd get in touch with the hospital and suggest urgent training is needed.

Both of my dc have been hoarse with dry lips in the early days. Hoarse from quite a bit of squawking and untested vocal chords and dry lips from constant suckling.

Feed to demand, absolutely and await your milk.

Stangirl · 14/01/2012 17:47

I've bf'd 2 children - the second was only born in July last year so it is all quite fresh in my memory. Seems like v v strange advice from the mw. Babies need to be constantly suckling in the first few days - 10mins on, sleep for an hour, the back to it again - surely that's what helps trigger the milk to come in?

With many bf'd babies dirty nappies often happen only every few days - I was told not to worry if there was even 5 days between dirty nappies.

Sounds like you are doing fine - the baby will be weighed every couple of days now until they are back to birthweight anyway - best way to check their feeding.

Spagbolagain · 14/01/2012 17:55

Thanks everyone that's really reassuring, and that UNICEF chart is v helpful crikeybadger.
Yes I will talk to the mw who comes tomorrow, I thought it was weird, but they pick the moment when you are most sleep-deprived and wobbly to come and destroy your self confidence. Personally I dont think its lack of bf support being such a problem round here, it's the fact that the advice is conflicting or wrong which is more damaging, and the people who deliver it are awful.

Am in bed with DS snoozing on my chest and snacking, looking v relaxed. So as long as dry lips aren't a problem, hopefully all is well. Thank you.

OP posts:
ShowOfHands · 14/01/2012 18:13

Long gaps between poos are normal in older bf babies, not newborns. Smile

Poos at the beginning are obviously tarry and black then a few days in they start to increase in frequency, lighten and become the inimitable piccalilly that is bf poo. You can see your milk supply establishing through their poos. At that stage, about 5-7 days in for us, it was 8-10 poos a day.

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