Not gaining enough weight, told to express and bottle feed.

[3boysgirlontheway]

DD is 2 weeks old today, she lost 12oz in her first 10 days from 6lbs 14oz down to 6lbs 2oz, she was weighed again today and gained .7 of an oz.

The health visitor advised pumping and feeding her every 3 hours with EBM. Is this going to give her nipple confusion? Will she go back on the boob after a week of this? Is there anything else I could try?

Also, I have expressed and I got about 75ml of milk, I divided that into two bottles because I have no idea how much milk she needs per feed, is 30ml enough for a 2 week old? When I take the milk out of the fridge, do I warm it up, and if so how?

Thanks in advance ladies. You would never guess she was my 4th child, its just that it is my first time breastfeeding and I really want it to work.

I'm not an expert my any stretch, but I can't understand why expressing would make you DD put on more weight

If it were me, I'd spend as much time as I could allowing DD to feed. Have you got anyone to help while you demand feed DD? How often does she feed? My DS fed more than every 3 hours at 2 weeks old.She seems so young to put on such a strict routine...

I found that I couldn't express any where near as much as DS needed and he fed much better from the breast. I also wouldn't introduce a bottle just yet. I'd be worried about confusion. A whole week without milk from the best is a lifetime to one so young. Plus, the more you feed, the better your supply will be. You might find that you simply aren't able to express for a whole week. I'd be very worried about supply...

Have you got any breastfeeding support workers that you can contact?

Hope someone more knowledgeable comes along soon, as it all seems very wrong to me... Good luck.

I agree, I would ask why the HV thinks a bottle would help. Keep on feeding as often as you can - I would say every 2 - 3 hours or more if she wants to.

Thanks for your reply. I have been demand feeding from the start, she feeds or at least suckles at the breast for hours and hours all day long. She just seems to not be actually feeding all that time, she just sucks for comfort.

They think that by bottle feeding her she will get the correct volume in and get her weight back up.

I just chatted to a lactation consultant and she said to give her the breast for 5 minutes first, then half the bottle, then the breast again and then the other half of the bottle. Then I can let her suck to sleep if I want. Does that sound any better?

I thought I could just let her suck away like mad and that she would get there eventually, I did not want to be washing bottles etc you know?

Even if she is sucking for comfort, she'll still be taking in milk. My DS fed for hours too. I think lots of breast fed babies like to.

I don't know enough about weight gain to know how much weight she needs to be gaining .It might be worth asking someone to check your latch to make sure it's effective. If she doens't have a good latch maybe she isn't taking in enough milk.

Otherwise, I'd be inclined to give her a little longer (Disclaimer - Again, I don't know muchabout weight gain). If you express for every 3 hour feed, and feed on demand/to sleep in the middle, when are you supposed to sleep?? I'd be exhausted!!

When my DS was newborn the hospital told me he wasn't getting enough milk as she was feeding too much (read 'all the bloody time'!) and after 3 days insisted I give him a formula top up. It was pointless - He just wanted to suck. No other reason that that was what he wanted to do. Stopped the formula when we came home and he was fed on demand and gained weight with no problems. He's 9 months now and still breastfed.

That advice does sound a little better, but have a think about how practical it might be.

Well I wouldn't give a topup in a bottle as it can lead to nipple confusion/bottle preferances. If toping up is really needed then using a syring or cup feeding would be a better idea.

If she's feeding for hours and not gaing weight then the latch could need some ajustment, did the lactation consulant look at this?

Is she having at lest 6-8wet nappies a day and two poo's? If yes then this shows she's taking plenty in if not then topups are probably a good idea if she's just feeding constantly but still not getting enough.

Has she been check for touge tie or any other abnormalites of the palite to make sure she can acutaly form a good seal ans suck effectively?

Well hang on a mo ... seems to me the HV was quite right to take this seriously.

The baby lost over 10% of her birthweight in 10 days, so you have to assume that she was not latched on or transferring milk effectively. A baby feeding like this could be on the breast 24 x 7 and still not getting any milk. In this situation, feeding EBM by bottle (or cup) is a good temporary solution. As well as ensuring the baby is getting fed, it also keeps your supply up.

I think the priority is to get some help ASAP latching the baby on, so she can start feeding direct from the breast. Basically you need someone experienced who can sit with you and make suggestions about attachment and positioning, and who can recognise the signs of effective feeding. Could the lactation consultant or HV help, or is there a local breastfeeding drop-in group?

In the meantime you need to express at least 8 times in 24 hours to maintain your supply, so at a minimum once every 3 hours. But you can feed the expressed milk to the baby on demand though - no need to express/feed at the same time!

I was told that a fast-flow teat (older baby size) requires less "work" (sucking) for a baby than BF does. BUT a baby would have to be pretty titchy and weak for it to matter in terms of weight.
As an aside, how much you can express at one go does NOT show how much you are producing, a baby is way more efficient than a machine. Do not let your HV tell you otherwise. ...