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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Where do I go from here....advised to give formula

47 replies

snowchick1977 · 21/12/2012 18:06

Hi

After some general advice/opinions. Long long story but briefly:

  • dd is now 9 weeks old and ebf. Weighed 6lb 14oz when born
  • at 2 weeks contracted a virus and was in hospital on oxygen where she caught another virus
  • at 6 weeks old she was "well" again
  • her weight was up and down during this time (because she was so ill)
  • took 38 days to regain her birth weight (she was ill)
  • here we are at day 70 and she is still only 7lb 8oz

I have seen all types of health professional, lactation consultants, certified lactation consultants, pediatricians etc etc. She feeds well, no tongue tie etc. General advice is that she has been ill for 6 of the 9 weeks of her life and no-one gains weight when they are ill. However she has dropped 2 centiles and is now outside of the bottom curve.

There is talk of bulking her up with weight gain formula, but, ive come such a long way breastfeeding that I dont really want to give up or give in (more about me there I guess)

We have tried top ups, she refuses them. She is alert, smiling, plenty of wet and dirty nappies, never sick, not overly windy, sleeps well and feeds every 3 hours. I have about 50 ounces of pumped breastmilk in the freezer as they tube fed her in hospital and i pumped more than she took.

I just wondered if anyone had any advice or any similar experiences that they could share?

Thanks so much x

OP posts:
Alibabaandthe40nappies · 21/12/2012 21:05

5.5oz in ten days is at the low of normal I would say.

But, it can take a while for appetite to pick up.

I would carry on as you are over Christmas, get lots of rest and then see how things are in the new year.

boobybum · 21/12/2012 21:10

I think people can get a bit obsessed with the weight charts. When DD3 took about 2 weeks to get back to her birth weight the health professionals were all in a panic. She was happy, peeing, pooing and alert etc but as she had dropped 9% they had to be concerned apparently! In all the literature I read it said up to a 10% loss was normal. Then a few months later when i was concerned she wasn't gaining enough due to ill health/allergies, the paediatrician told me not to worry! Even if your DD did drop down on the centiles when she was ill as long as she is maintaining the line now that is what matters I think. Also the charts are based on an average of breastfed and formula fed I believe so don't think your baby has to walk the line exactly. As long as she continues to appear healthy I would give it another week or two and then reassess. Well done for being so strong so far but equally don't feel bad if you have to supplement. Keep us posted.

snowtunesgirl · 21/12/2012 21:18

5.5oz gain in 10 days sounds good OP! I can understand why they might be worried but surely they must take into account the fact that she's been ill when looking at the charts.

I can't imagine putting her onto formula would immediately make her catch up weight wise.

snowtunesgirl · 21/12/2012 21:19

Just a note, boobybum, the Red Book charts are based on breastfed babies. It says so in the book itself.

ThoughtsPlease · 21/12/2012 21:26

At 8/9 weeks 5.5 ounces is ok in 10 days isn't it? I'd stick with EBF, now she is well you'll get a better picture.

marriedandwreathedinholly · 21/12/2012 21:30

Well done OP.

Hopefully she will be well over 8lb on 7th January, providing all goes well, and you will get the go ahead. If not, then you will have more evidence upon which to make a justified and rational decision.

I hope you all have a lovely first Xmas and am sorry you have had such a tough start.

Themobstersknife · 21/12/2012 21:32

Hi. You have had great advice. I can only add my experience is that formula is not some magic weight gain solution. DD2 breastfed like a demon for 2 weeks. Gained her birth weight in record time. Then I was hospitalised in a ward where she couldn't visit and with no sterile expressing and storage solution. We had no choice but to switch. She hates formula. She has never drunk anywhere close to the recommended amount. Her weight gain slowed right down. She is now 9 months. Still hates formula. Loves food. Is still small. Now night waking cos she won't drink enough milk. Luckily I had a good HV and when I was worried about her intake and weight gain, she just said look at her alert, gurgling, rolling around. She is fine! Hope you manage to persevere with bf as it sounds like that is what you want. Good luck!

AngryGnome · 21/12/2012 21:33

How long does she feed for? DS was v slow to gain weight, took him a long time to regain his birthweight (to be fair, he was a big beast when he was bornGrin)

I was advised at the time about foremilk and hindmilk. The foremilk, the milk at the start of the feed is thinner (like a drink for the baby), and the hindmilk comes through they have been feeding for a while. The hindmilk is thicker and more calorific, and this is what helps them to gain weight - so, if they feed for only short stops, they are getting mainly foremilk and not enough hindmilk to gain weight.

Disclaimer- I'm not an expert, but this is what I was advised and I did find that once ds started to take longer feeds his weight gain did pick up. You can google foremilk hindmilk imbalance to find more info if you think it might help.

HenriettaTurkey · 21/12/2012 21:41

I would say if she's gaining weight then that's great! If you want to continue the fab job you've been doing then you really should. Nothing beats breast milk at this age.

ChunkyTurkeywiththetrimmings · 21/12/2012 21:44

And just an additional thought - bm is actually more calorie dense than formula, so topping up with formula seems counter-intuitive to me. If you give more bm, she will get more calories than if you give a formula top-up.

I would also add that, as a first time Mum, I was panicked by HV about my DD's weight gain, when I voluntarily took her to be weighed at 3wks & she'd gone back down to her birth weight after gaining well. If I had gone by the wet & dirty nappies + alert etc signs, I wouldn't have had her weighed - the Red Book says every 2wks is the max frequency for weighing, otherwise monthly, yet suddenly I was being told to get DD weighed every 2-3days or so!! They started on about formula top-ups but suddenly twigged DD was putting on 6oz in a wk, so was deemed to be "fine". Coincidentally, she hadn't dropped the 2 centiles required to trigger concern and had started having periods of quite bad reflux.

In a roundabout way, I'm trying to say, go with your gut. If she's fine by your judgement, then she probably is. If you don't want to give up bf/give formula, there are options.

snowtunesgirl · 21/12/2012 21:46

AngryGnome, foremilk / hindmilk really isn't that important unless you have a massive oversupply issue. Also length of time is not indicative of whether they are getting a good feed or not. Some babies are just snackers or fast and efficient feeders.

You can't make a baby feed for any longer than they want to anyway so it wouldn't be possible to make them be on the breast longer! Number of feeds a day is more important than length of time per feed.

AngryGnome · 21/12/2012 22:04

Ah, thanks for clearing that up snowtunes - as I said, I'm not an expert Smile, I was just repeating what the LLL advised me.

Sorry OP, please ignore!

boobybum · 21/12/2012 22:05

snowtunesgirl I stand corrected. The charts weren't based on breastfed babies when I started breeding!

JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/12/2012 22:09

Agree the fore/hind milk thing seems to a bit of a myth. My dd also only ever fed for ten minutes max and gained weight well until she was older and too nosey to feed that is.

openerofjars · 21/12/2012 22:09

Are they weighing her on the same set of scales every time?

JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/12/2012 22:09

Sorry xposting.

Suzieismyname · 21/12/2012 22:26

Red book charts changed about 3.5-4 years ago. It's now based on 'optimal feeding' so purely on babies that have been exclusively BF for the first 6 months. DD1 was on the old average of BF and FF, DD2 was on the new optimal one.

Good luck OP, trust your gut (for your baby's gut's sake!)

Original poster
snowchick1977 · 21/12/2012 23:27

I'm concerned, but, not overly just because of all of the extra factors.

I was quite happy with the weight gain....at least it IS a gain :)

Thank you so so much for all of the advice and support x

OP posts:
snowtunesgirl · 21/12/2012 23:29

boobybum "breeding". Grin

JiltedJohnsJulie · 22/12/2012 13:00

opener makes a good point, scales can vary hugely. If you are happy with the gain I'd just try offering the breast more often, say every 2 hours in the day and make sure you offer each breast at least once each feed and let us know how you are doing Xmas Smile

Original poster
snowchick1977 · 15/01/2013 14:50

Just thought I would update you.

Dd is now 8lb 4oz. I stuck with my instinct and carried on breastfeeding and refused the option of weight gain formula.

She is still tiny, but is gaining weight slowly, and just below the 0.4 centile.

Thankyou for all your support x x

OP posts:
Loislane78 · 15/01/2013 18:20

Yayyy!! Thanks for updating as well :)

Hopefully LO will start piling on the pounds now she's over all the sickness, poor little mite.

Great news, you must be relieved things are heading in the right direction :)

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