this is what ds is feedibg - experts, is it enough,

[MostlyCake]

Hi. DS is 2.5 weeks old snd this would be a typical feedibg session, I'm not sure if he's getting enough to eat, does it dound like he is?

Boob 1: feeds for around 12-16mins, has trouble staying awake without constant poking and proding from me.
Falls asleep for 10 or so mins. Woken by a nappy change.
Second feed of around 10 nuns or less. Again, struggles to stay awake.
Possible third try but rarely longer than a minute ir so.

He will do maybe 5 dirty nappies and 5 or so wet nappies over a day and night. Some days there are a lot more but never less. Most poops are yellow but there's sn occasional green one.

I offer the second boob and occasionally he will take it and go a similar pattern but more often than not he just goes to sleep.

I'm worried he's not getting enough - have posted previously about not being able to express (just don't get anything) and am getting pressure to top him up with formula. If supply is the issue then replacing a feed with formula is only going to make things worse.

Generally the latch is fine but the last few feeds have been painful and I'm constantly taking him off and relatching. It seens to me that he's not opening his mouth wide enough.
I can't get a bf support person to come to my house as I'm not in the town... next group is Wednesday but im going to struggle to get to it - dp back at work and only one car...

My firdt question is, does this sound as though he's getting enough to eat? Snd secondly how do I improve the latch - id there a way to get him to open his mouth more?

Thanks for all advice.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Sunflower how did you get on at the group? What problems are you having? Is it sore boobs and slow weight gain like mostly?

[NothingsLeft]

It's exhausting in the beginning sunflower hang in there and utilise all the support you can

[Sunflower1985]

Thanks for this , having similar problems with my 1 week old. Going to support group tomorrow for some hopefully sound advice. So tired

[NothingsLeft]

I do think people forget that boobs are both food and drinks. Sometimes, especially in this heat, they just want a little drink and a snuggle. Sometimes they just want a bit of comfort. The boobs are a million things rolled into one.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Think I'll bow out of this thread now but OP please reread tiktok's comments. She is way more qualified to advise you than 99.99 percent of HVs.

Congratulations on your new Lo and I hope things work out the way you want

[MostlyCake]

Punctuation is over-rated I think..... hope the above post makes sense! You might have to read it over a few times....

[MostlyCake]

I think she was both? There were a couple of student midwives there too, one of which observed the feeding as well.

I didn't discuss the slow weight gain-want to keep consistency with our own hv and forgot all about the tongue tie! I really don't think this is an issue tho as he is feeding ok.

Keeping more to a schedule has massively increased the time he spends actively feeding before he would snack by going on for a few mins then dozing off wakung up and coming back for more.

This was really draining as I'd have to sit with him in my arms fir hours st a time or if I did get him down he'd wake after half an hour si neither of us were getting any sleep and ny boobs couldn't catch up as they just weren't getting a break. Then if he did suddenly sleep for a linf stretch I'd pass out too do he would then end up going for hours without feeding. So I do think the advice was sound as it is helping break this habit.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

So glad you feel in a better place. Just out of interest, was it a HV or a BFC? Did she check for tongue tie? We're they able to discuss the slow weight gain with you?

Is the bfing group one that you could go to each week?

I'd go with feeding on demand too. All the current information says to do this and it seems a little odd that you were advised not to.

Wanting to feed more in the evenings is just what babies do. Bathe best thing you can do is to let DH bring you drinks and snacks, watch TV, chat to DH and feed, feed and feed some more. Have a look at this

If you feel like you want to reduce the top ups when he's a little older, there's no reason why you can't work with a BFC to do this. There's some good information on it here.

[MostlyCake]

Managed to get to the bf support group yesterday and DS latched and fed perfectly! 20 mins each side with a little snooze in between then out like a light for 2 hours!

The hv person couldn't see anything wrong - quite an atypical feed but I at least was able to see that we could do it and to recognise what a good latch felt like etc.

We've decided to move back towards more on demand as he seems to be ok with 2 hourly feeds during the day and night but more often in the evening which we were trying to not feed as it was outside the 'schedule'...

Im happy giving him formula top up 2x per day as he is so small.

Think we've cracked it!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

mostly how are you both today?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

lady anyone would think you you had a baby and were sleep deprived

[LadyDowagerHatt]

Oops, thought I had forgotten to post my first message, clearly not!

[LadyDowagerHatt]

Agree with pp, you really need to get some RL help as what you are doing at the moment clearly isn't working in terms of the desired weight gain. And if more formula is being added you are in danger of not being able to get back to EBF (assuming that is what you want).

I had my latch checked by 2 midwives (1 at the hospital and my own community midwive) but DD was slow to gain weight. I went to a bf session and the advisor said the latch was poor and helped me correct it. The weight gain is now speeding up now and thanks to a HV who didn't panic we weren't advised to give formula even though it took nearly 5 weeks to get back to birthweight. However if I hadn't gone to the group it would have been very different as I was sure my latch must be ok and would have carried on as I had been with a poor latch and slow weight gain.

[RedKites]

Another one saying try one of the phonelines if you aren't able to get out to a group. If you don't have them the phone numbers are in bold at the end of this page .

Also, when people talk about x hourly feeds, I think they normally mean from the beginning of one feed to the beginning of the next. So if it's 1.5 hours of feeding, then half an hour of settling, then an hour of sleep before feeding again, many people would say that is feeding every three hours rather than every two.

[LadyDowagerHatt]

Agree with pp, you really need to get some RL help as what you are doing at the moment clearly isn't working in terms of the desired weight gain. And if more formula is being added you are in danger of not being able to get back to EBF (assuming that is what you want).

I had my latch checked by 2 midwives (1 at the hospital and my own community midwive) but DD was slow to gain weight. I went to a bf session and the advisor said the latch was poor and helped me correct it. The weight gain is now speeding up now and thanks to a HV who didn't panic we weren't advised to give formula even though it took nearly 5 weeks to get back to birthweight. However if I hadn't gone to the group it would have been very different as I was sure my latch must be ok and would have carried on as I had been with a poor latch and slow weight gain.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If your nipples are sore, what has the HV said about them? It sounds like you really do need some additional support to what your HV is giving you.

Is there a reason you can't get to the bfing group? I know you must be utterly exhausted but it should be worthwhile.

Did you manage to read the Keelymom info on increasing weight gain? That suggests working with a Lactation Consultant but a BFC should be able to help you too

Did you manage to contact the la Leche league as well. Hopefully they may know a BFC who would come out to you or be able to help you on the phone.

Hate to tell you this too but feeding every 2 hours is from the start of one feed to the start of the next. So if baby feeds at 7am you should start the nect feed at 9am.

Has the HV suggested trying breast compressions? This might help to speed things up a little.

Agree tiktok is a BFC so worth listening to. Feel though that with your sore nipples, poor weight gain and the rather unusual advice you seem to be receiving from your HV you need some RL support and quick.

[nextphase]

Can you read kellymom for advice on bf? In my experince, most HV know nothing about bf, and sometimes just give plain wrong advice.

I'd listen to TiktoK further up, but try and find an expert, rather than listen to all us lot. Not sure who the new experts are, she's just a name I recogonise.

That said, he's my point of view - making him wait 2 hrs is obviously not great for either of you. What happens if you split the difference between what he want (90 mins) and the HV (120 mins), at 1h45? fwiw, I'd feed on demand. With DS1 we loosly followed EASY (eat, activity, sleep, you), except we were EAES, and the mummy used the "you" time as extra sleeping. So he was feeding about once an hour.

Please, don't get him weighed so often. The difference between just being fed, due a feed, just filled a nappy, about to fill a nappy can make the differences your talking about. Think the recomendation is every 2 weeks.

I'd go by looks. He's weeing and poohing. Alert for periods through the day (and possibly night?), generally happy except when he;s asking for milk and you wont give it to him? Sounds like a happy baby to me.

Don't expect to be able to pump sensible amounts- baby is much more efficient than a machine.

One more thing to think about - how often do you eat / drink? Breakfast, early morning coffee, snack, drink, lunch, drink, drink, supper, snack? That more than every 2 hrs (but then you'd liek to sleep through). Is he feeding much more often than you eat or drink something?? eapecially in this heat.


Congrats on your baby.

[MostlyCake]

Oops! HV coming back on Tuesday for another weigh in.

[MostlyCake]

It's been a difficult few days! Still persevering with the 2hourly feeds but its quite draining as a feed plus nappy changes and burping takes up to 1.5hrs. Add in a half hour of fractious crying before finally dropping off he is asleep for an hour before its time to get up again.

HV was here yesterday and he's put on 4grams only. Because of this We've been advised to add another bottle so thats us up to 2 now :-/

I feel the bottle is contributing to his poor latch and now I have really sore nipples. He still falls asleep at the breast and is really difficult to wake him.

He seems hungry and gulps down the formula. Am feeding him first to try to keep my supply up and so far haven't noticed a difference - however this also means that my supply hasn't increased either.

HV was here yday and hes

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

How are you getting on now mostly? Its almost 24 hours since your last post...

Keep posting and let us know how you are doing

[midori1999]

Sorry to hear you're having these problems OP.

I agree that seeing someone who is a specialist in breastfeeding may be helpful to you. Either at a breastfeeding clinic (NHS run) or the hospital's infant feeding advisor or maybe just speaking to someone at one of the BF helplines if you feel you can't easily get out?

I was repeatedly told by health professionals that my latch with DD was good and luckily she did gain weight well, but the latch was dreadful and I only really realised that once she was about 5-6 weeks old and it improved and I could finally stop taking painkillers. I'd had mastitis twice by then too.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Oh and carrying in a sling is a very good idea ^^.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I know that it is difficult to get out and its clear that you obviously trust your HV but I really would try to make the effort to get to your Bfing Support Group. Your HV is unlikely to have received much training in bfing and her advice regarding top up quantities and spacing feeds isn't very bfing friendly. Its fine not to seek out additional support but please be aware that bfing may not last as long as you might have hoped.

Also tongur tie is very easily missed. It really is a good idea to get this checked by a BFC. Is there a lll group near to you? The leader may be able to help

[LadyDowagerHatt]

Hi there, we have been in a similar situation with the vicious circle of DD wanting to feed but falling asleep and so not taking enough. What worked for me was carrying her in a sling - she would have a good sleep in there on me and then feed well when she woke up. I think previously she wouldn't sleep much in her Moses basket or anywhere else and I was mistaking her crying and being unsettled for hunger cues. Also because she wasn't sleeping well she was more likely to fall asleep when feeding.

[jennimoo]

I was told that I need to 'stretch' the gap between feeds as DD was snacking, although not the weight issues, and I wish I'd ignored the 'advice' as for DD it just meant both of us upset as she was having to wait when actually her little tummy just needed frequent feeds. I still resent what I believe to be totally made up 'advice' from the HV.

I hope it works for you but if you don't feel right about it just do what you feel is right.