Update: baby still losing weight, had to supplement

[IJustWoreMyTrenchcoat]

Hello,

I posted a few days ago about the troubles I was having breastfeeding and my baby was weighed today (day 10) and has lost a bit more weight. I have done nothing but feed, feed, feed since he was first weighed at home and had hoped the on-demand feeding had been working but it hasn't.

The Midwife has asked me to feed him every 3 hours then top up with 30ml of formula or expressed milk. I cried and cried while she was here. She helped me latch my baby onto the breast without a shield then sent my partner out to buy cartons of formula . I said I didn't want him to have formula but she said he needed it now, it didn't need to be forever, just until he starts to gain.

She said to feed every 3 hours for half an hour on one breast then top him up with formula or EBM, then switch to the other breast at the next feed. This contradicts the advice I got on here and what I was told by the NCT counsellor who came to my house to feed him on demand.

Am I supposed to feed him 3 hourly and in between as well? Will I be able to go back to fully breastfeeding? It feels like the beginning of the end and I am so teary at the thought of it.

Or if, like us, there was no rhyme or reason to the feeds express at the same time each day so your body thinks there's a feed.

As someone else said, formula is not poison. But it's a faff, especially once you get where i and the mums i know with older babies are - feeds during the day are 10 minutes max, no carrying extra stuff or sterilising etc. I remember things feeling a bit easier at 3, 6 and then 12 weeks :)

Take care of yourself. Feeding you is feeding your baby.

I'll leave most of the expert advice to Tiktok, who really knows her stuff.
But I just wanted to reassure you that formula top-ups do not mean the end of breastfeeding.

My DS needed topping up for four weeks or so, after losing 11 pc of his birthweight and carrying on losing. He didn't get back to birthweight until day 27.
We eventually stopped the top ups as my supply caught up, with pumping on a hospital grade pump, and I could feed him with EBM.

At 10 weeks we were able to exclusively breastfeed with no top ups at all and now he's 10 months old and we're still bfing morning and night.

I remember crying when we bought him cartons of Aptamil, feeling like I'd failed, and thinking we'd never get to EBF. But I now have a happy and healthy 10-month old who's still breastfed and is currently trying to conquer the stairs.

One bit of advice I was given, which really rang true for us, is that it's impossible to teach a hungry baby how to breastfeed. This was definitely the case for us, as DS and I only cracked it when he'd had some formula and was less hungry and more relaxed.

Good luck and do let us know how you're getting on. I hope you're spending the day in your jim jams, on the sofa, eating cake and just feeding as much as you possibly can - that really is the best way forward, in my albeit limited experience.

Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement.

The midwife has been and my baby has put 40g on so it feels like a bit of a victory.

MotherofDragons82 I can totally relate to the crying when buying cartons of milk. I sobbed when the Midwife sent my boyfriend out to get some, sobbed when she fed him formula. But your story and the Midwife today has reassured me it doesn't have to be the end. She wants me off the shield to see if my milk supply improves (there is milk there but she said the shields are impeding things) and said to stop pumping if I can't face it at the moment - it was really stressing me out. It is so true about the hungry baby- he was getting so distressed and just pushing me away.

I feel a bit more positive today. He has had a breastfeed and is zonked out, couldn't rouse him to give him the top up.

Then he's obviously had enough :)

Good news about the weight gain Trenchcoat, just wanted to add in the suggestion that you try breast compressions (google Jack Newman for video clip) as well as switch feeding - feeding from one breast, then the other, then back to the first side again ...and so on.

And do try and be a bit selfish about the visitors, yes everyone wants to meet the new baby, but you need the time to rest, do skin to skin and feed, feed, feed.

Trench - i couldn't read and not write. I've been there, twice.

With DD1 I battled to EBF. Including a near constant round of feeding, pumping & topping up. I was physically & emotionally exhausted. At 6 weeks she had only gained 5 oz from birth. We introduced formula top ups & she gained 21oz in 6 days & I could enjoy her, finally. I mix feed til 13 weeks then switched to ff.

With DD2 she lost weight between 5 & 10 days. I knew I couldn't do the pumping thing again (certainly not with a toddler to look after) so introduced top ups straight away. She's 12 weeks now, still mix feed but only has about 4x3oz formula a day, feeds 4 hourly & sleeps through. I'm even debating dropping the top ups as I seem to have plenty of milk this time.

There is no right & wrong, only what is best for your family. If you want to breast feed I would suggest offering both breasts when baby roots & give formula after if she is not satisfied. DD2 still cluster feed in the evenings til 10 weeks but I let her which is maybe why my supply has kept up.

Good luck.

My midwife told me to becareful with nipple shields as they interfere with milk supply, try one day on and one day off

How are things now Trenchcoat?