Advice please - 18 week old crying at breast, not poohing and gaining weight slowly!

[hotmama]

DD2 is 18 weeks and is exclusively bf. She was 9lb at birth and has always been a slow weight gainer - I have posted before!

Got her weighed today and she is 'only' 14lbs and has only put on 3ozs in a fortnight. The HV is happy - so why am I worrying?

DD2 is also just not poohing very frequently - e.g. every 5 days(ish) I know that this is normal for bf babies but dd2 usually poohed more frequently - it has been like this for the last couple of weeks - I put this down to the warm weather?

DD2 does loads of wet nappies and she is fine in herself but obviously full of pooh. She has now started crying when feeding after a couple of minutes - seems really in distress - her mouth is full of milk so I 'know' it's not a supply problem.

DD2 isn't really bothered about feeding anyway - is demand fed but probably would starve herself if I didn't instigate a feed.

The HV has advised me to mix a tsp of orange juice in a 1oz of cooled boiled water and give it to dd2 and that this should ease the discomfort and get things moving - not really sure about this as the only thing that dd2 has had is bf - and wanted it to remain this way until 26 weeks(ish).

Any advice please - should I be worried about her slow weight gain/lazy feeding/non-poohing?

TIA

Don't give her orange juice, she doesn't need it.

LOTS of bfed babies slow down, weight-gain-wise at this age.

Feed her as usual (more often if she wants it when it's hot) and see if gentle tummy massage/bicycling legs gets things going.

What are her poos like? Are they hard or soft?

Normal bf poohs - when they eventually come - just a bit thicker in consistency IYKWIM.

I wonder if I'm not feeding her enough, as I said she isn't bothered about feeding most of the time and doesn't show the signs that she did when younger. Often sucks her fingers and toes anyway!

She is sleeping well at night and wakes up once at varying times for a feed.

If they are normal consistancy then imo there is no problem. I am appalled that your HV has suggested "treating" what is perfectly normal bowl habits, epecially with something like oj - you are right to be cautious about her advice there - babies under 6 months shouldnt have anything other than bm. Bm is designed to be easily digested and so would be the best thing for your LO is she is a bit bunged up, but as she is doing soft poos then that wouldnt seem to be the problem here. Anything up to 2 weeks I think is normal for a bf baby! It could be that she is using more of the bm & so there is less waste iyswim.

You say that she is obviously full of poo - what makes you think that? Could her crying be teething or simply coming down with a cold? If she is not producing hard poos then it is unlikely that she is bunged up.

Slow weight gain on its own isnt anything to worry about either - is she alert when awake, hitting her development targets, doing plenty of wet nappies? These are better ways of telling if she is having enough milk. If you hadnt have her weighed would you still be worried?

She's fine Hotmama.
Really.

Take it easy.

hotmama, there's nothing wrong with your baby or her feeding. Your HV is giving you the advice she might give a mother of a truly constipated formula fed baby. She may be uncomfortable, hot, teething, whatever, at the times she starts to cry.

It is fine to instigate a feed....some mothers do this, because their babies are placid and easy going.

Thanks for calming me down!

As it happens just after I posted my messages I went to pick up dd1 from Nursery - on the way back dd2 did a nappy full - so I don't need to resort to the orange juice.

She had a bath, went to bed at 10pm and fed her and she slept through to 7.30 - so she is fine - just have to accept that she doesn't pooh every day and that she is a bit of wriggler when feeding.

Thanks for your advice and calming vibes.