feeding routine small baby - 10 days old

[BlackberryandNettle]

I am home with my first baby - DD was born by csec at 37+0 due to a complication. She lost 13% of her weight in hospital due to being unable to latch and my supply coming in slowly (syringe feeding 0.1-0.5 mls ever 3 hrs was not enough). She was dehydrated - sure the temperature in the hospital room did not help! She rehydrated and gained a little in extra 2 days in hospital - milk came in, she latched onto nipple guard and we topped up with formula if needed.

Home and waking her up every 3 hrs to feed, expressing afterwards to top up after every feed too (we express one feed ahead).

I am wondering if anyone else had a small baby - how often you fed for. How long did the baby stay on for? How soon did you see a gain in weight? When did you drop the top ups?

I'm finding some feeds she is very tired and it ends up taking over an hour. She generally sucks for at least 30 mins at the breast.

Congratulations on your lovely little girl!

My ds was also born at 37 weeks and he weighed 6 lb 3oz but lost almost 10% within a few days as he took a while to get feeding properly as he had jaundice and was very sleepy. We had to strip him down to his little vest/stroke his cheek/tickle his toes etc to keep him awake long enough to feed. At first he would only feed for a few minutes at a time and it built up slowly. When we first brought him home I fed him every two hours through the day and night as advised by the hospital (I used to set my alarm!) which felt pretty relentless as feeds took a long time but he started to gain his weight back gradually. The most helpful thing for me was to get lots of real life breastfeeding support. Is there a breastfeeding support group or baby cafe near to you? I found them so helpful and reassuring and it was great to chat to other mums. Feeding can be so hard at the beginning but you're doing brilliantly to stick with it and you're doing a great thing for your little girl.

Take care x

Hi Sweet little bee thanks for your reply it has made me feel a bit better! We are going in the right direction as DD has gained some weight back but am a bit fed up with the whole nipple shield/ expresding / top up process.

We have found out about two bf clinics in the area and are going along on Monday to try to get some help going straight onto nipple. Also planning to get tongue tie checked so have a plan in place.

Good luck for your visit to the bf clinic and hope all goes well for you and your lovely little one. X

Hi there, hope you get some help at the BF clinic. I would say - try and increase the frequency of your feeds at least in the day. Every 3 hours is probably not enough in the early days, to establish supply etc.

Hope it gets easier for you soon :)