HELP ! Newborn breastfeeding all the time and loosing weight

[valerianne]

My sister has called me tonight, she is quite worried as her 2 weeks old baby is bf all the time (sometimes on the breast for 2 to 4 hours) and while he lost weight after birth, normal as we all know, he gained some and is loosing again.
She is finding bf painful (soreness) but her midwife says she is positioned correctly.
I never had such problems but I know you guys are full of good ideas and advice.
What should I tell her... she is getting worried !

Valerianne - first of all, get your sister to contact the National Childbirth Trust. their breastfeeding support line no is 0870 444 8708. they have wonderful breastfeeding counsellors who can talk to her on the phone or in person. feeding shouldn't hurt, and, with all respect to the midwife, she may not be expert in this aspect.

I went through the same sort of problems as your sister and ended up giving ds bottles as well as breast. he went from 8lb10oz to 7lb 7oz in 2 weeks.

i had some pain but at 10 days i had a face-to-face session with a BFC where i learnt a new feeding position which got rid of all the pain, and i breastfed pain-free until 5 1/2 months. however i had to continue with the bottles at the same time as i didn't seem to have enough milk.

at 6 weeks, desperate to feed, i had a series of very tearful conversations with another bfc who gave me the following advice: don't feed for more than 40 minutes on each breast (it wears you out and the baby gets most of the milk in the first10-20 minutes in any case), don't feed more often than 2-hourly, 3-hourly intervals are best (less than 2 hours and the milk is thin, more than 3 hours and the breasts may not be sufficiently stimulated) and, above all, rest, eat and drink as much as you want. her words were "follow your appetite". within days of following her advice my milk production increased enough that i was able to drop 2 and 1/2 bottles.

also, and i know it's difficult, especially in the first few weeks, she needs to remember that she is doing well. however your sister ends up feeding her baby, whether it's by breast or bottle or both, he'll be getting what he needs most and nobody else could give him that. good luck and a lot of joy to her.

I'd second NCT breastfeeding counsellors - definitely call them. It doesn't cost a penny, apart from the phone call itself.

TikTok, who is a BFC, often contributes here and I think has written before about similar problems. If you do a search using 'TikTok' and selecting 'author' you might find something of relevance. Good luck.

Hellooooo! Yes, she can give the line a call. You never know, your sister might get me ; )

This is a hard situation - babies who are losing weight need to be investigated. I'd want some confidence that the weight was properly read and documented (I could tell you stories....) , that the baby is not ill or anything (this is possible - undiagnosed heart conditions, or, less dramatically, urine infections, can cause the baby to lose weight, or more often , fail to gain despite apparently effective feeding) .

If bf is still painful, chances are the positioning and attachment can be improved, even if the m/w says it looks fine.

Valerie, you and your sister are right to be concerned...she shouldn't be fobbed off.

BTW, wmf, I'm really glad you were helped. I would be a bit puzzled by some of the stuff you remember being told, but clearly, whatever it was it worked for you, and that's great : )

I had exactly this problem. My first baby fed for hours and hours at a time and continued to lose weight. I'm afraid that it wasn't until around 6 weeks or so that my supply was good enough to satisfy him in a 20 minute feed and he started to gain weight.

At three weeks in desperation I resorted to trying him with formula and this was a big success as it pschologically gave me a break. I continued to give him a bottle every couple of days and then dropped it at around 7 weeks when he became exclusively breast fed again. During that time, I was expressing in order to maintain the supply although rarely got more than 2oz.

Feeding my daughter has been a completely different experience - at 6 weeks she was almost twice the weight of her brother having been the same birth weight. It is really really tough and I feel for your sister valerianne. She will get through it though but she is probably in for a difficult month or so if my experience is anythign to go by.

Not wishing to put a downer on things but I would certainly want to check out the babys health as tiktok suggested. Bizarre though it may seem my babies were actually allergic to my breastmilk and so fed and fed but weren't absorbing properly.
If this is the case then a bottle of formula would only make things worse. I really think in a situation like this you can't afford to be proud you just have to get all the reassurance possible from the health professionals.
Best luck and trust that it will get better..my middle son went from average birth weight to below the 2nd centile and has now settled nicely on the 25th ...)

Valerianne, how are the baby's poos? If they're mucous green poos, icky and watery looking, or he has a constant dribble bottom, then there is almost definitely something going on. One of the many clueless women that tromped through the house in the days after my son was born told me that all that was normal (it's not), so if she's a first time mother maybe you could have a discussion on baby poo and see what you think. If you think they sound not quite right, then do encourage her to see a doctor who will listen to her. She should see a doctor anyway.

My son is allergic to milk proteins. When he was diagnosed, his doctor didn't think it was lactose intolerance (lactose is the sugar in animals' milk, having lactose intolerance makes a baby unable to process breast milk, as tufty said) because my son was gaining weight.

Hope she gets it settled! If she's in Central London and would like a recommendation for a good doctor, let me know. I've found that with stuff like this it's always helpful to feel like the doctor is just as concerned as I am.

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Hello all,

Thank you very much for all your good advice. I have talked to my sister and shared your suggestions.
She is in contact with a bf couunsellor - she isn't finding her that great but she is giving her the benefit of the doubt and will see her in the flesh tomorrow I think.
She has decided to bf in a more scheduled way rather than having her baby as permanent breast feature !!! He is now fed 30 minutes per side (both sides) and every 2 to 3 hours. If anything he is quite content about that and she gets a rest. He isn't asking for more when she unlatches him and he is getting a dummy to suck on.
He hasn't been weighed since but she feels that he looks and sounds well.

Anyway I'll let you know how things progress but MANY thanks again to all of you.

Glad to hear things appear better, Valerie....but I would still be concerned about the weight. You said last week he was actually losing weight. If a baby loses weight, he can become very passive (to conserve calories which would otherwise be expended in fussing for feeds) and this apparent contentment may not be a good sign. Of course, the weight loss may not have been true - sometimes weighings are inaccurate for several reasons, or it may have been a trivial and transient weight loss, in which case looking for other signs all is well is quite appropriate (nappy contents for example). The scheduling of feeds and the dummy use are fine if the baby and the feeding and the mother are all fine.

Hi Tiktok,

Spoke to my sis this morning. She saw the bf counsellor yesterday, she was very nice and reassuring,said the latch etc. was fine, to keep going, made a lot of encouraging noises.. so that went well. Her nipples are now incredibly sore even when she isn't feeding !
She is hoping to have the baby weighted today or tomorrow.

Valerianne, sounds very familiar. My dd now 21 mths, & over 30 lbs, v healthy but was terribly long & skinny at just a few weeks. took ages to get breastfeeding established (3 bouts mastitis) - I used a tea strainer in my bra my nipples were so sore..also camillosan (also recommended for nappy rash) numbed the pain slightly. In the end we cracked it - and nipple shields helped along the way (& didn't create any nipple confusion).

I also used nipple shileds when I had sore nipples. The bf counsellor wasn't too keen but she wasn't the one in pain. It didn't create any confusion but I tried to use the shields for some feeds not all (for example, middle of the night WITH shield!)

Nipple shields may have a place in early bf - they certainly help some mothers - but the reason they should be used with caution is only partly 'confusion' ; it's more because they can cut down the stimulation of breastmilk because the baby may not remove the milk as effectively. This can lead to long unsatisfying feeds and a failing milk supply - believe me, I have seen it happen many times. And of course if the prob is soreness, they do not teach the baby to latch on better, unless you are lucky enough to fit the nipple shield well (and most women aren't). However, some of these drawbacks don't happen - they're things to watch for, even so.

In my experience, the latch can almost always be improved, and should be, if the mother is in pain like your poor sis

Don't want to gatecrash yur thread Valerie anne but I am having a similar probem to your sis and will keep an eye on this thread.
Bundle, had to smile at your teastrainer story- I would need two large sieves or collanders in my bra!

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I know you aren't supposed to put anything on sore nipples, but I did put Bachs rescue remedy cream on mine between feeds and it really seemed to help.

Also second robins vote for cranial osteopathy.

Another vote in favour of cranial osteopathy! Ds had a very difficult birth (with head stuck etc etc)and was a very unhappy baby - cried a lot, mainly in the evening, until around 2am when he'd finally sleep. Cranial osteopathy was recommended by a friend, and certainly seemed to have a very positive effect.

oh Jasper, that made me smile - women with kitchen equipment down their tops! Once all my suffering was over, I did find some Avent shells that you could pop in your bra to catch drips (I had gallons of milk) and relieve some of the pressure from clothes, but the tea strainer served its purpose (and curiously, we always use teabags these days, not loose tea..)