Breastfed baby urine output?!?

[H18hjc]

Hello ladies,
I said a couple of weeks ago that u can search any issue or question you have regarding babies and someone somewhere will have asked the question before...
I have searched for my question and I can't find anything similar.

Now, in a moment of madness and sheer desperation due to what I believe is a period of low milk supply I decided to weigh a wet nappy to decide if it was "heavily soiled"...
Now I know this would be crazy but could some of you amazing breastfeeding women whip off your babies nappy after say 3 hrs and weigh it (urine only) and post what you would consider normal and heavy with wee?! We are talking disposable nappies too?

Any responses welcome

You guys have got me to this point without needing to post and for that I am truly grateful!!

X

Is this just idle curiosity or do you have an issue? I don't think it would be that helpful. it will vary by age, size, brand of nappy, whether they are a heavy wetter, your scales....

Sorry, just re read your post

Heavily soiled is just heavier than when you put it on. Hold clean in one hand and wet in the other. if there is a clear difference, that's wee!

I don't have a baby any more I'm afraid, but from memory little babies do very small wees anyway - if you hold the open nappy in the palm of your hand you can feel a little weight compared to a dry one from the packet.

With disposables it can be harder to tell - another trick is to put a little piece of toilet paper inside the nappy (not sticking out) - if it's soggy then you can tell they've done a wee.

Yes, how old is the baby. If you want to be sure a newborn is weeing a cotton wool pad in the nappy will prove it.

Or leave the baby on the change mat with no nappy and wait

Aaaaargh. No one needs to know this. Really, really they don't. I mean they do it in hospital, sometimes, with sick babies (they measure urine output by catching it - I don't think they weigh the nappies).

Weighing nappies gives no useful information at all about healthy babies.

Babies vary how often they wee, and how much wee their bladder holds at any time.

OP - why do you want to know how much urine your baby has passed in 3 hours?

I'd love to have the time for idle curiosity but I am at my wits end trying to breastfeeding my baby who appears so unsettled it's breaking my heart.
He is 21 weeks, has been an absolute star of a baby, he went from EBM to breast as I struggled so much to BF so I think I have done fantastic to stick it out this long.
My concern is due to lack of attachment (bond), no cuddles, fussiness at the breast, pulling, appearing frustrated whilst feeding with the addition of fewer wet nappies, bowel movements not of pastey consistency for the last few week, no feeling of fullness, unable to express (tried both breasts for 20mins) an hr after an evening feed. lack of milk from hand expression.

When feeding he seems to give up when there isn't any milk. I know you can't "dry up" but I seem to have.

I have had him weighed every week and he has followed his chart textbook fashion until last week when he didn't gain any weight.

I didn't consider there would be so many variables so for that I apologise!??

I am sorry things are so hard for you but I don't think other people weighing nappies is going to help here. There is an awful lot of anxiety in your post. Why is a five month healthy baby being weighed every week (monthly at most would be standard, precisely because they often have weeks they don't gain). Also it is very unlikely your baby hasn't bonded with you or that your milk has dried up. Do you have anyone you can talk to about your feelings?

A lot of the things you describe like shorter feeds, softer breasts and fussiness are all really comnon as babies get old , your boobs settle and the world around them is more interesting than feeding

older, not old!! Blooming auto correct

OP, you say your concerns are:

" lack of attachment (bond), no cuddles, fussiness at the breast, pulling, appearing frustrated whilst feeding with the addition of fewer wet nappies, bowel movements not of pastey consistency for the last few week, no feeling of fullness, unable to express (tried both breasts for 20mins) an hr after an evening feed. lack of milk from hand expression."

Weighing nappies will not help one jot with any of that. Sitting expressing for 40 mins is a waste of time, unless you actually need ebm for some reason. Plenty of happily bf mothers get nothing or next to nothing with expressing - especially with established bf. There's nothing else to worry about in your post except the stuff about your feelings of a lack of bond - that's something that needs proper help, not weighing nappies :(

No one knows how much a nappy of a 5 mth old ought to weigh, so you have no baseline to compare your baby's nappy to.

Your baby sounds fine. Weighing weekly is not helping - instead of weighing your baby, the HCPs doing this should be helping you with your anxiety instead of fuelling it with pointless and anxiety-making weighings.

What help have they offered with your anxiety?

You do sound v anxious, OP. You really don't need to be weighing your baby weekly - monthly is enough. In fact, I almost never weighed DC1, and I only weigh DC2 about every six weeks, purely to give myself a pat on the back for successfully BF!

Your issues regarding bonding and fussiness while feeding don't seem as if they'll be fixed by weighing nappies. If you have an approachable HV, I'd suggest a chat with them.