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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Defective scales?

43 replies

WorrisomeHeart · 03/03/2015 19:18

I had my week old DS weighed today as by the weekend he'd lost 12.5%. In the weighin on Sundsy after some latch help and EBM top up, he'd made a gain of 40gm. However today, he'd lost that again. BUT, and this is a big but, the mat asst said when weighing him that she had to take 50gm from his scale weight to get the true weight - why on earth would she do this? We're now back on expressing/top up cycle - all this for a baby who is feeding often, with the right number of wet/dirty nappies, who has content alert phases and who comes off the breast seemingly sated (with a dribble of milk at the corner of his mouth.)
He's being weighed again tomorrow. What am I missing here?

OP posts:

SeattleGraceMercyDeath · 04/03/2015 02:24

Unless she knows the scars are crap, in which case, get them recalibrated (!) I can't think of an earthly reason why any weight would be deducted. Hang in there, sounds like you're doing all the right things.

Greenstone · 04/03/2015 02:40

Was going to say was he in vest or nappy but I see not!
OP I had the same weight loss at 5 days. It was so worrying but dd2 is ebf now and all was fine once she got going. I found a couple of formula topups were brilliant for getting dd2 to wake up enough to feed properly (expressing was so stressful and couldnt get any) and the rest was history. Switch nursing really helped too.

CelticPromise · 04/03/2015 02:44

You are doing a great job. The 50g thing sounds bizarre. I can't think of any reason why that should be done. Don't worry about missing your alarm- he woke you which is great :-)

If you are concerned about latch, when bottle feeding you could try touching his lip with the teat and waiting for him to open really wide as you would do with a bf so he stays in good habits so to speak.

Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 02:58

He's always woken for feeds - that's a good sign right?

Thanks for the bottle feeding tip. After about 10 stressful mins of him mucking about, he's been latched on both sides for a good while. It's normal to have a different suck pattern in a feed right? So active swallowing moving to a comfort style suck? How long should he be actively swallowing?

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Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 03:15

And (grasping for straws here) could the fact that he's a section baby make a difference? Milk came in on day 4 - might this just be a case of waiting for him to catch up?

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Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 03:23

And how does the feed 3hrly thing work when he's fed for 2 hours? He's simply not going to be hungry again in an hours time, surely?

Thanks again for all your help and advice. I wish I'd used this forum more when my DS1 was born, maybe I wouldn't have messed it up that time.

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Waffles80 · 04/03/2015 06:55

You didn't "mess up" at all! Not in the slightest.

I know its so so hard not to see bf "success" as down to you, but your specific baby and specific circumstances, not you, are the biggest factor. It sounds like you are doing everything right.

My DM bf'd my younger sister and I successfully in the 80s till we were both over one; she was totally thrown watching me bf my twins (which was fricking difficult - prem, not very good at latching, reflux). She was extremely supportive but just blown away that something that had been so easy for her - with NO support - was so difficult for me. Different babies, different circumstances.

I hope your LO starts to gain well. Well done and congrats

tiktok · 04/03/2015 07:30

Worrisome, try not to over think this. Wait until you get a decent, reliable weight and have had a sensible discussion with the midwife.

Lots of great suggestions here, but wait until you know you need to do anything before you start thinking they all apply to you :)

Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 07:53

Thanks everyone. I'm a bit black and white about this, so it helps to hear the rational comments. I'll update the thread after the weigh in.
It may be my exhausted brain but he actually feels heavier today. My arm is going numb.

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tiktok · 04/03/2015 08:27

Yes post later. It is normal for sucking style to change but you gain nothing by trying to time the different styles. That way madness lies :)

Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 08:38

Star girl, thanks again for the vids - just watched the 'sucking with swallow/no swallow' and DS is definitely swallowing so that's helped.

Glad to hear that Tiktok - apart from anything else I have no idea how to make him do the deep suck for longer!!

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Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 11:43

Bloody incompetent mat asst can't use scales - he's up 60gm today! Mw going to have words with ma about why she thought she needed to deduct 50gms from yesterday's weight, mw is happy with his latch and suck, we need to continue EBM top ups (if he wants them) to help clear the jaundice and next weigh on Friday.

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tiktok · 04/03/2015 12:07

Your baby sounds as if he is doing fine, Worrisome, as are you.

It's disgraceful that such incompetence has led you to this much worry.

It's a shame it got this far.....a baby losing 12.5 per cent from birthweight has not been well-served by the maternity services, anyway, as the difficulties in feeding should have been spotted before it got to that stage.

Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 14:24

It's interesting you say that as his latch wasn't checked until the day we left hospital (so day 2 for him) and I, not knowing any better, thought he was latching well. Even then he was seen by a further midwife and latch checked (at that point the loss was 10.5%) before I saw the angelic mw who really helped by observing a full feed and showing me what to look for etc. In my naïveté I thought the care was good but looking at it from this side, perhaps not. Thanks again for all your help on this, thank god for MN.

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tiktok · 04/03/2015 14:33

Maybe your ds was ok all the time - 12.5 per cent is over the usual limit of weight loss, but what other signs were there things were not going well? What about nappies? Was he producing several yellow poos from day 4-5? Or not?

Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 14:58

Until Sat (so day 4 for him) he wasn't quite there on nappies. Since then, (when we got the latch/sucking sorted) he's been right back on track, and making up for lost time - 5 pooey nappies since midnight today.

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tiktok · 04/03/2015 17:34

So the weight loss of 12.5 per cent was recorded on day 4-5? And that coincided with a delay in the nappy department? After which things speeded up coincidentally with attention to effective feeding? But this was all thrown into confusion because the weight on Sunday was, er, confused?

Original poster

WorrisomeHeart · 04/03/2015 18:37

Day 3 weight loss was 10.5%
Day 4 weight loss was 12.5% - that's when I saw the brilliant mw who helped me with the latch. Up until then the nappies were a problem.
Day 5 (Sunday), he was weighed again (on same scales as Day 4 by angelic mw) and had gained 40gm
Day 7 was yesterday when it appears he'd actually had a 10gm gain given the figure she got to with the -50.
Day 8 - today he's 60gm up from the Day 4 weight, so 11% loss now.
Wow, typing it all out like that - it's been a rollercoaster!

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