TikTok if you're still there or other bf experts.... advice please!

[wherethewildthingsare]

Advice for my friend please, she has a 6 day old baby who was admitted at 3 days old because she was dehydrated. They put her on a drip and tube fed her formula. My friend is frantically trying to bf but doesn't seem to have any milk despite continual feeding. She's coming out today to be bf with supplementary bottles. Apparently she could only express 10ml on the hospital pump. I have told her to rest, eat, skin to skin, bf first (before top up formula) and maybe not give formula at night when her prolactin is highest. Can you give her any other advice? She is afraid to not top up with formula in case the baby gets dehydrated again and I don't feel I can tell her not to, although I wouldn't.

Thanks!

how upsetting and what a shame she isn't getting proper support (apart from you of course ). what about midwife? hospital? otherwise she needs face to face advice from a bf counsellor - la leche league , bf network or nct (helpline 0870 444 8708)

Agree tell her to speak to a bfc. Has her milk come in yet ? Is the baby jaundiced or have any other health concerns ?

I think her midwife has been useless, I warned her when she came home on day 2 that she needed to feed more frequently, wake babe up etc. The hospital has given her conflicting advice as usual, no sign of the bf counsellor. The baby was a little jaundiced which only increases sleepiness doesn't it? Otherwise I think she is fine. Her milk has come in but there doesn't seem to be much and of course if the baby has top up bottles she won't be hungry enough to stimulate it - catch 22! My concern is that my friend doesn't eat enough, she is very body concious and it's hard to nag her to eat properly! I don't want to bully her and I can see her abandoning bf altogether.

if she's body concious and not happy to eat more, remind her about all the weight she can lose by bf, so she is able to eat the extra food. is she drinking enough as i dont seem to make as much if i dont drink at least 4-5 pints squash/water a day.

my ds2 had jaundice for 7 weeks and we had to wake him to feed every 2 hours. i think that was the most tiring bit.

Where - well done for being so concerned about your friend ! Although it is important to rest and relax (I know very difficult when you have a new born) please let your friend know that her diet will not effect how much milk the baby is getting. Your friend does not need to eat masses of food to bf her baby. As long as she eats somthing every day and doesn't completely starve herself (not good for either of them as mummy needs plenty of energy to look after baby !!) It is true that you can lose weight very effectively when you bf exclusivley, esp. in the first few months. You don't need to have 3 large courses of food every day in order to bf. Often I just grabbed whatever I could, like a homous dip and bread or a sandwich and snacked loads (doesn't have to be rubbish, it can be loads of fruit and other healthy things), because it made me feel good and gave me energy to just keep going. I often felt dyhydrated myself, so always had hubby bring me a glass of water or juice while I fed DS. Again, you don't need to drink gallons, a few glasses of water or juice or milk is fine.
Yes, I think you have given your friend excellent advice. If she wants to keep going keep persisting with offering the breast to increase her supply at least 8 - 12 bf sessions per day for a baby this young, wake baby up to make sure she doesn't go without a feed for long periods of time, and yes, night feeds are very effcetive for increasing supply. Also Reduce and eventually completely drop the ff.

It would also really help if she could see her local LLL adviser (in person is better than chatting on the phone) or go to any local drop in session, baby cafe, etc. just to get some needed moral support as well as help with latch, etc. I hope it works out for her ; )

If my experince is anything to go by, my DS didn't latch at all for the first 4 days after birth, didn't get dehydrated (amazingly as he was born in the middle of a heat wave), I didn't supplement with formula, eventually he latched on day 4 when my milk came in. Quite often babies actually can't be bothered to latch and suck properly until mummy's milk is in, which can be several days after birth. Unfortuntaley I learnt this the hard way, didn't know what was going which led to many tears for both DS and I. We did get there in the end and never looked back !!

It's good you're supporting your friend, wtwta....and it's good you are careful. This baby has been ill enough to need rehydrating with a drip and may need to continue with formula for the moment, and you are right to be cautious about not telling her not to. The most imp. thing is to continue the stimulation of breastmilk, round the clock....your friend needs to talk to someone from one of the vol. orgs if her midwife is not helpful.