totally conflicting advice by mw and hv re carrying on or stopping bf in 13 day old baby. any help appreciated

[gigglinggoblin]

i have been given the following advice by mw and hv. i dont know if either of them have had much training in bf and i dont know what to believe or do. ds is 13 days old, was 9lb11 at birth, is now 8lb 15.5. was 8lb12 on day 6, 8lb13.5 2 days ago so he is now putting on weight but i dont know when this started. we have no routine, he wants to snack/sleep all day and even tho this is baby no 4 i am completely lost. any help from anyone who knows anything? i dont really want to stop bf but i dont want to starve my baby either. tia

if i exclusively bf i will make enough milk

i am not making enough milk

dont worry about him not being back to birth weight by 2 weeks

he needs to be back to birth weight by 2 weeks

i can carry on exclusively bf

i can either top up with formula after 20 minutes on each boob or i can just give formula

sma and aptimal are the best formula

bf can take a while to establish after cs

general anaesthetic has messed up bf completely

GG, I was in a similar situation. DS didn't regain birth weight until he was 4 weeks old. Regular feeding will increase your supply as will eating properly, resting and drinking plenty. I know none of these are easy with a new baby. My HV recommended drinking 3 litres of water a day! I did this religiously and my supply seemed to be really good. I breast fed DS for five months. You're doing really well. If you want to continue BF then, with a little support, you'll be fine. Good luck

It's so difficult, isn't it. I won't add to the ton of advice you've got as I'd just duplicate it, but you are not alone. I had just the same problems - including a rather useless health visitor who was very firm about replacing a whole feed with formula. (just like you, dd had just started gaining a few oz, but not much, I had also had emergency CS, for what it's worth)

I nodded and smiled, but it didn'[t sound right to me, as I thought it might affect my supply, so called up the NCT breastfeeding helpline, who told me this was indeed the case. So I rang her up and said I was sticking to the bf, and she backed down completely. Now when I see her, she says 'how well I have done' at bf. No thanks to her though.

So, trust your instincts, get better advice here, and keep at it, and good luck. I look back on the horrors of the first few weeks of bf and can't believe I got through it, but we did.

Gigglingoblin- trust you instincts, ignore the mw, whose only desire is to get you off her books asap (and she can't discharge you until your baby regains birthweight). Contact LLL, and NCT breastfeeding counsellor. Get bf counsellor to come and watch a feed, to check for positioning problems.

My gut feeling is that he is absobloominglutely fine, but you need mental ammunition to fend off the mw with her evil bottle or formula. She was prob trained in the 70s, I'm guessing... A friends baby was born at a similarly healthy weight, and spent the first three months living off her reserves, barely waking for a feed.

Bottom line is, are you truly worried? You know your baby best. Stick with HV advice if she sounds more sold on exclusive b/feeding.

you might be interested in this thread I started a while ago about why weight gain/slow weight gain doesn't really matter imo

sorry wrong link.....

am feeling much better after reading all these!

great thread harpsi, i am def going to ignore what the silly woman said. there is nothing wrong with ds, he is very bright eyed and alert, looks well etc so im not going to worry.

didnt know they cant discharge you til birthweight is regained, how ridiculous! ok so they may want to keep an eye on you but i now have mw and hv calling round which seems a bit much. makes you feel like hiding behind the sofa when they call round

hi there im not an expert but my ds had no routine either felt like he was feeding 24/7 but I stuck with it and he's doing fine. In the end I gave him 1 bottle of formula at night (mainly because I was so tired and dh wanted a chance to feed him)and this was the best routine for me. I think if YOUR happy to carry on bf then do it.