baby loosing weight , fussing at breast and cut out night feeds

[helenhull]

Hi my babs is 10 weeks old , she weighed 11lb 8 at birth she lost weight initially. And has never put her birth weight back on.In fact she is slowly loosing it at about half a pound in 2 weeks and is looking skinny.She is fussing half way through feeds and has cut out her night feed herself ( 12 midnight till 7am). I dont know if i am producing enough milk or she is not latching on properly she only tends to feed for about 15mins on demand during the day...... any advice would b very appreciated x .
ps doc has reff me to specialist waiting for appointment.

Have you tried the nct breasfeeding line or le leche?
We have a really good bfc here - tiktok- who will be able to give excellent advice.

Congratulations btw

HI WAT IS TH NCT? SORRY TO BE IGNORANT

nct=National Childbirth Trust. There's also the breastfeeding network... I'm off to find you phone numbers.

NCT website , 0870-444-8708.
BFN website , phone no. 0870 900 8787.

Good luck!

Helenhull, I think you are right to be concerned. It is never a good thing for a baby to lose weight, and the fact your dd looks skinny at 10 weeks is worth worrying about....sorry to be so frank, but it's better to be honest, I think.

You need to speak to someone, prob more than one person.

You need to speak to someone who knows about bf, and about how to support it and increase it through a crisis - the phone lines given here will help. It is not good that she is feeding so infrequently - a baby who needs to gain weight should be waking in the night, not dropping feeds.

You also need to speak to a child health specialist - could be a good HV, could be a good GP, or a paed - to check out your baby's health, as there may be reasons other than lack of calories underlying your baby's weight. I am assuming your GP has reassured you your baby is basically well.....though to be honest, you might want to seek another opinion about that, unless you are sure the appointment is gonna come through quickly.

What does your HV say?

How has feeding gone since birth?

Hope you can reply, and you get some good help soon.

Thanx tiktok...... I did go see my health visitor Monday. She did say babs looked healthy and alert,she tryed reasuring me that u can tell a poorly baby just by looking at them,apparently her skin is nice and not baggy or pale.
I suggested i swop bf for a formula feed b4 bed, she said its best not to yet.
I asked a diff health visitor today for 2nd oppinion. She said to substitute 1 or 2 feeds for formula. And tomorrow im going to get her weighed on a diff pair of scales at another clinic and speak to another health visitor for a 3rd oppinion.And if my appointment for paed doesnt come through by nxt week i will see my doctor again. So hopefully by the time i weigh her at clinic nxt monday she will have put on weight, as i am currently waking her up evry 3 hours for feed and twice in the night.She weighed 11lb7oz on monday.How much do u think she shud have put on by next monday? I hope everythings gonna be cool and i dont have to give up breast feeding. THANX VERY MUCH FOR ADVICE GUYS AND THOSE WEB SITES WERE REAL HELPUL X

Zebra, thanx for finding the phone numbers for me (smile)

Helenhull, good your HV says your baby looks ok. Unless there is a real problem with your bf, there is little point in substituting a breastfeed with a formula feed...this just makes you make less milk. If there is a real issue with supply, and it's affecting your baby's health, then 'topping up' with formula would be a less 'sledgehammer' way to deal with it, as it would be more of an addition than a replacement.

However, it may be that 3 hrly is still not enough to maximise your supply - it's a bit concerning that a baby who is not gaining weight to the extent you describe is still needing to be woken for feeds, too.

I still think you need to have a good long talk with someone who knows their stuff and who can observe a feed.

I saw a hv today and she says that baby looks well and told me to take some formula home and have it in my cuboard just incase.
She also said it would really b just for my benefit ,to make me feel better.
hv said that if i did give her 1 formula feed a day and she weighs more on monday,not to think its soley coz of formula it will b a number of factors.
She said that i am doing well and to keep up the breast feeding.
Hv also said that getting her checked out is still a good idea.(i know that anyway).
Even though its realy too soon to weigh her coz she was only weighed on mon,i still did and felt reasurred she hadnt lost any more oz ,she was the same as mon.
HV said her lenghth is very good ,also her head measurements were ok.
Baby was wide awake and smiley too wen i took her ,so hv comented on how alert she looked, it made me feel a bit better.
Its weird how i have felt that i'm letting baby down by not satisfying her.
I wonder if bottle feeding would ease my feeling of incompetence.
But i fel like its not about how i feel ,its about whats good for baby so i will try my best to carry on bf.
If i have to bottle feed it will make me feel like it gave it my best shot.
THANX AGAIN FOR GOOD ADVICE x

Helen.....the more you say, the more I think your baby's weight was recorded incorrectly at birth and possibly afterwards. She was a bumper baby, that's for sure, at 11 lbs 8 oz, so I assume she looked pretty big, too!! But a baby who is still not (apparently) at birthweight at 10 weeks and who looks fine and is developing well, despite a period where she lost half a pound, is unusual, put it that way

The things to wonder about include whether weights were translated correctly from metric to imperial and whether the baby was weighed naked on digital scales.

I would still be concerned if what you say about needing to wake her is correct, however.

Hi Helen - I've been seeking reasurrance from the website myself as dd was losing weight and also has to be woken for night feeds as she cut them out at 6 days old herself. Everyone who responded gave great advice. I don't know if my experience will help but I give dd formula topups after her bf. She is currently taking 10oz on top of what she takes from me and is steadily gaining weight again. Like yours, she dropped drastically from birth weight and took time to reach it again (is now 17 weeks). I felt so guilty about introducing formula, lots of tears and despair. Now fog has cleared I see it all in a bit more perspective. Okay, so maybe I wasn't producing enough milk (had surgery and blood transfusion which HV says stopped my milk in early days and have never quite recovered) but I gave her 100% of what I had. I now feel reassured that I am giving her what she needs, regardless of how. She's still getting the goodness of b milk and the extra calories from formula. One HV gave me a really useful tip which helped with the guilt. She said to think of the formula as the dessert at the end of the meal - we don't really need it but it's where all the extra calories are!! I liked this so much that I even refer to her bottle as 'puddig'! Do seek expert advice - but please don't despair or feel bad if you need to give formula. Just make sure you give it in addition to bf rather than instead of. Good luck.

thanks garfield thats very reasuring. I HAVE INTRODUSED BOTTLE ,ONE A DAY ON TOP OF BF.ALSO I HAVE BEEN WAKING HER EVERY 3 HOURS FOR FEED EVEN THROUGH THE NIGHT .SHE HAS PUT A LITTLE BIT OF WEIGHT ON SO I'M GONNA KEEP THIS UP AND SEE HOW SHE GOES. X