Help with weight gain & breastfeeding

[Icypop]

Hello.
My baby is 3 weeks old he was 6.14 at birth, went down to 6.8 by day 5. When health visitor came at day 13 he was up to 6.10 and shes been back today and hes only put on an ounce in a week so is 6.11.
Hes exclusively breastfed and seems to feed well...cluster feeds and has never gone longer than 3 hours between feeds. His jaundice has gone & he's awake and alert alot, plenty of wet & dirty nappies.
HV wants me to top up with formula...an ounce or two after every feed...
Does anyone have any advice?

Seek independent advice. Find a breastfeeding clinic, la leche or similar.

From what you say he sounds fine. If he’s had a massive poo or wee befor weigh in that can wipe out a weeks gain easily. Or hv scales are notoriously uncalibrated- moving the scales or a different set of scales can give massively different results.

Have a look at kellymom too.

I would just go with feeding more. Feed, feed, feed. Topping up can be counterproductive as it reduces the length of time feeding, so reduces supply and makes the issue worse.

BUT. I can’t see your baby. You need rl assessment from a bf expert. My own hv never weighed bf babies unless asked- said you could see by looking if a baby was struggling, the list of numbers means nothing without a clinical assesment.

Generally if he’s weeing, pooing, looking well and acting age appropriately, chances are he’s fine and it’s a scale error. Try to find ways of increasing his breastfeeding if you don’t want to top up just yet.

Pp said it much better than I could, totally agree with that advice.
Top up only if it's what you want to do and if you're satisfied that it's needed.

I always think that a hv whose answer to a breastfeeding issue is “top up with formula”, without discussing or considering any other problem or solution knows very little about bf. Or knows formula is an easy fix and you will go away and not bother her again.

When mine lost a bit of weight it was never suggested i top up. In fact they recommended I didn’t, as if there is an underlying pathology- for example a genetic or metabolic disorder, formula can boost weight and mask the real problem.

The hv should have asked you to try other methods such as skin to skin, breast compressions, changing your diet, checking latch, different hold, feeding, having a “babymoon”- taking to your bed for a few days and doing nothing but feed and sleep. There are plenty of things you can try.

It sounds like you are doing great! But i’d ditch the hv for a proper bf consultant, who will actually try and help rather than just tell you to top up.

Thankyou all. So i found a breastfeeding group to go to this afternoon. The nhs bf consultant luckily happened to be there...we have a plan and she even wrote me a page for my red book for hv to see she recommended not following her advice to top up...i have fenugreek tablets, and going to take to my bed and do plenty of skin to skin and feed feed feed and see if that helps! As a pp said she's also suggested some different holds. Feeling much more positive!

Well done you! You’re doing great and I’m so pleased you got help. Well done for going to the group and I hope you continue to get the support you need.