Really worried. My BF baby has lost more than 10 percent of her birthweight and still losing.

[My3Girls]

DD3 is 11 days old and has lost over 10% of her birth weight and has been weighed again today and has lost a few more grams since Monday.

The Midwife said it is probably because she isn't getting the hindmilk as she feeds so often (every hour to hour and half)for around 10 to 15 mins before she falls fast asleep and slips off the breast or uses me as a dummy. I am still having a bit of bother with DD latching on although the midwife said it was fine but it kills!!.

She also has told me to feed her every 2.5 hours and even if she falls asleep keep her there whilst trying to wake her up, until at least 30 mins are up. (hoping this does something)

Has anyone elses baby lost weight like this before and has taken a while to put it back on??

I really really want to avoid putting her on formula. Breastfeeding was one of my big ambitions for most of my PG as I failed miserably with DD1&2. Obviously if I have to I will but am so desperate to get this sorted.

Any advice please.

Ps: DD has lots of pooey nappies during the day and wet ones.

Feeding frequently is normal at that age

Waiting to feed her won't mean there is more milk for her to drink

Is the MW using the same scales everytime?
Is there anyone you can see about the latch?

SB Thankyou for the reasurrance. I am going to see if there are any local BF councillors if she hasn't put any weight on by the time she gets weighed again in a few days.

Don't worry. DD started on 50% and then fell off it slowly and surely and was well and happy but just small and now she is 9 and she is happy and well but rather petit.

Keep on BF and hold in there

I suppose what I was trying to say is some babies are normal and some are bigger and some are smaller...

TB yes the midwife used the same scales. I think the midwife suggested the 2.5 hrs thing because apparently rather than just snacking, DD will be more hungry and want to eat more. I have been following the 2.5 hrs thing since 1pm this aft. DD had her last feed at £.30 and finished at 4.05 but that was after lots of stops and starts during the feed. The feed at one was quite good and she did a poo straight after which I am hoping suggests she got the hindmilk (nutrition) but I don't know.

£.30 hmm I mean 3.30pm

Poor you, you sound understandably stressed. My ds1 went from 7lbs3oz to 6lbs within the first few days. I was told by the m/w to wake him and feed him every 2hrs as he was very sleepy. That night he woke with a vengence fed all night and put on 9oz, the next day we were allowed home.

Make sure your nipple & areola are firmly in her mouth and she isn't just sucking on the end. Check you can see her muscles in her jaw just by her ear, moving as she sucks. Are you in a comfy position, pillow under your arm so you can support her head. Make sure you drink plenty of fluids to keep your milk up. Take some of her clothing off so she isn't too warm and cozy and then flick gently her little feet if she starts to nod off. Remember to alternate each breast at each feed. How about expressing some milk so she can take it from a bottle and your dh can give her some and you can have a break (though not easy to rest if you have 2 other little ones).

With dd1 I used to give her a bottle of formula periodically as I wanted to be able to leave her with someone if I needed to go out. Mind you at 14 weeks she decided that she only wanted to b/f and refused to take a bottle until she was 8 months. Ds2 reused all bottles and was b/f til 13months despite bouts of dreadful mastitis.

Maybe if she just needs to suck give her a dummy temporarily in between feeds until you get her sorted. Good luck and I hope you both get this sorted soon. Could you get someone from the NCT to come and help you b/f? Do they do that sort of thing? x

ds2 "refused" all bottles......!

does she look as if she is thriving? She might have just emptied her bladder before or after a weighing which can make a difference.
my dd2 lost quite a bit in her first week but I just fed her a lot (waking her up if necessary) and she soon caught up (although is still on the small side).

How heavy was she to start with? Is she otherwise happy, healthy and generally alert?

It could be that she is just settling dow on to "her" growth curve. My ds was 8lb 15 at bith ((1st centile) and then lsot c. 1lb 9can't remember now how much) and then proceeded to gain wait so slowly that he dropped thorugh the centiles until he was chuntering along just underneath the cahrts. it took him six weeks (or was it seven) to regain birth weight. However, with support for the Breastfeeding counsellors at the hopsital, we established that he wans'* a failure to thrive baby. he didi eventually start ot creep back up again - and roguhly followed the 25th for a while and then the 50th, which is where (now a grown-up 6 year old) I think he is - if I bothered to weigh him.

Idon't think leaving it 2.5 hours between feeds will help - the more you let them feed, the more you will produce. I was encouraged to feed frequently and often. And if your latch is kiliing you, it's probably worng.

Part of the probelm could be ds' trick: he pretended to feed (right dow tot he wiggling ear) as he had learnt that that was when the "hassle" stopped (trying to wake him up to feed him - he wantred to sleep through the night before he was ready ). I partially stopped that by also feeding him EBM - although I supect that that was as much about the BFCs wanting to give me confidence that he was indeed giving him enough (for a while, every second feed I gave him was EBM, so that I oculd see he was getting plenty). I also had to learn a special "letterbox" way of squeezing my boob into a particular shape and then "posting" it into his mouth.

But the point was, I did all of this with good and qulaified support.

I hope you can get that either indirectly/virtually through here. or directly by seeing a properly qualfied breast feeding counsellor.

MG Wow!! at DS1 fantastic that he gained the weight back quickly

Goodness knows whats going on with the breast/nipple pain. All has been checked RE the latch a few times by HV and a number of midwifes and all have said its fine.

I have expressed twice whilst my milk came in as dd struggled to get on but am hoping now to get dd being on the breast fixed, before expressing again DDs daddy isn't here to help out so also tired which I am sure isn't helping.

Not sure if there are NCT councelors in my area am going to have to find someone though I think.

DD was 8lb 6.5 oz and is now 7lb and 12 oz.

I was also taught the letterbox had this morning, but still having problem with that.

Apart from the odd nipple latch check I haven't had that much support. infact I was gutted that I asked twice at the hospital for some help RE latching twice but no one came so I said right sack it I will teach myself but as we know its going abit pairshaped.

I only founbd out not to keep swapping boobs during the feed two days ago as I assumed this was what I was ment to do.

Will carry on with the 2.5 hrs thing until she gets weighed and then if that hasn't helped I will speak to someoneelse LLL or NCT.

My3girls,

I'm sure you can find a breast feeding support scheme somewhere locally - is there a Surestart with one nearby? Also your PCT should have an Infant Feeding Coordinator available. That said I think that the advice from your MW is good and she doesn't sound like she's piling the pressure on.

Tell us a bit more about the nipple/breast pain though....I suffered from thrush second time around and it's awful. In fact my friend stopped feeding after 6 weeks because of it....nipple pain may be normal at first but not breast pain...

My3Girls - ds1 lost 15% of his birthweight, and ds2 lost 11%, and both took 7 weeks or so to regain their birthweight.

Poos and wees are really good - they show that milk is getting through to the little one. Did the mw use digital scales and weigh naked (without a nappy?). When they're little, a nappy can make a significant difference, as can a big poo or a wee!!!

Is she waking for feeds day and night? Night feeds are really important in building up a milk supply I think. Don't let her go more than 3-4 hours at night, and I would feed every couple of hours during the day. Does she fall asleep during a feed? If so, keep waking her up and encouraging her to take more.

Feeding very often doesn't mean they don't get much hindmilk - tiktok compares it to a hot tap - in fact I would have thought feeding very often might mean she got more hindmilk!

When she's finished one side, offer the other as well. Also try changing her nappy and then putting her back on.

If she's generally quite alert, and pooing and weeing I'm sure she'll start putting weight on soon, but it sounds like it would be worth asking someone (NCT counsellor?) to observe your latch, especially if it's painful.

Hope she starts chubbing out soon!

(Btw, don't believe everything you're told about hindmilk necessarily - there is lots of misinformation out there! Tiktok is great on that, and she and hunker saved my b/feeding with ds2!!!).

LL I think that my surestart does a breastfeeding group. It all depends on the time the group is on due to the school runs etc.

Ok the breast pain is sometimes all over when DD is feeding. It's like someone is poking me with needles. The MW checked DD's mouth on Monday as I mentioned the pain. She said it was clear of thrush. It's is deffo not just nipple pain.

My3Girls
Well done in getting this far, I know its frustrating when the weight does not seem to be going on. How do you feel? Do you think she is thriving, is she alert and responsive? Do her nappies look like mustard will little seeds in? If so she is doing well. Keep feeding on demand, that might be every hour for the first while. Dont get hung up on the weight issue, breastfed babies dont put on weight like bottle fed ones. Also, dont wait to find a bf counsellor in your area, go to the NCT site, get the national number and call them - they are a great help. Keep up the good work, and if you can stay away from dummies and bottles for the time being - they can decrease your milk supply - Good Luck and let us know how it goes. X

"Poos and wees are really good - they show that milk is getting through to the little one. Did the mw use digital scales and weigh naked (without a nappy?). When they're little, a nappy can make a significant difference, as can a big poo or a wee!!!"

That what I assumed regarding the poo's and piddles too TS thankyou for saying that it is very reasurring as she has just produced another lovely nappy for me LOL. Yes MW used the digital scales without a nappy, just left the vest on.

"Is she waking for feeds day and night? Night feeds are really important in building up a milk supply I think. Don't let her go more than 3-4 hours at night, and I would feed every couple of hours during the day. Does she fall asleep during a feed? If so, keep waking her up and encouraging her to take more."

This has been a bit of an issue as I have had to set my alarm at the night, as she would happly sleep all night without asking for food.

"Feeding very often doesn't mean they don't get much hindmilk - tiktok compares it to a hot tap - in fact I would have thought feeding very often might mean she got more hindmilk!"

Think the problem has been the swapping breasts during the feed, so not giving her chance to get the hindmilk. So I was told

"When she's finished one side, offer the other as well. Also try changing her nappy and then putting her back on."

Will try this!!

"If she's generally quite alert, and pooing and weeing I'm sure she'll start putting weight on soon, but it sounds like it would be worth asking someone (NCT counsellor?) to observe your latch, especially if it's painful. "

Will do.

Check out the Surestart times - they should be school run friendly.

Does the pain carry on after you finish feeding? FWIW my DD2 never had any signs of thrush in her mouth and I had it a good few times over the first few months. If it had been my first time bfing I would have given up for sure. If you search my name in the breast/bottle feeding section you'll get some more thrush threads if you want to ahve a look.

I second the advice about not getting hung up on hindmilk etc. Just had this conversation with my cousin who is bfing her second (2 weeks old) after formula feeding the first. You are having the same wibbles as her at the same time.

I think that the 2am ish feed is very good for establishing supply (not sure why - need to revise my peer support training!).

Can you dream feed her at night - lying down to feed is a great skill to learn. TBH honest if it wasn't for the weight loss I wouldn't be too concerned about her sleeping at night....tough call!

I also had to wake ds to feed him during the night - initially advised to do so every 2 hours (but admit I only did it every 3 hours), then gradually spread it out to every being advised to wake him every 5 hours (at which point I stopped botherign! )

The changing the nappy, tickling him, squeezing srops of ater into his ear to wake him all helped - but as I mentioned, probably contributed to him learning to pretend!

The stopping swapping over in the middle of feeds should help - but just to confuse things, when you are expressing, it helps to swap over while you are expressing!

Can you find a breastfeeding counsellor locally ? I'd not be confident your MW/ HV are right just saying all is ok, think you need a more specialist opinion re:latch and advice. The hind milk thing is also a bit of a red herring , feeding frequently in a newborn is very normal. As well as NCT and La Leche, who have national advice lines and could probably refer you locally, there is www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/supporterline/index.p hp Good luck

Do your best to find someone from La Leche League to come and see you. And feed the baby like mad. Hang in there. Good luck.