Very slow weight gain bf newborn

[Shantotto]

Yes another I don’t think my supply is very good thread! And it’s very long and waffley.

DD is 6 weeks today and has only just got back to her birth weight. She dropped for first couple of weeks but didn’t quite hit the 10% so I think that’s why they weren’t too worried. So she gained a few oz a week for a couple of weeks. Then she lost weight again. Then she gained 3oz. But the next she only gained 1oz. Now to this week! Gained 3oz and is now above her birth weight finally.

She’s gone from just under 75th to the 9th centile. And I don’t know if HV today just used a too big pencil but to me the mark looks like it’s under the 9th!

Anyway. Her and the BF support workers have told me maybe this is just her line. She is pretty much following a new line. She’s no longer dropping or not gaining. She seems alert when she is settled but this isn’t often as she’s always feeding or sleeping usually! She is producing wet nappies. Dirty ones fairly infrequently. Went to the doctor after it was 6 days after meconium passed and no poo. After a glycerine chip worked on her it’s around a week between or 4/5 days. There’ll be a couple a day It’s a darkish mustardy brown and thickish. Maybe a couple on the day she does go.

It’s like I don’t really believe them though - surely if milk was ok she’d be gaining more? I’m worried about how she’s dropped and she just seems so tiny! I’m very tall and not exactly slim so I feel strange I have this tiny baby!

With my first the laces too consultant said she thought I had Insufficient Glandular Tissue due to the shape and spacing of my breasts. This also worries me. Also another big sign of worry is the lack of change to my breasts - there was nothing in pregnancy, and afterwards too. Never felt like any milk came in - not even a sensation of fullness they never feel empty after she’s fed.

She feeds loads - I’m putting her on a lot. She can feed an hour and not come off or she can off after 20 minutes. I do try both unless she’s been on for an hour and I really have to deal with my manic three year old! She can fuss and cry in frustration after a while so I swap her.

I suppose I’ve just go no confidence. I do have a pump but no time to really use it much - there’s no hope of me doing say every two hours. She’s feeding then! Or asleep. Or screaming her heart out if someone else holds her or I put her down.

I dont know what I’m asking! Reassurance maybe! Advice? Thanks for reading this huge post.

Did you bf your first? It's unclear. But if you did the problem is with dd not you.

Some people will have insufficient tissue, but you can't tell that from looking, so ignore that for now as it's not helpful.

You don't mention latch difficulties so I'm assuming that's fine. If she's feeding lots and for ages you'll never feel full/empty as there'll be no build up of milk. A baby feeding that often will increase supply to meet demand. You have a demand problem not a supply problem. Some babies just don't like milk and some are too well fed before they're born. She'll be okay, the milk is there if she wants it, she obviously likes feeding.

If you want a positive, in my experience babies like that are much easier to wean. My dd was the same and is now a happy greedy toddler that wouldn't touch milk from 10 months.

Sorry, yes I did bf first one but he was jaundiced and wasn’t weeing, was tongue tied and fed terribly so we had to give formula. We never managed to drop and I did absolutely everything and was driven to pretty bad PND over it. I did bf him until he was 2 and a half despite all that!

Latch ok - it seems a little small sometimes but it’s hard to get her to open wider. There’s no pain though.

Thanks - I did hear from a friend who was told she had to weigh her slow gaining DD twice a week(!) that when weaning started she packed on tons of weight.

Its really hard to drop the formula after the first few weeks and you did well to carry on despite everything, that's a lot to push through. But at least you know you can do it so remember that. There's nothing to feel bad about combi feeding, but you clearly didn't/don't want to and that's a perfectly valid decision to make as well. We were at the hospital every two/three days for weighing too because they didn't believe I was feeding her! All the stress hormones makes it actually much harder, which is so unhelpful, same with pnd it's a vicious cycle.

Small mouth with no pain is likely more comfort sucking, she'll get just enough (hence now following the bottom line), but isn't trying to get it out, and you can't make a tiny baby try if she doesn't want more. As long as she can open wide if she wants to. But I wouldn't introduce a dummy if you haven't already, that comfort milk will be really important at the moment.

Only other thing is that feeding a toddler or older baby is very different from feeding a newborn, and the early days are often poorly remembered, so just make sure you're feeding her like a baby.

There are definitely times when her mouth is huge! I don’t think I attach any differently when that happens. 🤷‍♀️

Maybe I just need to detach detach detach to see if it does get bigger more often. I think I put her on when she’s crying with tiredness rather than hunger. I’m sure that’s what she’s doing right now! I’m not going to use a dummy, never did with first. I just want her to gain! She feels so skinny :(

The small mouth has been seen by a couple of different BF support workers and they haven’t mentioned it. They say her chin is well positioned and cheeks rounded, ear waggle etc. I don’t hear much swallowing though.

Well. Just had a very stressful hour trying to feed at the library. Every time I tried to get a wider latch DD cried and fussed until I put her on as we normally do and she fed for ages and it just didn’t seem right and she fussed away. DS refuses to listen to me and tore round like a whirlwind interrupting people and it ended with me chasing him around trying hold DD one with one hand and then me and DS crying in the floor.

She's latching fine just doesn't want to feed then, which will be why no-one has mentioned it. And there's no point detaching if she's latching fine. I know it doesn't feel like it, but really, you're both doing okay, sometimes it's just how it is.

You only hear the swallowing when they're gulping sort of thing, she's sipping, which is also fine so long as you're prepared to feed all day everyday. I honestly fed while eating, while sleeping, while having a bath, whilst on the toilet, pretty much whenever other than if she was being changed or I was driving. But I didn't have a toddler to chase, so I'm really hoping my second is easier, because your day sounds awful.

I have a similar problem in that my DS feeds for absolutely ages, lost weight and I had no changes to breasts. Has to introduce top ups early on due to some other issues I had and have been too scared to reduce. Does your DD seem satisfied after feeds or does she continue to cry and fuss?

She does seem happy. If she does cry I think it’s mostly she wants a nap as going in the sling sends her to sleep instantly and certainly lets me know if she’s in there and hungry! Ugh now I’m just staring at her fretting about a small mouth.

I have had this with two DC. DD2 also took 6 weeks to regain weight. Have you investigated tongue tie? This was a contributing factor with one of my DC's poor feeding.

Also, was she bigger at birth than you might have expected? What is your/DH/other DC's general height/build? I only ask because with hindsight both my DC definitely experienced catch-down growth. They were both born at 90th+ centile. After months of trying to feed DC1 after slow growth, I switched to formula and kept feeding her. I was pleased when she started to rise back up the centiles to the point where she was positively chubby. Then we hit a plateau and she didn't gain any weight for two months. She went down to the 20th centile where she settled and has remained ever since (now age 9).

It's important to keep under medical supervision but if she is otherwise settled and weeing lots, slow weight gain is not always a cause for concern. From the way she feeds, I would check out tongue tie though.

I’m 6ft and size 18! DH around 5’10. My first weighed less than DD when born but he didn’t drop as much but mind you he was on formula top ups very very quickly. He’s almost 4 and is very tall and on 91st centile for weight. This is one of the reasons why I’m surprised at her smallness. Although I was looking at red books and DD and DS were same weight at 4 weeks weirdly. He turned into quite a chubby thing with the combi feeding.

One of the first things I asked after DD was born was about tongue tie as DS had one and they tell me she doesn’t have it. She’s being weighed again in two weeks so just need to try and relax and take stock then.

I think you are right to be concerned. Insufficient glandular tissue is relatively common (maybe google hypoplastic breasts). Dropping 3 percentiles is usually cause for a review by a paediatrician - did you see one? I would ask for a referral.

Hi I feel for you OP. My DS was slow to gain weight and the HPs all made me so stressed about it and gave loads of conflicting advice including - DS shouldn't be feeding more than every four hours, latch is good, , feed all the time, he's comfort latching not feeding .

We went to breastfeeding clinic and they were keen to add in top ups and pumping. So routine was bf, bottle feed, express. It nearly broke me to be honest it was so unrelenting. None of it really worked for me and the stress impacted on my milk supply. I feel v bitter about it as I needed good one to one support and a clear plan - not every different MW, HV and paediatrician telling me something different. A

So first bit of advice try to speak to Bf specialist and agree a plan of action and monitor it. If it's not working after 3-4 weeks change it

Anyway, it became clear at 6 months that DS was lactose intolerant and we had to switch to special formula and were weaning. Both these things made a huge difference.

Looking back there were signs DS was not comfortable feeding - excess wind, a lot of dirty nappies, not wanting to drink a huge amount of milk at once preferring to Bf little and often. So I would also suggest you check out allergy / intolerance issues.

Good luck.