3day old and 11% weight loss ebf

[Justasconfusedwithnumber2]

I had my son 3 days ago, weigh in today saw that he has lost 11%. Midwife is coming back on Monday but has said if he hasn't gained or has lost more weight they would need to intervene with a plan. I am gutted as my first son lost 14% and we went through months of pumping, and some top ups with formula for two weeks.

I am ebf, the latch I am happy with although I admit I have blisters on my left nipple, but I believe these are just from the fact I am bfeeding again and will go as soon as the skin hardens, they are not bleeding nor causing any pain. It's my 'rubbish' boob, so the one that produces less milk, the baby needs to work harder for it.

I am still producing colostrum, my milk is not fully in.

What can I do? I am feeding on demand, roughly every 3 hours although sometimes more or less. I really don't want to have to start pumping or using formula again.

To top it off I have been having lower back pain since c section, and now some issues weeing so suspect I could have a urine infection from the catheter which may be hindering my health.

I'm worried on Monday they will send us back to hospital

Did your midwife witness a feed? If so was she happy with it? How is baby doing with nappies and alertness when awake?

You could try waking for feeds so feeding is 2 hourly. I know it’s hard when they’re still quite sleepy though x

I had a very similar experience with my dc. In and out of hospital because of weight loss, Urates in the nappy, I ended up pumping, breast feeding, topping up. All I did was feed. Tried everything, including domperidone which is a med that can increase lactation. That just gave me diarrhoea. Nothing worked. When dc was 6 weeks I paid privately for a specialist to see me. I was told after being examined that I didn't have enough milk ducts to get a full supply. I finally worked out that I could 'successfully' breast feed but my 'success' wasn't going to be the same as other women's. I wasn't going to be able to exclusively breast feed. I was only going to be able to give what I had. I carried on as long as I could gave dc ten mins each breast and then a bottle at every feed time. You just have to do the best you can

I've read (check with midwife - I'm not a pro) that c-sec babies can lose a little more than vaginal birth babies as when they are first weighed they have more fluid still in them as it hasn't been squeezed out by going down the vaginal canal. They excrete this over the next few days which gives a bigger weightloss.

It makes sense to me but like I say I would check that fact with your midwife. My 3rd DC lost about 11% but was alert, had good nappies etc so I just kept going. Made sure I was waking him if he fell asleep during feeds and pretty much just had him constantly on the boob. Also it's still early days, my milk didn't ever come in until day 4/5 with all of my babies.

If you can I would get a urine sample in just in case you do have an infection, better to get on top of it quickly.

I thought it was normal to lose some weight I wouldn't worry about it because they do put a lot of weigh later.

My son lost 10.5% at his first weighing. The midwife told me they normally intervene with anything over 10% but because he was feeding well and he wa a good weight to start with they would leave it till the next weighing before deciding whether to intervene. Luckily the next time he was weighed he'd gained.

I had an emergency C-section following a failed induction and she did say it could be because of all the fluid I had during the induction and labour. Once all that fluid had been expelled by the baby it makes them appear as if they e lost more weight than they actually have.

I also read somewhere (can’t remember where) that CS babies gain weight slower & adapt to BF slower than VB babies. I had the same when I had my DS by EMCS, he just didn’t gain weight (we also had some very serious health concerns about him), we were in hospital for 6 days & eventually my DH insisted that he was given formula (I was a bit shocked and not at all ‘with it’).. DS immediately gained weight & we were allowed home, I combi fed very successfully for 8 months.

Both mine lost weight first. Once milk came through we carried as normal..

This is a big weight loss. Please take it seriously and follow medical advice.

If you can afford it, I'd suggest seeing an IBCLC privately (Google to find a local one). With good advice and support you may be able to improve supply, or transfer, or whatever the issue is.

But if your healthcare professionals advise supplementation in the meantime, please listen - babies can become dangerously dehydrated and malnourished if there's a feeding issue when they're tiny. With good support you may be able to supplement for a time-limited supply then get back to EBF once whatever breastfeeding issue there is has been resolved.

Well we're still waiting for the Midwife to come today. My milk came in late yesterday so baby has been feeding quite alot. I have no idea if it will be enough. Fingers crossed

Well DS was weighed and he has lost a further 20g. As I believe my milk has come in the paediatric team have given me the benefit of the doubt and said they will ask Midwife team to come back to reweigh baby in two days time before pursuing further tests. Fingers crossed

Good luck! Just keep offering him the breast as much as you can and try and keep him awake to feed (easier said than done but I found tickling feet worked).

Does he look jaundice?

My son is now 19 days old and was born via EMCS, and at 3 days he had lost 12.5% of his weight, so they arranged for him to be re-weighed on day 5, when he had made a gain. He has continued to gain weight since then and is becoming quite a chunky monkey now, and as a previous poster said, c-section babies often lose more weight than babies born via vaginal delivery. Best of luck and I hope he continues to gain

How's it going now @Justasconfusedwithnumber2?