Breastfeeding jaundice help

[FolkSongSweet]

My baby is 5 days old. She fed well on days 1 and 2 but developed jaundice on day 2/3. My milk came in on day 3 and we saw a lactation consultant on day 4 (yesterday) who cut her tongue tie. She has been producing wet and dirty nappies but not quite enough of them.

The issue is that she is now really sleepy and not feeding for long enough. I’ve been putting her to the breast every 2 hours round the clock. When she does feed I can see and hear her swallowing and I’ve been doing breast compressions, but she falls asleep really quickly. I know it’s only been 24 hours but I would have thought having her tongue tie cut (it was minor) and all the feeding should have improved the jaundice, not made it worse? I’m seeing the midwife for her 5 day check later today but dreading it as expecting her to have lost lots of weight.

Do I need to do anything differently or is it just a matter of time?

I'm in exactly the same position as you! It really is a vicious cycle with the jaundice.

I have been pumping every hour to get my supply up and supplementing every breastfeed with a 2oz bottle of expressed milk. Perhaps the midwife will suggest something similar to this if your baby still hasn't put on much weight?

We're going in for a weigh in a couple of hours so hopefully that's done the trick over the weekend. I feel like a dairy cow at the moment but it's all for a good cause!

Thanks so much for the replies. I haven’t tried pumping yet - never had much success with my first baby but will get on it this afternoon! Will report back after our weigh in.

Good luck with yours @Sairafina!

Thank you! I'll report back too! We're hoping for at least a 4 ounce gain 🤞🏼

Just back and she’s lost 8% at day 5, which tbh isn’t nearly as bad as I feared. We’re back in on Friday (day 8) and they’re looking for any gain to ensure we’re on the up. Jaundice is mild apparently so also not as bad as I thought. Going to dedicate myself to feeding her between now and then and hope for the best!

Woohoo that's great news! Well done mama!

Mine is up 3oz so not as much as I'd hoped but still a great gain. Going to keep on with the expressing and topping up the breastfeeds and probably pop in for a weigh on Friday too

3oz is great - over how long? DD was a whopper at birth so she’s lost about 300g so far. I think average gain is 30g/day so it’s going to be a while before she’s back to birth weight even if she does manage to gain that each day.

I asked the midwife about expressing/supplementing and she said not to bother and just keep feeding at the breast, but do you think I should add in a couple of pumping sessions on top? I’m feeding her every 2-2.5hrs atm and feeds are lasting 15-30mins. I have a 2 year old as well so fitting more in will be tricky!

The 3oz was from Saturday morning - Tuesday morning so 1oz per day which is exactly where we want to be. He dropped from 6.15 to 5.15 so really quite a big loss. I think that's why the pediatrician requested the top ups.

I'm really happy I've been able to express enough so we don't have to use formula. I put my first bag of breast milk in the freezer yesterday as we have plenty and it felt so good!

For me, the top ups have been really beneficial as I can see exactly how much additional he is getting and DH has been able to give some of the feeds which means more sleep for me!

Just to warn you, both my sons had jaundice and both never lost an ounce and gained very well. Both were still pretty yellow for 6-8 weeks. All you can do is feed feed feed !