Breastfeeding advice please!

[OhToBeASeahorse]

DD is 16 weeks. Had a missed TT and wasnt weighed for 8 weeks due to there being no appointments available.

Had been 50th centile then 16 weeks TT diagnosed and weighed in at just the 9th centile.

Got her snipped yesterday. Since last Friday I've been pumping 4 or 5 times a day - i havent given her the milk, just done it to boost supply. I'm taking fenugreek and started domperidone today.

She was weighed today and had put in 150g in 5 days.

But I'm absolutely exhausted. I cant keep this up for too long, I have a 2 year old to consider too.

Anybody any experiences to share? How long might it take to get her back to the 50th? It seems she is about a kilo behind where she should be

Sorry I should also add if she doesnt want milk she gets upset- as much as I'd love a day of lying in bed doing skin to skin, it wont work.

My DD took a bit of a dip in weight, not TT though.

Instead of pumping could you try feeding her every 2 hours in the day? Use breast compressions too

Sorry, didn't see the second post before I posted

Has your Health Visitor or dr said she needs to get back to the 50th percentile? Are your DDs medical team happy with the 150g gain in 5 days? My son was a big baby at birth - about 95th percentile but he dropped percentiles in the first few months and settled at about the 25th percentile for weight around 8months and has followed that line ever since (he’s 16months now). So it might be totally normal for your DD to now stay on a different percentile, as long as the percentile drop starts to stabilize and she continues gaining weight at a reasonable rate. Are they planning on weighing her more regularly for a while?

4 or 5 pumping sessions on top of exclusive breastfeeding and looking after a 2yr old sounds exhausting to me. If you’re storing the milk from those sessions and not feeding it to your DD that means that even without those pumping sessions you’re producing enough and she’s taking in enough to get her gaining well again unless I’ve misunderstood something? How much milk are you getting from those pumping sessions? I think you should give your Health Visitor a call and see if they agree you can start reducing the number of pumping sessions. Or do they have a breast feeding specialist you could speak to?

Hi @Babyiskickingmyribs thanks so much for your response.

So - I'm not really clear about the aim 2bh. They were pleased with the weight gain. She had been on 50th centile before this drop but I agree there is nothing to say she should have to go back there. The guilt I feel is horrendous

At the moment I'm freezing what I'm getting which has increased every day but is usually between three quarters of an ounce and an ounce and a half. She hasnt yet had anything other than milk from me.

I really feel for you - I’m in a similar boat. Baby born on 96th centile, had tongue tie cut at day 4 but it reattached and when it was cut again at week 8 it was unsuccessful. Now there’s scar tissue and basically I just have to wait for her mouth to grow and keep doing tongue exercises with her. She’s 13 weeks now.

She was born on 90 something centile (9lbs at birth) and has dropped to 50th now. She’s been tracking it since 6 weeks though, gaining about 170g per week. Her feeding is still bad but she’s alert, loads of wet and dirty nappies etc and I think actually maybe she is meant to be this centile and the feeding issues are a bit of a red herring. I’ve tried fenugreek and all it did was give her explosive poo. GP has refused to prescribe domperidone - how did you get it?

I’ve also tried pumping but I never get anything so it’s mega depressing and I basically have no time to do it in the day as also have a 2 year old. I set an alarm and did a couple of power pump sessions at 2am but was exhausted so just stopped.

Anyway I’m getting her weighed again in 2 weeks and if she’s still on 50th I can hopefully relax. It’s been so stressful though and so hard to access support because of lockdown.

I'm so sorry, it's so stressful.

Interesting with fenugreek and the poo, I'll keep an eye out. I phoned my dr and said the lactation consultant said I needed it. He clearly had no idea what it was though.

Yes do keep an eye re fenugreek. At first I thought the second snip had miraculously improved her milk intake as all of a sudden she was soaking through a full outfit at every feed. Then I realised I’d started the fenugreek at the same time, cut it out, and the poo stopped. I don’t think it increased my supply as her weight gain was the same before and after it (though I suppose if her latch was still bad that would explain it). I’m going to try moringa and see if that helps.

I had my baby in October and he has only been weighed twice! So I have no idea if he is tracking percentiles properly and just go off nappies and him generally feeling chunkier as the weeks pass. So I personally probably wouldn’t worry about ‘catching up’ and just concentrate on feeding as much as possible once her tongue tie has healed. I have been drinking loads of fennel tea, inhaling hob nobs and try to have porridge most days incase any of those help keep supply up.

My first born had a tongue tie and also dropped from 50th percentile to 9th. I found out at his 8 week check up . I was told to supplement with formula or pump and offer top ups after his last feed in the evening . I pumped for about a week , maybe a bit longer but I found it too exhausting. I did give a bit of formula but to be honest it probably wasn’t needed . I decided to just nurse as much as I could instead and went in weekly for weigh ins ( they suggested once a fortnight but I was paranoid so I went weekly ). It was a long process but by 5 months he was back up to 50% percentile .

That was in 2019 so different times ! If you are struggling getting your little one weighed I know you can buy a baby scale and do it yourself .