Baby dropped two centiles at 5 weeks

[BuffaloMozzarella]

My baby weighed 7lbs when he was born just over 5 weeks ago which put him on the 23rd centile. BF went well and he only lost 3% of his birth weight. Since then he has continued to put on weight but today I discovered he has dropped down to the 2nd centile.

I've been feeding on demand which has been around every 3 hours or so. He has been falling asleep at the boob but I hadn't been worrying about it as he seemed so content in general. He does lots of wet and dirty nappies and is alert. He is quite skinny looking though. He now weighs 7lb 8oz.

So I had him weighed today and the health visitor expressed concern at the drop in centiles and that he may continue to drop. I've been told to feed him every 2 hours and then express any additional off and give it to him to get my supply up. The problem is I don't have enough milk after all the pumping today to feed every 2 hours and it's run out now and he is hungry. I've tried pumping some off but can only get an ounce which isn't enough. I feel really stressed about it all now.

Does anyone have any advice? If I continue pumping after every feed (even when there is virtually no milk in the evenings now) will it eventually boost my supply? So there anything else I can do to help this?

Don’t worry! Try to avoid going down the formula route if you want to continue ebfing and unless it’s necessary as it can really compromise your supply in the early days (this happened to me too) and don’t get too stressed about it as that’s not good for you if milk supply either!

Even if you don’t get much milk when you pump it will boost your supply and tell your body it needs to make that much more milk!

How is your latch and everything? I would recommend an private lactation consultant if you can afford it. It’s about 150 quid. I avoiding getting one for ages as I thought I had all the help I need from midwives and HV but actually they rarely no much about breastfeeding and are quick to tell you to start introducing formula top ups. I ended up seeing a LC when my baby was about 8 weeks and I REALLY wish is done it sooner. Also have you tried a hakkaa pump? You put it on the other boob whilst you’re breastfeeding and it stimulates supply and you can also then just give your baby that instead of constantly pumping which can be really tough and time consuming! X

Sorry about all the typos there! Hope that made some sense!

I'd contact la leche league for some advice. I find them better than HV for advice. You don't run out of milk though, baby might have to work harder to get it but there is always milk being made. Some women can't get any milk by expressing, just because nothing comes out with a pump doesn't mean there is nothing in there.

DD was a similar weight when born but lost 9% largely due to tongue tie. She did then gain consistently though.

If you're pumping straight after a feed, it's perfectly normal to only be able to get out a small amount and even feeding that extra 1oz to your baby will be helping him to get the extra milk and gain weight. Also, putting him to the breast more often and pumping afterwards will certainly increase your supply. It will creep up each day and be noticeably more in even just a few days.

It's worth noting too, that milk supply does decrease in the evening, but it becomes more fatty, so babies need less to feel fuller than normal.

Good luck... You should notice results very soon!

P. S. Perhaps have your baby assessed for tongue tie too? Posterior ones can be harder to spot than those at the front. Have a look at your baby's tongue when he cries... Does it form a U shape? This could indicate a posterior one.

Is he getting enough hindmilk? He needs to be feeding for a good length of time to get it. Greenish poo means there’s mostly foremilk in it.
I had a very small premature baby with a lip tie and I gave him a bottle of formula a day for the first few weeks and pumped instead, and gave him that milk later. Didn’t affect my supply and bfing went well after.

Wheny lo was a newborn she would fall asleep and be too sleepy to feed so we had to strip her down to a nappy every time to get her to feed.

She has always been a little and often feeder and only now at 8 months goes 2-3h between feeds.

Lots of skin to skin and offer the breast whenever you can. Have you had any clusterfeeding? It was probably around 5 weeks that we had a few days of almost continuous feeding.

If they fall asleep on the breast do you leave them so that they can restart feeding during the sleep. My lo used to come on and off during her sleep and still does given the chance!

Do you have a silicon haakaa style pump or breast shells that you can pop in your bra to allow you to collect your letdown on the opposite side to the feeding side?

Thanks everyone. It's really reassuring to hear people's experiences. Yes I have a haakaa but have only used it a couple of times so far. I will start using it more for the letdown - that's a good idea.

As far as I can tell he latches okay? I asked the HV at the beginning as he was making a clicking sound when he fed but she didn't really have a clue. The clicking sound stopped after a couple of days so I forgot about it. I did wonder at one point as well if he kept falling asleep mid feed because he was getting tired feeding due to a latch problem, but again as he seemed fine in general I didnt worry about it. I'm due to see the lactation specialist on Tuesday so I'll mention these things then.

Ill stick with the pumping etc over the weekend and hopefully by the time I go on Tuesday there will be an improvement.