2 wk old losing weight

[Pixiefish]

8 8 at birth. 7 7- 5 days later, then 7 9 2 days later. Weighed today and she's down to 7 3.
Am bfeeding. I have low Haemaglobin- 8.4.
mw wants me to give her a couple of bottles of formula at night- i don't.
have started taking fenugreek and also bought liquid iron - even though I have milk I don't get the same 'fullness' i did with dd1.

baby is pooing- yellow poo but it's not a lot- she has several dirty nappies a day but they're just like a 'wet trump' iykwim.
Have been trying to feed her more often today as she tends to sleep a lot during the day and be awake and feeding at night so I have fed her at least every 2 hrs as per mw recommendation.

MW was surprised she'd lost weight, latch is fine, I can hear her glug the milk when she feeds, I have no pain.
dd1 used to sick excess milk up, baby doesn't.

if she's lost more weight on monday, should i top her up or not

Were they the same scales? I had DS weighed once not by the same scales and he had 'lost' alot of weight, but they told me not to worry, was more than likely the scales.

same scales.

forgot to say she had jaundice which is only just clearing up the last 2 days.

she sleeps a lot in the day and is awake a lot and feeding in the night

Oh, then I don't really know. Erm, all I can suggest is express for a while so you can monitor exactly what goes in? I am sure someone will suggest something better though.

expressing not as effective as baby feeding though, plus she's only 2 weeks old and general advice is not to express till 6 wks

oh pf i know how you feel, mw's are obsessed with weights! the main reason for this seems to be that all the charts are geared up to reflect the aveage weight gain with bottle fed babies, breast fed babies don't tend to bang the weight on like bottle feds.(that's what my gp told me with my ds1) I breast fed both of mine for 10 months, and both of them did lose a little in the first few weeks. But is your baby well, looks well and "feels" well to you, is she having plenty of wet nappies as well as doing some poo-ing - this is the advice my GP gave me when I was trying to resist bottle feeding, to help me judge if formula top ups were needed. In the end I managed without. If baby is latching on, glugging you can hear plenty of swallowing and baby seems satisfied with feed at end, I don't think I would be reaching for the bottle just yet.But if you have any health concerns of course, what I think is no substitute for professional advice, so take that as well. But every week of your breast feeding is precious to baby, so try to keep it up (as long as baby is ok! good luck!

When I had problems with ds not gaining weight at a similar age (and he had also had jaundice) I was lent an electirc expressing machine by the hospital and topped up his feeds with expressed milk (used to express after each feed I gave him).

you produce more prolactin at night, IIRC, so formula at night will not help with getting your milk supply up and stable

surely sometimes, some babies take a bit longer to regain their birth weight and then add to it?

have you tried contacing NCT or LLL in your area for advice?

i think topping up at 2 weeks will possibly interfere with succesful breastfeedign?

google: dr jack newman, breast compression. sorry can't link now.

Also pf, the more baby sucks, the more milk you make, so increasing feeding sessions is very good idea

there are videos too on his site

eat for england! you need more food so now is the time to tuck into your favourites and feel good about it. plus drink up (non alcoholic that is)

waking her to feed in the day should help
my 2nd was v sleepy and I had to wake her

Another thought pf - are you having enough rest? it is hard to give yourself as much time as you did with dc1 when you have running around to do with other little ones

Sorry but my understanding is that still losing weight at that age is an issue. Probably due to jaundice/sleepy baby. If you want to avoid topping up probably the best thing is to increase frequency of feeds, have lots of skin to skin, switch feed,etc

info on getting sleepy babies to feed

What's she like when she's awake?

I don't know enough to be able to say it's ok or not - I do know that she's very little to be cavalier about it, but since you've bf successfully before, that's very encouraging.

Was she weighed naked on the scales? And were they electronic ones? Are you sure her birthweight was accurate?

she's alert when she's awake. The scales were electronic and she was naked. don't know about her birthweight as she was weighed at the hospital. It's the same scales that she's been weighed on the last 3 times.

Obviously I want what is best for her and I will give her formula if that is best but I am worried about affecting my supply

My feeling is that if you've bfed successfully before, you know you produce milk (I wouldn't get too hung up on feeling full or not, especially with feeding two-hourly), so any extra calories can come from your breasts, by feeding her more often.

Have a look at this about breast compression

Expressing as well as feeding her on demand might also help boost your supply.

Ds was quite sleepy, so I had to wake him to feed him enough (during the night ), so maybe you should think about waking her occasionally during the day to give her extra feeds.

thanks- I have been waking her today prettybird- i am shocked that she has lost so much weight. I'm aslo keeping a diary and I seem to be feeding her at least every hour and a half atm

Hi Pixie, I have a similar problem with Callum, he either doesn't gain weight or only small amounts when topped up. He is topped up with EBM down a feeding tube.

MW and SCBU nurse want me to give formula to him, I am refusing atm as my milk has more calories that formula so I can;t see it making a difference.

I hope your DD starts to gain soon..

SGK, have you tried breast compression?

whats that hunker?

Have done breats compressions last feed.

Sparkly- look at one of hunkers posts just a bit down the thread and there's an article on breast compressions

have you got help at home? you need to get DH or others to do most things so you can rest and feed bub.

pixiefish, it is a concern when a baby is losing weight like this.

Your midwife's advice to feed more often is a good one. You will also help boost her feeds by keeping her skin to skin with you, as much of the day and night as you can - and I would not assume her latch is fine, either, and this would be worth a second opinion. Baby needs checking for tongue tie, too. I'm assuming the midwife has ruled out illness/jaundice.

I am not sure of the diagnosis of anaemia, but if you are anaemic you may have probs building up a supply.

Some misunderstandings on this thread which you need to be aware of - let me clear them up . Here's the corrections:

• rest will make no difference to your milk

_ eating and drinking ditto - no difference

• charts are not based on bottle fed babies (they are based on babies whose feeding is not differentiated) and in any case, breastfed babies gain weight rather faster than formula feds at the beginning.

If it's thought you need to top up when she is weighed on Monday, of course you can top up with expressed breastmilk. This will be better for her health and will not affect your milk supply. There is no need to wait to express (another myth!).

But the main thing is to work out why she is losing.