Baby not putting on weight

[Flaya]

My baby girl is not putting on weight. She is quite petite, 8 lbs at 6 weeks and we’ve just been put on a feeding plan by health visitor (top ups with expressed milk). I’m quite upset as I feel that all I’m doing now anyway it’s breastfeeding her (feeds every hour) which means that my whole day from now on will be BF, expressing, sterilising and bottlefeeding her with no time to even make myself a meal. Of course I will be fine with that as I want her to put on weight but I’m just concerned that the health visitor it’s not trying to find the cause of a problem, just a solution. Baby has got a tongue tie that has been assessed by Dr and left as it is as it’s not significant and doesn’t affect her latch, my nipples are also fine but I do deep down think that she’s just not getting enough milk because of it. I really don’t want to put her on a formula but I will need to according to HV if I’m not able to express enough to top her up.
I booked an appointment with a lactation/tongue tie consultant, she’s expensive (£200) and my partner think it’s not needed and we can get her tongue tie cut for free at children’s hospital but I feel like I need some guidance.
Has anyone got similar experience with not putting on weight versus tongue tie? I guess I’m just looking for some reassurance, I really hope that tongue tie is the reason why she’s not putting on weight otherwise I have no idea what to do! 

If your baby is not gaining the tt is absolutely affecting feeding. Having had one with tt, I would really advise getting it snipped as soon as you can

This is what happened to us, and to be honest I do think it’s why formula feeding is done by the majority of people. Hardly anyone can express long term, especially with a newborn, it is soul destroying.

Off she's not gaining wait then then tongue tie IS affecting her feeding. Your HV should be able to refer you to the frenulotomy clinic.

There can be a wait, if you wanted it done ASAP I'd be tempted to keep your private appointment as there can be a wait on the NHS. It's worth looking into nhs route though.

You may already be outside of the time limit for free hospital tt work. Ours cut off at 6 weeks 😡

How are you getting on now @Flaya? Have you decided to keep the appointment?

Hi i've recently posted a very similar thread to you. My son had a slow weight gain and the HCV kept reviewing it. I was exclusively breastfeeding and like u it felt like that was all i was doing. He was doing nappies and seemed ok a little fussy tho.
HCV said he isnt gaining enough for his age and i contacted the lac consultant she checked the latch etc and said it all looked good and gave me a couple of tips to follow. The following week he had gained a bit of weight but not enough. It was disheartning as all id done was sit and bf all week literally. The lactation consulant put me on a plan to supplement him with EBM or formula 2 times a day. I had no energy and just got ready made formula. Followed the plan. Still a slow weight gain. Then she said 3 hourly supplements. I did that for 4 days along with trying to bf/express and he put on a lot of weight. I could see he was much more content too. It made me doubt my supply. Lac con had also booked me in for a suspected TT. There was a 6 week wait and i couldnt wait so we got it checked privately and he did have it a posterior one thats harder to spot. They snipped it. Latched him on, he always latched well i didnt feel much difference. They said i need to build up my supply, bf and supplement and just keep doing it until bf is successful. I dont think its realistic with my life as i dont have full on support to help me through and i hav a toddler. So im in limbo deciding whats best for me and baby. He gets frustrated on breast now.
Doing all 3 things is exhausting but can be done if you really want it and its not affecting ur health. I hope it works out. Feel free to PM me as we are in similar situations and if u need to talk it might help u.

Also wanted to mention i was very disheartned the TT wasnt checked much earlier as it couldve saved my energy and my BF experience to be more positive. I hope they can do this as checks on newborns immediatly to save mother and baby from stress and exhaustion.

Also wanted to mention i was very disheartned the TT wasnt checked much earlier as it couldve saved my energy and my BF experience to be more positive. I hope they can do this as checks on newborns immediatly to save mother and baby from stress and exhaustion

Totally agree with you. Feeding my DC2 was a completely different experience.

Perhaps @MNHQ could make it one of their campaigns.

@BunnyRuddingtonwe had it cut ! TT specialist (apparently she’s one of the best TT experts in a county) saw me in her clinic today for last minute appointment which I’m really grateful for.

@Lullaby88
I feel your pain ! How old is your boy? And when did you have his TT sniped ? I’d be interested to know if it made a difference. We are in a similar situation as my girl is also latching fine, does plenty of dirty and wet nappies and seems to be healthy but it is concerning that for 3 weeks she haven’t gained even a gram…today she was diagnosed with posterior tongue tie and high palate. We’ve been told that 81% of babies with TT and high palate will improve but 19% won’t.
I totally get what you mean about 3 way feeding, it’s just not realistic. My HV told me to express after every feed (so every hours or so…) and I really can’t as it will affect my mental health (can’t imagine how you did it with a toddler !)
TT specialist told me to just express when I can/want but if baby won’t start putting on weight I will need to supplement too, she suggested supplemental nursing system to increase supply. I really hope that baby will gain some weight by next week and we can just live simple lives 🥲
Btw, how to build up supply if the baby is already on a breast for most of the day? Is it not the best way to increase supply? I’m confused.
And also how do we know that we’re not making enough ? I’ve heard that it’s very very rare not to produce enough milk so maybe it’s just our babies nature to be petite?

BunnyRuddingtonwe had it cut ! TT specialist (apparently she’s one of the best TT experts in a county) saw me in her clinic today for last minute appointment which I’m really grateful

Really hope that things improve for both of you now

with no time to even make myself a meal

Why can’t your partner make you a meal? He should be doing everything else, cups of tea, sterilising, cleaning, washing, nappy changes. At the minute his job as a parent is to enable you to feed.

Good luck with the feeding :)

You are right to say that low supply is very rare as well.

It sounds very much like the TT was the problem, so not your supply, just a difficultly with her accessing your milk.

There's a great article here though on increasing supply

@reallybloodytired
Apart from being a dad he also has a full time job 😉 we’re on our own for most of the day

@BunnyRuddington thanks a lot ! XX

@Flaya really happy you managed to get the TT sorted out. Do you feel much of a difference with the latch?
My boy is 9weeks and had the TT snipped 2 days ago. For me, I feel the latch is the same. I have friends who thought it made s difference after thier kids had it done though.
Its hard expressing if your baby feeds hourly! Mine feeds 2 hourly but id express 3 hourly. I read an article from bf support that said try fitting in to 1 hr. So bf 15 minutes on each side, double pump for 15minutes and then supplement with the ebm and formula. I find this a bit tough ss my baby needs holding and cries if i put him down. If your baby is ok mayb you could try this?
Iv heard of the SNS but not sure how it works. Have you got a double pump? My lac cons gave me one and it halves the time. Iv been trying to fit in pumping sessions whenever i can, theyre not always bang on time and long term this is unreslistic. For me its a matter of time now till il stop as its affecting my mental health sitting there all day feeding! Just wanted to bf on demand but its not worked out and i do question if it is because of the TT.
Altho theres not much diffetence to the latch i do think he had TT latched but couldnt draw enough milk out, just enough to keep him going but not enough to gain weight. As a result milk supply dropped. So altho the supply was there it would naturally drop as baby wasnt demsnding enough milk due to the TT. If that makes sense.
Some ppl say just keep nursing and nursing if your baby stays on then try that & dont express. But she'd have to be activly drawing the milk. My baby wont stay on so i hav to express.
Have u introduced a bottle yet?formula?
Or really dont want to? I was told by my lac con that the extra calories could give baby extra energy to draw more milk. Again though baby might get a preference to bottle? Just depends. But i went down this plan.
Iand tbh my baby is a different one. Much more happier and gained weight. Snd altho i wouldv loved thst weight gain to hav come from breast milk im still happy to see him more content and healthier with the weight and getting the nutrition he needed. I mix it with EBM aswel.
I'm weighing up what is best long term. If my supply isnt increasing via expressing/nursing and baby is frustrated and unhappy id be FFing and nursing at certain times. So combi feeding. I would cut the expressing out as its too time consuming long term.
It's so tough isnt it? I hope u're doing ok. Xx

@reallybloodytired i have to agree with OP how can partner step in when theyre working FT?. They can step in ofcourse but theres only so much they can do. So the main pressure does lie with mum.

She gained 100g within a week (had a big feed just before weighing). Hopefully from now on we will only see improvement 🤞🏼