BF baby not gaining weight

[BaggyBick]

Hi there,
I've been ill the last three weeks and my milk supply has really dwindled. I've had to top DS up with formula. I thought it was going ok, he was still breastfeeding fine then formula for 10pm feed, but noticed I wasn't 'filling up' and he would cry and cry after about 10 mins. Thought it was just gas and would burp him then feed for another 10-20 mins til i felt empty (But TBH haven't really been able to tell much of difference between full and empty since i've been ill, whereas i did before)
Went to baby clinic today and he has only gained 5oz in the last 3 weeks. I am really worried as he is only one ounce above his birth weight (born: 8lb 13oz, 1 week: 8lb 4.5oz, 2 week: 8lb 9oz) Now, 5 weeks and three days he is 9lb exactly. I feel terrible, like i should of known i wasn't giving him enough. I have been recommended to top him up after every feed now as he is very close to be labelled 'failure to thrive'.
My question is: he takes formula well and (i thought) brestfeeds well but now i don't trust it, i want to be able to see exactly how much he is taking so i want to switch to formula completely, i only feel full in the mornings but even then it's not really full.
Should i go cold turkey or cut down on feeds gradually?
Thanks in advance, sorry for the rant. Just feel so useless for not noticing i was starving my DS.

Baggybick,

First things first - do you actually want to give up BF, or if there were support and solutions for the problems you've been having would you want to consider them first?

Leaving aside the qu of whether you're 'starving your baby' which I doubt you have been doing, but health profs often make women feel like this, if you're worried about weight gain there might be other ways of helping you, but you need to be willing to take advice on that and you may have already made your mind up...?

Baggy, toppping up with formula is only one way of addressing this situation, but it is one that will almost certainly lead to full formula feeding .

You have other options, unless you are sure you want to swap to formua.

Yiu can top up - but with expressed breastmilk. This will mean you have to express between feeds and offer this when your baby does not seem to want to continue to feed after you have offered him both breasts at least once each.

He is actually 3 ounces above his birth weight (not one), but I agree it does look like he could do with extra calories. So you can give him these, in ebm, and in additional breastfeeds day and night...and it will help to get someone to observe you feeding, so you can be sure he is transferring milk effectively.

Was he weighed naked on digital scales, by the way, and was it translated accurately into imperial?

Hope this helps.

ho thanx for getting back so quick. it was digital scales with imperial & metric readings.
I'm really nervous about continuing breast feeding- i offer both breasts every time and he finishes them. for example, today he had 25 mins on one, 15 on the other, i tried to hand express to see if they were empty, nothing came out. he then took 3.5oz of formula without even being coaxed or encouraged to finish it. i'm finding that i don't 'trust' my breasts, IYKWIM. i am 95% sure i want to swap to formula completely as i know my personality and i will worry alot less if i can see what he is actually taking in. Does that make sense?
i just need some advice on the best way of swapping over, i don't think i'll get mastitis as i'm not getting very full, but i don't want to risk it.
thanx.
are there 16oz in a lb?! i thought it was 14- so are there 14lbs in a stone? (i'm not thick- just brought up on metric )

Baggy - I can't do imperial either!

My 5 day old BF baby initially dropped 20% of his weight when my milk didn't come in properly and ended up in SCBU. I had to start formula top ups. He's now 13 days and almost up to his BW again on breast+bottle, but ideally I want to be breastfeeding. I so know what you mean about not trusting your breasts, my baby being rushed to SCBU at midnight was the scariest thing that ever happened to me in my whole life. I also know that you are feeling like a failure - goodness knows, I did too! I've been pumping hard to increase my supply, and I think (fingers crossed) I'm beginning to see results. Also, my lovely boy is going to have a tongue tie snipped tomorrow which may help. Pretty soon, I'm faced with having to take the plunge off formula if I ever want to be exclusively BF and frankly, I'm scared. But I think it is worth at least giving it a try, for his sake. I can tell I'm going to be badgering MW and HV to weigh him all the time because of my paranoia!

Other people I have spoken too have all told me how much they regret not persevering with BF. I don't want to live to regret an early transition to formula without having given BF my everything first. Why not give the expressing a go? Let us know how you get on. and what you decide, won't you.

Sanguine.

Someone shuld have spotted your baby was in difficulties before he was 5 days old and already dehydrated - you wer badly let down.

BaggyBick - I know where you're coming from with the 'starving your baby' line. My DS was re-admitted at 5 days old having lost too much weight (and was jaundiced too which didn't help). We were lucky, and I got loads of support and we came home 3 days later with breastfeeding fully established.

I can remember the feelings of guilt and shame that I hadn't been feeding him 'properly'. Those feelings took a long time to go away. There are photos from the morning he was admitted to hospital where he is wearing just a nappy and he looks so skinny . BUT... that was an emotional (and hormonal) response to the situation, I know that now. I just needed a bit of extra support to get things going. And once DS got the hang of bf properly things really took off .

"Just feel so useless for not noticing i was starving my DS" - please don't feel this way. If you decide to formula feed, fair enough, but if you do want to breastfeed, please know that there is help and support out there in RL if you want it.

You haven't let him down, you're just trying to do the best you can

Tiktok - yes, I do feel we were a bit let down. the paed mentioned the tongue tie and said it wasn't a prob unless he developed feeding problems. So why weren't they weighing him regularly? I was even still in hospital for pre eclampsia. plenty of people looked at his latch (which, bless him, is lovely) but no-one discovered that he wasn't transferring milk or swallowing until after the event. And boy, did I feel like I'd failed him.

Sanguine, I agree they should have been weighing your baby.

can you think back to what his nappies were like? A signal for a baby not tramsferring milk effectively is no poo or still meconium from about day 3....by day 3 stools should be changing in colour and by day 5 the baby should be producng several soft yellow poos a day. If this doesn't happen, it is a sign to check everything really thoroughly.

I have not yet come across any baby who was dehydrated who was pooing normally in the first days.

I feel for you, I have just gone through something very similar. My son was born 12 weeks ago 6+2 weeks early weighing 4lb 8oz, while in SCBU he done well, but when he came home he didn't gain weight for 2 weeks and we had to tubefeed him via a NGT tube, and he very slowly put weight on. He is now 7lb 3oz at 3 months old, but only because we started on formula tops. I fully trust my supply but I feel he needs more calories.

His poo did change colour, can't remember exactly when. But he didn't have very many dirty nappies really. And I now know that his wee should have been colourless, and there should have been more of it. I kept telling the MW I was concerned about my milk, but they were very confident it would appear at any moment. I wish I'd made more fuss, but that's the trouble with being a rank amateur and not knowing what to expect I guess.

Tongue tie snip went really well - I handed the lad to the nurse fast asleep. He disappeared for about 3 min, and came back with a fully mobile tongue, still fast asleep! Apparently he only screeched once, then resumed his kip. He's now a completely normal baby (I am telling myself) and there's no reason for us not to be able to breastfeed, especially now my supply seems to be on the up. We're going to keep him on BF with bottle top ups today while his tongue is sore but as soon as he's better we begin demand BF and minimising the top ups. Here's hoping my breasts take the hint and start producing big time. It's going to be tough - wish us luck!!

Good luck, sanguine.

You were let down, that's for sure.

Just an update on what happened, if anyone wants to know.
Switched to formula, SMA Gold, DS put on 13.5oz the first week and 12 oz the second week, he is now up to the weight he should be. He is much happier, sleeping better, more active when awake and is developing really well-smiling and cooing whenever he is awake. over 2ft long already and can hold his head up unsupported.
I know people campaign for exclusive breastfeeding and feel that switching to formula is best for the baby but I can honestly say that switching was the best move for us and i would recommend it to anyone who was in position as me.