pathetic in comparison to everyone else's problems!! (bit long and boring)

[kyala]

Just thought I'd do a little thread to see what advice you all have for me (advised by my fellow september mummies)

DD2 is now 3 1/2 months and was weighed on thursday (with jabs) anyway, she's dropped on her centile and the HV was quite worried about it so has advised boosting feeding from every 4 hours to every 3 hours and to go back again next thursday.

She's my 2nd baby, fed DD1 until she was 9 months but am thinking that my breasts are slowing in their milk development, DD2's been sleeping through since she was 5 weeks and am worried as my breasts don't feel full when I wake, they were leaking like crazy until a couple of weeks ago but they now don't even feel firm let alone full!

I've spent the past couple of days feeding her every 3 hours until bed time. She's never been good at indicating when she's full but I usually burp her and try to carry on until she gets fussy (I call her my angry little drunk lol, DD1 was a dopey drunk and would fall asleep on the boob but DD2 gets really narky, usually due to wind)

Also, today, I've been using a breast shell and feeding her what is caught once she's fed and burped and seems full (she's liking it, it's very interesting for her)

Is there any more that I can be doing? Sorry it's a bit of a long one but thought I'd give as much detail as poss.
Thanks all
xxx

Your breast milk probably has slowed off but that will be because your body has adjusted to what your DD is taking and needs.
Breat milk does change, so maybe as she has got more efficent at feeding it has changed to less of the fore-milk and more of the hind-milk. So she isn't taking so much volume but still lots of goodness.

I wouldn't worry about the dropping on the centile thing they are only there as a guide - if you feel she is feeding well gaining some weight and sleeping through the night then that's brilliant at 3 1/2 months!

I still am feeding my ds2 and yet when I tried to express the other day after I had to be away from him over noght I couldn't get much more than 2oz from both breast together! He is feeding well and seems satisfied. I think because of the formula feed thing of giving a big bottle we feel our breasts aren't giving the right amount but they are!
They give just what baby needs.

Just want to bump this for you so others see xxxxx

Thanks Pippy it's good to hear some sense from another mum, it's quite hard to get things straight in my head, despite having done this all before it can be a bit of a throw off when this sort of thing crops up!

Thanks for the bump Eadie, glad someone watching over me lol (another angel in my life?! I am blessed!)
xxx

Hi kyala

I just wanted to let you know that I had a similar episode last night. DS who is normally very replete after all feeds drunk me dry yesterday and was screaming for more after his 7pm feed - so used the ebm that I had for the 10pm feed and then expressed some more around 9ish.

I am planning today to move DS back to feeding every 3 1/2 hrs and get an extra feed back into the day. And also start to express one extra time in the day to boost supply and also have some ebm for top up purposes.

Am hoping my breasts start to catch up with DS's demands in the next few days. Good luck getting on and keep us in the loop on progress.

Hi kyala. Just wanted to say, don't forget to keep your fluids up. I find that I have the odd day where I wake up and find my breasts aren't as full as usual. I try to drink lots during the day and find the next morning they are full to bursting again. You've told us you've been busy working lately, so maybe you've been more active, and had less time to feed yourself. Take care.

Want TikTok to see this, thankyou for referring to me as an angel!!

Hi Kyala,

From what you say, it sounds like your supply has caught up with the demand (or rather, lack of it) during the night.

I wouldn't worry too much about dropping a centile, but it can't do any harm to increase feeds to three hourly. Four-hourly and sleeping through (do you mean 12 hours, or do you mean the "night" part of the night?) means she's only getting four feeds a day, which does sound like too few for her age, although she could just be very good at getting the milk she needs at those four feeds...

Does she have lots & lots of soaking nappies? A fair few pooey (chicken korma consistency) ones? Is she healthy, alert, meeting developmental milestones? These are the guides to follow before centile charts.

I honestly can't see a problem here at all, kyala....it is common to drop a centile or two and any HV who goes on the chart alone should not be practising, really.

However, 4 hourly feeds and sleeping through is v. unusual, and incr. the frequency of feeds is a good idea, I agree, just to cover all bases!

Softer breasts are normal with established breastfeeding, and not a concern at all. Leaking tends to stop with est. bf, too.

That's all brill advice, thanks ladies

She's awake and alert and progressing in all ways otherwise. She was sleeping a full 12 hours (which I know is a lot but it's always a shame to wake a sleeping babe, although would never let her go longer than 12 hours) although the past couple of nights she hasn't been settling when we go to bed (she's usually asleep when we're downstairs with the light off in the evenings) and I make sure she's well fed, she just doesn't want to go back to sleep (and with DH's snoring it's getting a bit tiresome!!)

My work (dressmaking) tends to be done around the house routine (and with it mostly done sitting it's not too much trouble anywho) and I'm keeping my fluids up (the fizzy water's still in the house YAYY!) and I usually sort a biscuit and glass of water whilst actually feeding her too although I'm still really thristy in the eve so might try and get in a couple more glasses before bed (as if I'm not going to the toilet enough as it is lol )

She's got lots of wet nappies (not so many dirty ones but they're the right consistency when she does go and she's not uncomfortable as she was a few weeks back so don't think she's constipated any more, DD1 was the same at that age)

I'm just going to keep up the 3 hourly feeds and hope for the best (although I'm going to phone the HV later about her night routine as it's taking too long and I'm not happy with it all)
Thanks all for the great advice
xxx

Ok, so today's the day, went to see Hv and get DD2 weighed, she's only put on half an ounce so it's continue with the 3 hourly feeds (more if she demands more, which tbh isn't very often anyway) and go back again next week
Was secretly hoping for miracle growth. HV is very supportive and obviously doesn't want me to add a bottle feed unless it's totally necessary but if DD doesn't put on any weight in the next week she's going to be referred to the GP for closer inspection!!
HV said she couldn't see why she wasn't putting on weight as she's obviously happy (we saw the HV about 2 hours after her 9:30 am feed and she was wide awake and practically laughing at us ) but if she's not putting on the weight then there's a problem somewhere along the lines and it has to be dealt with. I totally agree but DD1 went for a 6 week period where she didn't put on a single ounce and by the time she saw the doc (6 weeks later) she had caught up again (typical!) so I don't really want to start worrying just yet, but, at the same time, DD2's on quite a low centile as it is at the moment and I don't want her to drop any lower really.
Will see how next week goes then
(She's given me a number for the local BF support also so will give that a go too, just to be sure I'm doing everything that I can)
Thanks again for all the advice
xxx

continuing with the 3 hourly feeds sounds great but I'm a bit at the formula bottle being dangled over your heads - why does your hv think this would be useful? I know she said, don't add one until totally necessary, but that still kind of puts the pressure on? I can't comment on the weight gain part of things cos I don't know enough about what is a 'good weight gain'
can I just ask if you were taking her to be weighed because you were worried about her weight/progress or just because getting her weighed seemed the thing to do? if she seems happy/alert etc then maybe less weighings might be less stressful alround. dd has been weighted precisely 3 times since birth and is 10 months

There can be a difference too between what they achieved at birth and what would be expected as the natural centile. E.g. ds3 (19 wks) was on the 75th centile for weight at birth and looking at me, dh and his two brothers as well as his more extended family it is exceedingly unlikely that he would stay on the 75th centile and is happily gaining weight whilst dropping through the centiles and we're expecting him to stay at somewhere between the 25th and 50th centiles. It hasn't even been mentioned by the HV - she's just more than encouraging and delighted to see him esp since he's bf. (She's fab; I love my HV ).