How did you know baby was getting enough colostrum?

[Wouldloveanother]

When DD was born she didn’t really have the energy to breastfeed. She’d latch for a few seconds, very weakly, then stop and pull away. I hand expressed colostrum for her, filling a 1ml syringe every couple of hours.

The midwife said this wasn’t enough and I should top her up with formula which I did. Given she wouldn’t have asked me to top up had DD fed straight from the boob, how did she know that wasn’t enough? She wouldn’t have known how much the baby was taking if she was bfing normally would she?

Pregnant again so just curious for next time… TIA.

You don't. Basically! Just feed on demand and trust there's enough going in. It is in minuscule amounts though for sure for the first 48 hours

Thanks but that’s my point, if they can’t feed initially, how much is enough?

Colostrum is one of the most magical things on earth, and that is not hyperbole. One teaspoon is enough to keep a baby going until your milk kicks in at day three to five. I’m sorry you were badly advised to top up with formula, hopefully it didn’t negatively affect your milk supply.

can you find a local breast feeding support group to provide better information this time?

It really is about feeding on demand, and of course, the added bonus of soothing baby after the trauma of birth.

Congrats on the new pregnancy.

I had this same experience when my son was born. On day two, one midwife told me I had to give him 10ml every two hours, one told me it didn't matter if he ate next to nothing as his stomach is so tiny, and one told me 30ml every 2 hours. All told me their advice was "the" official advice.

I spent the whole time confused and it brought my confidence levels right down as a first time parent. If I wasn't in a hormonal exhausted haze I would probably have realised they don't know, and there is no right answer to this.

Thank you @Worldgonecrazy. The midwives seemed to be quite anti pumping/expressing, they seemed to think if the baby couldn’t breastfeed normally then it should be straight to bottle. I remember thinking it was odd as surely they had no idea how much the breastfeeding babies were getting either but they weren’t asking their mums to top them up? Think I’ll stand my ground next time.

@Newtothis2646 yes I was instantly worried I had been starving/dehydrating her, but you’re right it seems like nobody really knows!

1ml does seem a tiny amount.
Mine were all taking quite big feeds from birth, none of them lost any weight after birth and they all gained weight quickly.

Thanks @3WildOnes were you breastfeeding? If so how did you know they were big feeds? I didn’t top her up until day 3, she had only lost 4% by then. So she can’t have been that hungry?

I think it was 1ml, it was one of those syringes they give you to express, full.

You trust your body and have faith in your ability to feed your baby, it's very difficult when midwife's make comments like yours did but I second what PP said about getting some breastfeeding support from a local group- go along before the birth if you can and be empowered that your body is literally designed to breastfeed babies!

It is normal for babies to lose weight after birth. Your experience is very unusual and perhaps not helpful to the OP. Your milk would not have come in “from birth” so your babies couldn’t be taking big feeds.

Generally the advice is to monitor wet and dirty nappies.

You might want to look into colostrum harvesting this time to give you confidence that you have a back up stash ready.

Yes, i was breastfeeding. I think you get to estimate the amount they are feeding quite well. You feel the hardness in your breast go down as your breasts empty and once you start expressing you can use this to work out how much they are feeding.

However, my milk came in with all of mine before the birth or straight after so maybe that's why? Maybe I didn't have colostrum?

With breastfeeding, the only barometer you have is your baby. If the baby is satisfied, then, job done!

I’m 2 weeks into baby #4 and honestly, even with all that supposed experience behind me, I was still panicking for the first few days, especially with sore nipples and after pains!

But thankfully it all seems to be going ok now.

Breastfeeding is a bit of a leap of fate, but the body is totally amazing, as are babies tbh, they do what they need to do to survive!

@3WildOnes mine came in on day 3 and that seemed to be the norm for the other women on my ward.

@Recycledcurtains thanks, she seemed very settled and didn’t lose much weight so I just assumed what I was giving her was enough. I was a bit confused when the midwife gave me a 30ml bottle and seemed to expect her to drink it all.

Baby will eat when hungry so just feed baby when baby wants to even if it is for a few seconds and relax. Also towards the end of you pregnancy you can start to stimulate your nipples and they may start producing colostrum before you give birth if you are worried. Please don't worry though your body will make whatever your baby needs

The only thing you can judge on is wet and dirty nappies (and weight gain but obviously that's over a longer period.) - colostrum and breast milk are more nutrient dense than formula so they need less but midwives can't measure Breast milk in most cases so the only measurements they have are for formula so they often default to those which is wrong. You kind of just have to trust yourself - and also you know if your baby is ok, are they alert at times, are they latching etc.
also good to remember that the second time your milk is likely to come in a lot faster because your breasts are already primed for it having fed your first - that may be why the poster up the thread had her milk come in earlier - it often does with subsequent babies. My advice would be get some support lined up in advance - go to a breastfeeding group before the baby comes so you know them and can easily contact them if you need any support as they tend to move more up to date and less focused on arbitrary figures than midwives

I think wet nappies rather than dirty ones? Breast fed babies can go several days without a poo, and that is entirely normal. (After the ick of that first post birth nappy!)

So according to the NHS (see here and <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.uhs.nhs.uk/Media/UHS-website-2019/Patientinformation/Pregnancyandbirth/Alternative-methods-of-feeding-your-baby-3008-PIL.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjpnrbS4pP6AhUUnVwKHWRKCbk4FBAWegQIDBAB&usg=AOvVaw2CjNWb5eZaE6VPeHrdVRvr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here) they estimate baby should be getting:

5-7ml per feed day 1
22-27ml per feed day 3
45-60ml per feed from day 7

Although Kellymom (a well-respected website in lactation) says

2-10ml per feed day 1
30-60ml per feed by end of day 3

But these really are estimates and like you say, noone knows how much baby gets when they feed directly. If baby was getting less than those figures on day 1 they're likely to start losing their birth weight but it is so normal for breastfed babies to lose weight initially. It's also thought that feeding directly is far more efficient than expressing so you're likely to get less by hand expressing (I guess that's only if baby is able to do it and no tongue tie etc). I'm sure some of those syringes are 5ml so it may be you were producing more.

If you've harvested colostrum before labour not only will you have it to give to baby but you may become better in technique to get more out a bit easier? Trying to hand express after a really long labour is so tough!

Terrible advice from the midwife though to start the bottle and not express - that is setting you up to end your breastfeeding journey before you've even started as the only way to bring on your milk supply is to remove colostrum/milk!

Also, if you were feeding off the breast as well as topping up baby really doesn't need a full feed of top up. Like you say, weight loss was nowhere near the 10% that they look out for and as long as the wet/dirty nappies were OK it's very strange they were forcing top ups.