EBF newborn losing weight but won't take bottle

[Threesmycrowd]

Really appreciate thoughts from anyone

... lovely dd is 8 weeks old now and her weight gain has been slow since birth but in the last fortnight she's lost weight. She's EBF which has been going okay, except for the weight. She's alert, smiling, not fussy, no crying beyond what I'd consider normal.

At her 8 week check the dr referred us to a paediatrician who said an allergy to dairy can present in this way, prescribed some formula and said to top her up after every feed. But we can't get it in her! She won't take a bottle, weve tried syringe/cup too but it just dribbles out. Our best "success" has been putting the bottle teat in her mouth and squeezing a few drops of milk from it. If we do this over 15-20mins we can get about 10ml into her, but the dr has said the top up should be 30.

Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar (either unexplained weight loss or bottle refusal) and have any words of experience or wisdom. Health visitor didn't really know what to do, I have another Dr's appt in 2 days to discuss further but not holding out much hope...in the meantime just so worried that our precious girl isn't getting what she needs and don't know how we can help her :(

Can you cut out dairy and continue breastfeeding?

My eldest was allergic to dairy, Soya & Eggs and I still breastfed him, I had to just cut out of my diet. I do understand it's a huge commitment but could you do it for now to see if you can resolve the weight issue and then you could also persevere with the bottle if you weren't keen on doing it long term.

I formula fed my 2nd for unrelated reasons but he too had faltering growth due to a cows milk allergy so it's definitely a thing. Obviously he was on formula so easy to swap but there's no need to stop breastfeeding if you don't wish to.

Please consult an IBCLC breastfeeding consultant. This article might also be useful:
breastfeeding.support/baby-not-gaining-weight/

I think you’ll definitely be able to boost your supply, switch sides often, I would offer both sides twice per feed, it sounds like it might be easier to get her topping up from you rather than formula, although you should probably perservere with that too for now. Can you sit on the floor and feed whilst entertaining your toddler? I used to just have DC2 feeding alongside whatever else we were doing - painting/trains etc, I just had to play one handed!

Sounds very similar to my DS, he had tongue tie and wasn't feeding efficiently, he feeding slowly improved.

My DS was tiny when born so I was told to top up with a bottle, but he refused.

I ended up BF him then expressing and topping him up with a tiny cup (think medicine dose cup 20/ 30 mls).
I never thought it would work when they suggested it, but it really did.

He sort of lapped at it. You had to hold and tip it very carefully obviously. but it worked really well.

I saw you said you tried with a cup, but have you tried a really small 'cup'?

I can't remember timings, sorry. It was too long ago! But definitely remember offering both sides, then pumping once he'd finished and offering that at the end of the next feed if that makes sense?
Good luck!

Loosing weight is serious.

Hopefully paediatrician is involved and keeping a close eye on weight.

At this stage you don't know if this is a health issue, a supply issue or a latching issue. Get lactation advice, but in the meantime feed feed feed to increase your supply. Get someone to look after your toddler so that you can focus on feeding as much as possible for as long as possible.
Good luck

I would get baby checked for tongue tie sounds like it could be the culprit.

My first lost lots of weight but breastfeeding classes at my local children's centre were life changing. Definitely try and see a lactation consultant if you can, there's so much misinformation around.

Do you feel like your breaths are emptying properly and then filling.

I'd make lactation cookies - they have things like brewers yeast in them to stimulate your supply. Also my friend taught me this breast feeding position where you like on your side with them on the crook of your arm on the bed and your boob sort of hanging down. It's hard to explain but I found it really helpful. Also breastfeeding sat on an exercise ball helped.

I don't have any advice about taking bottles one of mine would one wouldn't but good luck.

Has she been checked for a tongue tie by a qualified tongue tie practitioner (ie not a health visitor). My baby dropped 3 centiles and I was told he didn't have a tongue tie by the health visitor, but when I took him to get checked privately he had a 100% tongue tie which was cut and he started to gain weight again.
I would agree that an infant losing weight is very serious and would ask for them to be checked for a tongue tie.

Definitely see a lactation consultant who can check for tongue tie. Unfortunately GPs and paediatricians know damn all about tongue tie.

It sounds possible she is getting tired when feeding and so giving up/falling asleep before she’s had enough. TT can cause this. It’s a vicious circle - because she’s not had enough milk, she tires easily and so on. You need to keep her awake for longer feeds as much as possible, tickling feet stripping her down etc, but really sorting the underlying issue (eg TT) is the key.

Soreness when feeding also makes TT likely. Does she feel securely latched on when feeding (almost like there is a suction you’d have to break if you needed to stop) or does she feel like she could slip off quite easily? Does she make any clicky type sounds when feeding ?

’Feeding, feeding, feeding’ is a terrible idea, she probably has no energy to do it and it will exhaust her and set you back a step.

DD was a 6lb 37 weeker who was very sleepy and hard to feed. The difficulty is to really get the energy to suck, they need to gain some weight and energy to start with, so it’s a vicious cycle. I started with a syringe and after a few days moved onto bottles - could you use a calpol syringe or similar which is bigger than the teeny ones they give you in hospital? Obviously press the plunger very slowly and a bit at a time.

I had similar, born 75th and by about 6-8 weeks was 20th, not actually losing weight though. We were kind of lucky that my son had covid and at that time it meant we were all stuck home so I sat on my bum and fed baby and pumped between feeding once a day as well and tried to give her that in the evening, and drank water and tea and ate oats. Dh looked after the older dc a lot. If you can you really should get some support from your partner and do the 48 hours in bed with baby.

Both mine lost weight after birth due to cmpa. My second lost a lot of weight very quickly and milk was passing through her so fast. My first was in pain and couldn’t sleep for long and just generally unhappy. I found an improvement within a couple of days of stopping eating dairy.
I agree with pp if she hasn’t got any energy she will struggle to feed because feeding takes energy

Your supply will increase if demand increases as mine still increases when my two year old is ill and wants to feed more.

Soya is usually an issue for cmpa babies and some of the formulas they prescribe contain soya.

Thanks everybody for all your replies. I will try to follow the advice and I've made an appointment with a lactation consultant.

People say these are short feeds, my eldest fed 5 minutes max on one boob and was just fine. He jumped 2 percentiles in the space of 8 weeks, so I don't think it's about time but efficient feeding. Check your local
Breastfeeding group, it's really nice to meet other mums too and the lactation consultants are usually lovely.

Second child, I had similar issues like you did. I Switched to bottles and according to the paediatricians, he never drank enough but he's 20 months now and absolutely fine. I hope they don't put too much stress on you, I also had a 2 year old at home which made it all worse. Sending hugs x

How did you get on OP?