Is my 7 week old getting enough when breastfeeding?

[MummaDaisy]

Hi all,

I have a 7 week old currently and originally planned to EBF. However, due to some severe jaundice and an infection, she ended up in the NICU and I couldn’t be with her all the time. She was initially tube fed with formula. Then when stepped down onto a ward where I could be with her, she had both breast milk and formula from a bottle as I wanted to flush out the jaundice. I was also pumping whilst she had formula to try to get a supply going.

unfortunately this was very hard and have only just started to get what I would say Is enough. And have tried starting to breastfeed again as my baby has become very fussy and not taking the bottle as well.

ive heard as long as they’ve got plenty of wet nappies, and are gaining weight all seems to be well. However I have noticed when EBF it takes ALOT longer to get a wet nappy and when it is wet, it’s nowhere near as heavy as when I give her formula. This gives me alot of anxiety and now I’m wondering if she gets enough from me as she never seems satisfied for long enough to put her down and leave her - unless she falls asleep.

this is another problem, she always seems to fall asleep on the breast. She often still sucks but I think it’s not as effective. If at night we are breastfeeding laying down, she often falls asleep and will then stay asleep and she sleeps for 3-6 hour stretches during the night and despite being latched for most of it, her nappies still aren’t as heavy.

she seems insatiable even with formula, she is often drinking 5oz at a time. But has recently become fussy and isn’t having as much. But the nappy problem is the main concern of mine.

she seems to be latched well, I’m just worried she isn’t transferring milk well.

does anyone have any experience or advice?

Is she gaining weight, starting to hold to a centile? Is the health visitor/doctor happy?

You had a tough start, are a complete goddess to keep going!

I’ve had a lot of the same worries as you (but for different reasons) after a drop of 10% birthweight on day 3. The anxiety then just continued throughout much of my first few months EBF. I was always paranoid that I had a low supply and my baby was starving. If it helps, she’s been following her curve nicely but she definitely feeds a lot during the day - generally every 1.5hrs she wants feeding. This is considered normal for a EBF baby (my baby is now 18 weeks). The advice I’ve always been given is they should have around 6 fairly wet nappies a day. As mentioned above, have you had baby weighed recently to see if she’s following her centile on the charts?

Also, if you’re concerned that she is falling asleep on the breast whilst feeding, you can try to keep her awake by doing things like stroking her cheek, or gently giving her feet a tickle just to stimulate her a little bit until you’re happy she’s fed for long enough. It sounds like when she stays on the breast during the night it’s for comfort.

Well done you for persevering, it’s not easy 💐

@Amara123 @MochaLove

Hi both, thanks for responding!

so she was born on the 9th centile, and initially lost 4% of her weight and at our health visitor appointment the other day she has gained nearly 3lb since birth and is now 15th centile. But I suppose that’s to be expected as she wasn’t EBF since day 1.

We have used 1-2 formula bottles per day but this is reducing and I pump when she has these.

I try to express my milk sometimes instead of breastfeeding some days to see what I’m getting and usually it’s only around 550-600ml. That’s without breastfeeding, so not entirely sure that’s enough to completely disregard formula yet.

I think I’d like to try EBF again but my main concern is just the nappies. They’re wet, but quite light. My midwife told me never let them get past 4 hours without a wee which has made me cautious. and if I don’t see a big wee, I panic and give her a bottle instead.

im getting 1-2oz on each side when I pump which means I worry when she doesn’t feed from both breasts.

I do have baby scales at home, so I suppose I could try it and keep an eye on her, I’ve also asked if they can refer me for some additional support, so hoping that’ll help!

If you mix feed every day, how can you be so sure which nappy us from what milk? I also thought breastmilk takes longer to digest?

as long as she is gaining weight, sleeps ok and has wet nappies I wouldn’t worry. Trust yourself, I know it’s hard with your first.

I never managed to pump more than 200ml with any of my DC and I breastfed 3 of them. Pumping quantities means not much, some women can breastfeed but not pump much.

My second had jaundice and I was told I had to supplement with formula. I never did, he didn’t gain weight as quickly but by 4/5 months was absolutely fine and on the 50th percentile (and is now a happy toddler). My first DC also kept falling asleep on the breast, think it’s just nice and more comfortable than a bottle!

try and exclusively BF if you would like, don’t worry about size of nappies as long as she has enough wet nappies.

Generally hand expressing or pumping won't show you how much your baby is getting - they are much more effective at breast feeding and may be getting far more. You can only judge it on nappies and weight.

It sounds like you could try ebf for a few days or a week and just see how it goes?

It's hard to have confidence ebf until you can see it is ok and your baby is doing well. It's a bit self fulfilling - without a bottle your baby will demand more and your body with provide the right amount. It's kind of amazing!

All sounds normal to me. As long as you are feeding baby on demand and you have regular wet nappies (doesn't matter how heavy as that will depend on how long they've been on for surely) then you should be fine. Baby will be unsettled and crying if they were hungry.

Also ask your HV where your nearest drop in weigh in clinic is? You can take baby weekly then just to put your mind at ease.

How much you can pump isn’t a reflection on how much you produce at all. My baby would have lost weight scarily fast if that was the case as most of the time I was only getting about 10-20mls!! Babies are much more effective at getting the milk out for some women. I used to get really stressed about this but with her gaining weight I’ve now accepted that this is just normal for me. Babies are better at stimulating your supply so I would just try to bring baby to your breast as much as possible if you are worried about your supply. If you can, a few sofa days with skin to skin and lots of snacks 😊 then see how the nappies are after a few days of this but I honestly wouldn’t get too fixated on this as long as you are getting wet nappies and baby seems content at times between feeds. I agree additional support may just help to reassure you, but it sounds like you’re doing amazingly well. Definitely try and drop in at the HV weight clinic, but I’d recommend that you don’t go weekly to be honest as some weeks baby may put on less and the next week they may make up for it, but I found that if they’d not gained what they should one week I’d then become really worried that something needed fixing again. Then I’d go the next week and she would’ve made up for the previous week! Going 2-4 weekly will give you a better indication IMO.