Day 5 - lost weight, do I now schedule?

[AlienLady]

my DD has lost 10% of her weight. however my milk didn’t come in until day 3-4 which the midwife acknowledged. She’s coming back to re-weigh tomorrow.
I’ve been feeding baby on demand as and when she wants a feeding. Sometimes it’s every 1 hours, sometimes as long as 4 hours. I have also been alternating breast each feed as apposed to offering both.
Midwife said I should wake baby up every 3 hours for a feed and offer both.
i feel really bad now and I didn’t know I should have been doing the above.
Do I need a schedule and how long for before I go back to on demand?

Personally I would start to feed on schedule but I also wouldn't let her go more than 3 hours just yet. It will be hard but it's not for long. So if it's been 3 hours since the start of her last feed I'd wake her and offer again.

Also just feeding from one breast is a technique known as block feeding and is used when Women have oversupply and are trying to reduce that supply. Is that something that you e been advised to do?

One of the first things that should he looked at is if your LO is transferring the milk properly. So you'll need someone to observe a feed and check your latch.

They'll also need to check for Tongue Tie.

If you're waiting for some RL support and you're in the UK you can also give one of the BFing Support Lines a call.

Also it's only day 5 and your milk has only just come in. Feed her on demand but, as I said before don't let her go more than 3 hours and offer both breasts at every feed.

Have a read of this on feeding sleepy babies for some tips on getting her to take the second breast.

Have you tried any Breast Compressions too?

Offer both breasts and feed as often as you can. Is baby having 5 to 6 wet nappies per 24 hrs and a couple of poos?
By feeding more often baby will take more milk and it will help to build your supply up.
It's really normal for milk not to come in until day 3, they are designed to have colostrum at the beginning. Once she's stopped swallowing on one boob swap her over 🙂 some babies can be a bit sleepy in the early days and swapping sides can remind them to take a bit more.