Signs of hungry baby, is he getting enough?

[rubyblue]

Hi,
DS is nearly 14 weeks old now and weighed 12.4 two weeks ago. He is in the bottom 25th centile for weight, putting on about 5oz a week (birth weight was 6.9) and I have always worried about whether he is hungry. Recently he has taken to twisting and coming off during feeds (especially on left breast), which I think is wind. So feeding is taking ages, sometimes an hour and I'm not sure he is getting much after 20 odd minutes on each side but he seems to keep sucking. I'm anxious about taking him off if he is still hungry. Should I leave him on? Does he get anything more? I don't feel any second letdown and my nipple is misshapen when I take him off which makes me think he's not getting anything.
He is also sucking his hand a lot recently but I don't know if that's just comfort or not. Any advice would be great as I'm always anxious that he is hungry.
He seems happy enough otherwise but never refuses the nipple!

Sounds pretty normal behaviour . They become more aware of the surroundings and distractable at this age. He also might be teething or has just "found" his hand!. If you are still concerned speak to a bfc about the latch and position .

thanks lizs. yeah the hand is a new thing for him. will ring nct line re position.

He is starting to take interest in the world around him so nursing puts a barrier between him and the world. Does he feed more at night now?

He will get whatever he needs if you let him feed to demand. Sometimes he may not want milk, just comfort but that is ok and perfectly normal. Don't worry about swapping him over, latest studies are finding this isn't necessary normally.

If your nipple is misshapen (the shape of the roof of his mouth and elongated by any chance?) it usualy means he is not latching properly, possibly not getting your nipple in far enough.

He is also coming up to another growth spurt which means he is going to start seeming unsatisified with his feeds and want more. Again this is normal and he will settle down again at the other side.

His hand has probably only just appeared there and the mouth is the most accurate way of testing out new things, plus it's quite useful to chew on if there is a tooth coming - although this would be really early for a tooth.

It sounds like you are doing really well. Try not to stress too much.

Thanks for the support TinkerbellesMum. Makes sense. He's not feeding more at night, (which is a relief after the hectic first 10 weeks) so now he wakes once or twice in the night and doesn't really take much. Yes, nipple is elongated, so I need to correct his latch on. Think we've both become a bit lazy about this!
I've just done a feed with him which was much better as he seemed genuinely hungry and did 20 minutes each side and I could hear his gulping.
So hard to not be concerned about his growth but he's got chubby cheeks and legs and seems healthy enough, he's just little I suppose.

I'm not sure from your post if you are winding him mid-feed? I expect you are! This is what I do:
Infant feeds for a short time, then lets go - sit him up, pat back while holding him against shoulder (quite firmly patting) until burp is produced, well only if it happens within a minute or two. Then offer breast again and if he has burped he will often take some more.
This really was effective with my second. With the first, I didn't know he needed to burp, and it caused all sorts of trouble!

The night feeds will refect the day feeds, so if he isn't increasing them he's getting enough in the day.

Pinch your areola from behind the nipple and tease him to get a wide mouth (try doing this with a 21 month old lol, she's doing my head in at the moment with her little mouths) by tapping his nose, cheek or chin, don't let him have it until he has a big mouth and tell him while you are doing it what you want. Get it in quick before he has time to close again.

You are right, it does sound like his weight is doing really well. If you let him on as much as he wants he will get enough! Some signs to look for are:

• plenty of wet nappies;
• regular mustard colour poohs (once a day to once week is regular for a BF baby);
• "bracelets" around his wrists (have a look, you will see what I mean);
• his soft spot isn't sunk, no sharp edges on it; *he's doing everything he should be, not lethargic.

You are doing well!

Thanks for the advice re. latching on. Will try this for his next feed. By your description, he is getting enough as there are plenty of sopping wet nappies. Am intrigued by the bracelets and will have a look! It can be worrying when babies born after him are much bigger than he is but I'm glad he's not huge!

Thanks so much for the support too. I almost gave up bf at 10 weeks as he was waking hourly during the night to be fed and I was convinced he wasn't getting enough. Encouraging messages from Mumsnetters kept me going and he started sleeping better and dropping some night feeds - much to my relief!

Hope all goes well with your LO.

Try not to compare with other babies (most definitely not FF ones) as BF babies do their own thing weight wise.

But I know what you mean, Tink is just going into 12-18 months clothes, although a lot of her 6-9's still fit! I have a picture of her this time last year (9 months old) sitting with her cousins twin uncles who were 3 months old and they look like triplets! I have people I was handing down to handing down to me now. It's funny cause I once I said I hoped she wouldn't be big because I don't like it when you get a baby born into 0-3 and they're not a baby-baby for long. I didn't mean I wanted her to be 31 weeks and 4lb 2oz!

I just wanted to add, although I said night feeds will increase if he's not getting a lot in the day, remember that he will still increase them during a growth spurt and that's fine. Night feeds are really important to your supply and are a big cycle between you and baby that keep you with enough milk and help prevent SIDS.

I'm glad I've been of help to you, I know how hard it can be out in the real world sometimes with not enough help from the people you would expect it from.

Tink's just being a toddler, too interested in being her own person, doing things her own way and the world around her - not to mention she's just a pest! But you have to love her, she's the sort that demands it

Hi again TinkerbellesMum,

Just wanted to thank you again for your advice. DS has only put on 5oz in two weeks when i had him weighed on Tuesday and if I hadn't had our advice, I would have been really worried. HV says all fine and he's still following the curve for 25th. He is feeding a lot more today so wonder if he's thirsty with the hot weather but no bad thing! I've looked up kellymom too which reassured me that this weight gain is normal in bf baby.
On the clothes front, he is still in 0-3 months and everything is baggy on him - sounds similar to your DD.
Thanks again,
RB

Sounds like he is doing really well, keep it up! I'm glad I've helped, but, you know, it's all you doing the hard work!

Did you find his bracelets?

Hi again,
Yes! Found the bracelets - creases on his wrists?! He also has a good number of creases on his legs too although still has a slim tummy so bigger trousers fall off him. Bless.
Feel under a bit of pressure from DH (in the nicest way) re. formula as he had it when I missed a feed and slept exceptionally well. But I'm not convinced it's due to the formula as articles I've read say sleep is not linked to appetite.
RB

That's right, they're a good indicator of how a baby is doing with their weight and the first thing the MW and HV look for at the breastfeeding clinic I used to go to. Even when Tink was so small her skin hung off of her she had bracelets.

Formula can make babies sleep through but it's not a good thing. I call it Sunday Lunch Syndrome. You know Sunday afternoon when everyone is sitting around dozing, unable to move because they're so full? That's what it does to a baby, although some get grizzly because they don't like the feeling in their tummy and sleep worse!

Babies take a lot more milk from a bottle than from the breast, it comes a lot faster so they don't recognise the full up signs as soon. (It's like the Paul McKenna diet when he says to put your cutlery down when you eat)

It sounds like you're doing really well, keep it up!

Hi Rubyblue, glad to hear things are getting better. Just wanted to add that a flattened nipple is definitely the sign of a poor latch or a tongue-tie (which my ds had, diagnosed at 3wks).

I also found that night feeds started to increase around 4 months. Don't feel afraid to mix-feed now if you think that will help you and ds. If you keep to breast in the day and bottle at night your body will stay in sync with this and your milk won't decrease etc. It also means dh can help out at night too. The key to mix feeding is to stick to the same pattern so your boobs don't start to get engorged or think you've dropped a feed etc. and using bottles only at night is one way to ensure this.

One last point about the charts- it doesn't matter ds is on 25%, just as long as he is progressing slowly and following the natural curve. HTH