Breastfeeding SGA baby

[LaVitesse2022]

My first baby was very small when he was born (2kg at 38 weeks) and this combined with fact that he was born through emergency C-section meant I didn't breastfeed him. I should say he was completely healthy though, just very small. Now pregnant with #2 and would like to at least give it a try. But it is likely baby #2 will by SGA again and I know there will be pressure to just make sure he's feeding and gaining weight and less room to try to get breastfeeding to work.

Does anyone have experience of successfully breastfeeding a SGA baby? Or indeed a second baby if first was exclusively formula fed?

Second Baby was SGA 9% centile and born weighing 2.6kg at 38 weeks. We have exclusively breastfed and is now over 6 months and has perfectly continued to track 9th centile for growth.
A Couple of things helped, a super quick easy birth and she latched straight away and was always a good feeder. Also we colostrum harvested from 36/37 weeks as they were threatening to induce me at 37 weeks, this was helpful as milk came in quicker and also for first 24/48h if she was sleepy or we thought she may drop glucose levels we could give her a syringe of colostrum.
To note my first baby I BF for 11 months so was not fazed by mastitis, milk supply etc etc just kept going!

Hey OP, my second baby was born with complications, so the hospital gave her formula before I was even stitched up from the c-section because she needed all the energy she could get.

She was then combo fed for a couple of days until they were sure my milk had come in. Basically I used the hospital grade breast pump to make sure my supply build up. Then my pumped breast milk was given with formula after to really make sure she had enough. After a couple of days we switched to feeding straight from the source with formula after. When I got home from hospital I breastfed her exclusively, but she had daily weigh-ins from the nurse.

She's still feeding at 7 months old so it's been a success. In fact she is the chubbiest little thing. I had the benefit of having breastfed my first so I was more confident.

Do they have a lactation specialist on site?

Oh, that's very encouraging! Sounds like combi feeding might be the best approach if it's a SGA baby.

Not sure about lactation expert on site. But I can check at next appointment.

Thank you!

Thank you, it's useful to know about the colostrum harvesting. I wasn't lucky with that first pregnancy but will give it a try again. It's likely it's a C-section again but hopefully a planned one so in some ways might be an easier birth than first.

My second baby was born close to the SGA cutoff but has so far breastfed better than my first who couldn’t at all due to tongue tie. We are still struggling with her weight at 12 weeks so watching the thread with interest. Both were C sections.