Should I stop breastfeeding after mixed advice about my premature baby's weight?

[LivelyPombear]

Do I need to give up breastfeeding?

Background: My baby was born 6 weeks early with severe restricted growth and I was poorly with pre-eclampsia.

She was in SCBU for 2.5 weeks during which time I was told by one particular nurse my milk wasn’t enough so she was on 4 formulas a day and 4 breastfeeds. However when we wen home they gave me so much of my frozen breastmilk i was confused.

At home the nicu outreach nurses and midwife’s were happy with my baby’s weight and she continues to gain. However the health visitor has said she hasn’t gained enough (she refused to look at the prem baby guidelines) and the infant feeding team said she doesn’t swallow when breastfed.

Meanwhile baby has increased in percentile, is alert, happy, and active.

I’ve listened to only the negatives here and i honestly think giving up on breastfeeding will just make them happy and give me a easier life. I honestly don’t know what to do, has anyone been in a similar situation?

Sounds like you've had some pretty dubious advice from teams so far. Is she gaining in line with her corrected date?

Yes she’s consistently gaining between the 3rd and 4th percentile, with a average of 30g a day for the past month which is the higher end of the prem baby guidelines. I’m just so overwhelmed and stressed by it all

You're doing great. How old is she. Sounds like she's tracking well. If she's also got plenty of wet and dirty nappies she's getting enough. X

What do you want to do @LivelyPombear? There’s no judgement at all but I think it depends on if you want to carry on. it sounds as though you’re both doing absolutely fine as you are but going over to fully FF is also fine, if that’s what you choose to do.

If you do want to continue BFing, are you going to any BFing Support Groups?

Do you want to carry on breastfeeding? It sounds like you’re doing brilliantly. Do you have any local breastfeeding support groups?

I want to continue as i genuinely think it’s going well, if it wasn’t i would’ve switched to formula and family would have told me too.

I saw the neonatal consultant today and he was super happy with baby’s weight and progress and basically said ignore other advise and carry on as we are.

There is a fortnightly breastfeeding group so i’ll be able to go next friday, annoyingly we don’t have anything else

Well done - if the consultant is happy then it sounds as if you’re both doing so well. I’m sorry the health visitor undermined your confidence - it’s the last thing you needed.

Hi OP, my experience of NICU is that you get lots of well meaning but not necessarily helpful breastfeeding advice 🫠 (i have been there - not a prem baby, but a very poorly one who had two weeks in NICU / SCBU and was a 0.4th centiler). If you can afford it, see if you can find an IBCLC local to you with specific prem baby experience. You'll get much more tailored support with a 1:1 than in bf group (which are brilliant, but again my experience was if it was busy, it was hard to get into the specifics of our circumstances). https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/ If there isnt, someone like LucyWebberFeedingSupport on Instagram can do remote / online consultations (and has lots of free advice on her insta page).

I ended up combi feeding for 9months but do feel like if I'd got more tailored advice than just "keep triple feeding", we might have got on a bit better with bf! Good luck and congratulations on your baby. 30g a day is a great gain! 💐

I had this with my 1st and 2nd. With my 1st i believed them and gave formula didnt make any differnce in weight gain. My 2nd i ignored all advice aside from doctor and they gained the same.
Sounds like yous are doing great
Either way it's up to you what you decide to do