Not producing enough milk

[frans]

My daughter is 10 weeks old and I was told today that she's only gained 2oz in the last two weeks. The health visitor suggested that I put her on a bottle of formula a day and see what her weight is next week. She advised that I may have to stop breastfeeding completely if my daughter's weight doesn't increase by my next visi, as my milk may be drying up. Has anyone else experienced this, and do you have any tips for increasing my milk supply? Thanks

I had to change to formula as my supply also dried up. I did try DH giving me a back massage to help me relax, and I must admit I did notice a difference in my supply for a little bit.

I also took Fenugreek supplement from Holland and Barrett

Your HV is not exactly supportive of bf

Best thing to increase supply is to feed your baby more
Do you feel your baby is not getting enough? Or were you happy enough until you saw your HV?

How is your daughter?

Is she alert? Weeing, pooing, etc? What's her weight gain been like since she was born?

If you didn't know what she'd gained, would you be worried about her?

And your HV can't make you give her formula - she ought to be trying to help you with breastfeeding if that's what you want to do.

Try ringing a breastfeeding counsellor - all numbers on right hand side to see what they say.

Try upping the feeds you're giving your dd - often one of the best ways to increase supply is to feed more at night.

The problem with formula top-ups is that you'll produce less as a consequence - I'm no expert by any means but that's what apparently happens. How about feeding as much as you can over the next week and see how the weight is next week?

Is this weight gain a one-off or has it been pretty much like this since the start?

How are the nappies? Do you think your daughter is getting enough milk? Is she content between feeds? Are you feeding from one or both sides?

Weight gain can vary enormously week to week. How has her weight gain been so far?
How often are you feeding her?
Milk doesn't just dry up (unless their are external factors, e.g. certain types of medication can affect your supply).
I think you really need to speak to a Breastfeeding Counsellor for some proper advice - your HV isn't necessarily an expert on breastfeeding.
You can find the numbers on this site here

The fact is that if you give your DD a bottle of formula a day your milk production will slow down and ironically, you will end up with less and possibly not enough milk. Your HV clearly has no idea about BF.

If your DD needs more milk to make her put on weight, this can be achieved by breast feeding her more often. Breast milk production is supply and demand, so the more you feed her the more you will make. How many times a day do you feed her? What has her weight gain been like until now? Have you spoken to a BF counsellor?

Ooh x-post Hunker!

If you give her a bottle of formula a day then your supply wil almost certainly decrease. If, however, you breastfeed her more then your supply will increase.

How often are you feeding her at the moment? Offering one or both sides?

Have they been consistently weighing her naked on the same set of properly-calibrated digital scales? What has her weight gain pattern been like up to now?

Thanks for all the advice so far. My DD was on the 90th percentile when she was born (8lb 13) but suddenly dropped to just above the 50th 2 weeks ago, and is now just below the 50th. The scales were electronic, and she was weighed without her nappy on all occasions.

She feeds on demand around every 2 1/4 hours and twice in the night - a total of 9 feeds - I can't get her to go any longer between feeds! She usually takes one full breast plus a little from the other.

She's very happy and alert and still looks quite chunky and is reguarly producing at least 8 wet nappies a day.

I has been concerned only by the frequncy of her feeds before today - although when I've tried to express after a feed it takes ages and I can only normally get an absolute max of 20ml per breast.

I became so paranoid about DS1's weight loss with an unsuportive HV that I moved to express feeding him to ensure how much he was eating. Going to formula is such a self-fulfilling prophecy as HMFG says.

Have the weigh ins all been at same time of day etc? That can vary weight a bit.

If you're essentially happy you really are the best person to judge. Best of luck sounds like you have a happy healthy baby and lack of support from your HV. I guess they're human and have bad days too.

Is there another HV you can see?

I have a theory which is that HVs can smell fear. DDs weight was slow, and I was so frantic that I was going in every week, sometimes twice a week. The more frantic I got, the more frantic they got.

Eventually, saw GP who ordered me NOT to being in DD every week; that once a month was fine.

DS is small, but am more confident - or least know what I don't know and the same HVs don't seem to suggest the formula anymore...