Help re. breast feeding please

[Sunshinemummy]

DD is 14 weeks and I am breast feeding her. This is new to me as I formula fed DS.

We were in a really good routine where she would feed every three hours during the day, every two in the evening and then would sleep right through. This has been pretty much since she came home.

In the last three weeks things have changed and now I'm at a bit of a loss with what's happening and how to rectify it.

Firstly she had a really bad bout of sickness one night. It was bad enough for her to go to hospital, but they checked her out and sent her home. By the next morning she was fine but it was frightening. While she was there they weighed her and it seemed that she hadn't gained much weight. I took her to clinic the next day and in the previous four weeks she'd gained less than half a pound and had dropped from above the 9th to just above the 2nd percentile.

I was advised by the HV to give her at least one formula feed a day. I did try this (and I'm not against her having some formula at all) but it seemed to be too rich for her stomach so she kept throwing it straight up. Instead I tried to feed her as much as possible and when I went back the following week she'd had a good 4oz gain.

She then had a week of constipation and it was clearly hurting her, with her arching her back and crying in pain. I was on the verge of going to the drs when a friend suggested that I drink orange juice. This worked and she managed to do a few bowel movements.

So I took her again to clinic this week and she'd actually dropped a pound. She's so small fro her age anyway that this makes me really worry. In addition she's now right out of any sort of routine. she's feeding every hour to two hours, she bobs on and off the breast frequently (and chews me too), she seems to have a real bottom wind problem (lots of it and it really hurts her) and she's hardly sleeping for any length of time either during the day or at night. I'm at a loss as to what to do - any suggestions?

Apologies for the length of this but I could do with some good advice.

Bump

Bunp again

Hope someone with more bf counselling experience will be along soon sm but I couldn't not reply.
Firstly, don't worry about the centiles. Perfectly normal for babies not to stay on the same one. dd was born late and went from the 75th to the 9th and was fine. Are you now getting plenty of wet nappies per day and a couple of dirty ones?
Re sleep & feed times, 3 months is a typical 'growth spurt' time. I remember dd going from feeding every 3 hours to every 1.5 hours at about 13 weeks. It it not likely to last that long if it is this, she settles down again after a week or 2.
It is possible the change of adding formula upset her tummy, once she has got used to bm again it will hopefully clear up.
Well done for persevering!

Thanks Jackstini I did wonder if it was a growth spurt. It's been so easy until now and I've been close to just throwing in the towel this week.

Am gettin lots of wet nappies but no dirty ones, although she's always been every two or three days so not too worried about that yet. And am still drinking the orange juice!

If the "bottom wind" problem is since she started the very frequent feeding it could just be caused by alot of foremilk, some people on here recommend making sure you only swap breasts every three hours. so over a 3 hr period no matter how much she feeds you would use one side. then use other side for nxt 3 hrs. You know she'd get more fatty hind milk then. hopefully it is related to a growth spurt. Well done for sticking with it, I really sympathise with the worry about what to do for the best, ds is 13 weeks x

Thanks ellasmum1 that's really useful.

Nappy situation sounds absolutely fine sm - hopefully you are on the way up! Keep going, you are doing a fab job.

bf babies can go up to 14 days without a poo - my ds1 used to go every 10 days...

Do you drink fizzy pop? I swear it makes dd unsettled (she is 23 wks and the few times I've had fizz she has been farty and grumpy.)

The best thing you can do is keep bf on demand so your supply keeps up with the demand.

Try wearing your baby in a sling - this will help her sleep and she will be happier; don't worry it won't lead to bad habits! Being close will also help stimulate the milk supply.

Thanks isaidno.

I do drink a lot of fizzy drinks so maybe I need to cut those down.

I don't really want to breast feed on demand as I am going back to work in the next couple of months so need to get her into a reasonable routine (and I need this for my sanity really as well - I can't cope with constantly being on tap).

Sunshine sorry to hear you're having problems. Nothing terribly useful to add, but I'm sure she'll pick up again as her gut and health sort themselves out. Probably other people will have more useful advice!

I know what you mean about on demand BF - no idea if this is useful, but could you try pumping after feeds for a couple of mins in the interests of increasing supply? Or just after you put her down for a nap? You might get some ebm you can stuff into her as well.

Oh, and I went through a phase of DS bobbing on and off the breast, not sleeping for any length of time, and suffering in the bottom department.
I managed to express a little bit (am rubbish at expressing) between feeds and gave it to him at the end of a feed, so he was taking a fuller feed each time, which meant he was able to go a little bit longer each time, take a fuller feed, and consequently go longer again - as he then managed a decent sleep between feeds, he was hungry enough to take a fuller feed each time, so possibly was getting more of a mix of 'fore' and 'hind' milk. I know it's probably harder for you to find the time with DS as well, but perhaps you can do it occasionally?

DS's colic and wind improved hugely after a day or two of this, but it may not be right for anyone else, may have been a coincidence, who knows?!

I have expressed in the past but had given up as DP was intending to feed her it at bedtime but he kept not doing it so we kept ending up throwing it away. It's a good idea though hopefully, I might give it a try.

Had she had formula before you started the top up suggested by the HV? I wonder whether she has a dairy allergy, as this can cause pain, vomiting, back arching and wind.

The whole sleep disturbance, wanting to feed a lot is very common in babies of your DD age (check out the sleep threads to see loads of other mums suffering sleepless nights) - it's awful isn't it? But it doesn't last forever.

She'd had formula as a small top up mixed into an expressed bottle of breast milk, but never "neat".

Thanks TheProvincialLady that's actually very helpful as I suppose the fact that it's common means that there is also an end in sight.

Sunshinemummy - what a difficult time you have had Firstly, I would be sceptical about any conclusions about her weight - the hospital scales may have been innaccurate. The clinic scales, ditto, but even if they were ok, you would expect a baby who was sick enough to need a medical opinion to lose weight - she may have gained weight and then lost it during the sickness, hence the lower centile.

An HV who thinks the only option for a bf mother to get more calories into her baby is to give formula is not doing her job properly. A baby who has had a recent bout of sicknessm too....dear oh dear. Your own solution - to breastfeed more often - is far more sensible.

Orange juice in your diet will not have made any difference to your baby's constipation - co-incidence, almost certainly.

A loss of a pound in weight clearly needs some thought, but a possible reason is scaes error, weighing person error, translation from metric error....all are actually more likely explanations in my experience than an actual weight loss of this amount in a week.

Feeding more often, using at least two breasts at every feed if the baby will take them, co-sleeping, skin to skin 'baby wearing' - all will increase her intake.

Fizzy drinks will have no effect, sorry The gas in the drink cannot possibly get from your stomach to your blood and to the milk. Diet can sometimes affect a baby via breastmilk but a lot more rarely than it is blamed. Please don't limit the breast or spread feeds out - the net amount of calories is likely to fall, and the foremilk/hindmilk thing is really not an issue in he vast majority of cases. A call to a breastfeeding counsellor should help you, too

I agree with TPL - there could be a possible dairy thing going on.

Tiktok I'm really glad you joined this thread as I know you have some great advice in this area.

We do have lots of skin to skin and I have been feeding on demand but I guess I really need to work out how to get back towards what we had as this constant demand really isn't for me and is more likely to make me want to give up. I'm sorry if that's defeatist and I do want to carry on but I need some structure and the time to do things for myself - I did have it so am I kinding myself that I can get this back?

Of course the other (and actually the main issue) is getting the weight onto DD. Surely they're not mutually exclusive goals??

sm - expressing might help increase your supply again and if on demand is too much for you & dp can give a feed now and again this may help too.
Please don't think you have to throw ebm away - you can keep in the fridge for a while and freeze it for up to 3 months. Here are the pumping/storage guidelines for you.www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/index.html

I really hope not but I guess it's something to keep an eye on.

re fizzy drinks - I know it's not possible to make the milk fizzy! It is prob just co incidence that when I drink pop dd is unhappy.

A quick update - this morning DD did the mother of all poos (all over my lovely white bedding) and has seemed happier all day - has even slept for a couple of good sessions. She's still really bobbing on and off the breast though and I'm fighting to get her to feed. She really chews me too when she does it.

ds1 calmed down an awful lot when I stopped drinking caffeine...I think that was probably genuine rather than coincidence...was drinking lakes of tea...am sure tiktok would know whether it is true or not.