What to advise friend re bfing

[fifitot]

Her DD has lost about a fair bit of weight (not sure how much but he is 3 weeks old )since birth. She is BF but 'ordered' more or less by HV to put her on formula or have to have her admitted to hospital! I think this is just awful. She has of course felt obliged to go on to FF but wants to keep trying with BFing.

She describes her as unsettled and snacking on and off but TBH - my DD was like that and I think it is normal for a BF baby! She tried to express but got hardly anything but I guess at 3 weeks her supply is probably not sorted. She was advised by HV that she probably hasn't got a 'let down' reflex.

I am amazed by this 'advice'. I know BF babies don't gain weight the same as FF ones and the issue about expressing should have been explained I think and to suggest she may need hospitalised is shocking.

I suggested she should just keep going with the BF and 'top up' with FF for a bit to get a bit of weight on but if she perserveres with BFing it will probably all come right.

Is her baby weeing and pooing ok?
It can take several weeks for a baby to regain their birth weight.
Was/is the baby jaundiced?
Has she had her latch checked to make sure that the baby is able to feed as efficiently as possible?

In order to increase her supply she needs to feed, feed and feed some more (rather than using formula to top up, which will eventually compromise her supply).

Is it her first? Can she just go to bed and have lots and lots of skin to skin contact with the baby and just keep feeding as and when the baby wants to?

Can she get to see a proper bf counsellor rather than a HV who often have very little bf training. She an call NCT helpline or la leche for advice. Her hospital may have a bf counsellor available to help.

Get her to contact LLL or NCT bf counsellor. I was told the same thing by my MW that she would have to admit DS to hospital if I didn't give him formula. I did as she said and I am still slightly upset about it now.

I don't like saying things about health professionals but sometimes their advice sucks!!

Yeah have advised her to contact nct or LLL.

I had the same problem with my ds. His weight dropped while in hospital (I'm in France - new mums stay in hospital for 7-10 days after birth) and didn't pick-up. The MVs suggested expressing after each feed and giving that to him but of course my milk wasn't in properly and I couldn't express enough milk (in fact I lost my milk because I was so stressed about it). The paediatrician recommended just 30mls of formula after each breastfeed to help increase his weight. His weight increased and we were allowed to go home. At home I gave him only 3 x 30mls a day of formula and none at night and after 3 weeks his weight was good and so have discontinued the formula. My milk has come in and I have plenty for him and he seems to have caught up.

fifitot, hope your friend can get some good RL help by calling a bf helpline.

I would not be too quick to think there is nothing wrong here - the HV could be right that her let down is not working well, but more likely, there could be something not right with the transfer of milk and this could affect supply. A three week old baby should definitely not still be losing weight....if that's what's going on, then this is quite serious.

It's not true that breastfed babies gain more slowly than ff babies - they actually gain slightly more quickly at first (though this does not mean that every bf baby gains a lot of weight at first...there are individual variations and a healthy baby may be a naturally slower gainer).

She needs someone to help her fix the breastfeeding as soon as possible - if she needs to give formula because the bf is not yet working well and the baby needs food now then it need not mean the end of bf, just as mtigger's experience shows. Careful supplementing with formula does not have to sabotage the choice to breastfeed.

Also check she is looking after herself - she probably will need a little more food than normal and she must drink LOTS of fluids. My supply was much improved after I started increasing my fluid intake.