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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Sleepy baby not putting on weight

14 replies

Racingsnake · 08/01/2009 20:16

Hi. I just went with a friend to the doctor today with her 3-week-old baby, because the HV is worried that baby has only put on 3gr in two days. Doctor has now told her to go to the hospital tomorrow and she is very worried. Baby is generally v sleepy and feeds v little and often. Friend is worried they will pressurize her to give formula. Anyone had/is having similar problems and have any good ideas?

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Jackstini · 08/01/2009 20:40

Is baby over birth weight? ds was 9lb 8oz born, went down to 9 and was 9lb 6oz last week (3 wks old) Was at hosp for jaundice tests and they thought weight was fine.
To keep awake she can try stroking cheek or pulling away slightly to encourage more sucking.
Also sometimes ds feeds a bit then gets wind/fills nappy. If I put him straight back on after burping/changing, he feeds for longer.
Anyway, little and often is to be expected when baby has a walnut sized tummy

madmouse · 08/01/2009 20:53

Baby does need checking in hospital as a sleepy baby does not feed enough which makes baby more sleepy and feed even less. That cycle needs to be broken.If not necessarily with formula then possibly with ebm topups.

bubbleymummy · 08/01/2009 21:02

I think it is a good idea to have the baby checked but no one can force her to give the baby formula if she doesn't want to. There are other solutions such as breast compressions which she could use to increase the baby's intake of milk without having to introduce a bottle at all. Once she has spoken to the hospital she can get in touch with a bfc for their advice.

Grendle · 08/01/2009 21:08

I would suggest she calls a breastfeeding expert and talks it through with them before she goes to the hospital (and probably afterwards too!). The national bf helpline is 0844 20 909 20 (open for another half hour tonight).

Racingsnake · 08/01/2009 21:10

How would you do ebm topups? Express then give bottle?

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madmouse · 08/01/2009 21:11

grendle and bubbleymummy I share your (unspoken concern) also stated by the op that hospital would push formula. However sleepiness can have a physiological cause (jaundice and in rare cases things like a heart problem), and that is not something a bfc can check.

wenceslasmyeducation · 08/01/2009 21:12

Is she taking any painkillers?

madmouse · 08/01/2009 21:13

yes, express after feeds and give this to baby. It does not have to be a bottle. In fact if your friend wants to bf it is better at this stage to avoid it. She can try little cups. Not sure how helpful hospital will be in this, as they might not see the problem with formula in a bottle. But bfc may know.

bubbleymummy · 08/01/2009 21:15

Hi madmouse - I agree - which is why I said I think it is a good idea to have the baby checked and then once she knows what she is dealing with she can speak to a bfc

Grendle · 08/01/2009 21:18

Madmouse -I am very well aware of that and did not say that she should not go to the hospital. I actually think she definitely should go to the hospital and the referral is entirely appropriate.

All I am suggesting is that it would be a really good idea to get some expert support with the breastfeeding whilst any medical issues are investigated as appropriate. Any BFC that speaks to a woman on the phone who is dealing with these sorts of issues will be able to help support the breastfeeding, whilst being aware that medical issues are beyond the scope of what they can address. Sometimes, though by no means always, doctors can be less informed about breastfeeding. Formula is sometimes appropriate, but this does not mean that the breastfeeding has to be neglected. And of course, it may not be anyway!

Does that make any sense?

madmouse · 08/01/2009 21:19

Grendle I apologise, should have known better, you know your stuff...

Grendle · 08/01/2009 21:21

No -no need to apologise. Reading back what I wrote, I can see it could have been interpreted 2 ways. You were quite right to pick me up .

JennyWren · 08/01/2009 21:46

I can tell you what happened with us - our DS is now 5 months old, but he also was a very sleepy baby who did not feed much or often. He usually had to be woken for a feed, and even stripping him down to his nappy and washing him with a cold wet cloth would barely wake him when he wanted to be asleep, and then when he did feed he would fall back to sleep really quickly with the hormones, so we had to battle to keep him awake.

How large is your friend's baby? Our DS was 9lb 8oz born, and dropped continually for two weeks, to 8lb 9oz at his lowest point, and it took him until he was five weeks old to regain his birth weight. We were all concerned, and we had lots of supervision from midwives and doctors... and we were readmitted to hospital at one point so they could check his latch and basically prove that I was actually bothering to feed him!

Everyone confirmed that he had a good latch and had a good technique, and it was blatently obvious that I had a good milk supply . But by the time he was a week or so old he was having short periods awake after a feed and then he was alert, happy and interested in the world. On top of that, he was having plenty of wet nappies, with clear urine, so he wasn't dehydrated. Blood tests all came back normal, and although he was a little jaundiced, it wasn't enough to warrant any treatment other than to be sat near the window, or enough to cause the degree of sleepiness.

In the end, they just concluded that he was a happy, healthy baby who just needed a bit of time to wake up - he was probably a bit 'overgrown' in utero for his genes and so could afford to coast a bit longer than usual. Once he began feeding he settled on his adopted growth curve and has stuck rigidly to that ever since. The paed confirmed that he would be perfectly happy if that happened, and would only be further concerned if he started falling below that adopted curve or actually started to lose weight again.

I woke him religiously to feed - every 3 hours during the day, every 4 hours at night - and expressed/collected milk in a shell and cupfed (and later, bottlefed) him that milk after a feed. That seemed to be useful at first, as it was easier/needed less effort for him to take it that way, so I could get in an extra ounce or so, but it was never hugely successful - I had so much milk and it was dripping into his mouth, he just couldn't be bothered to swallow - it would just run straight back out of his mouth as he snored on . But, it showed willing, on my part, at least!

But at no point was I ever encouraged or told to give him formula, unless I chose to instead of or as well as expressing for the top-ups. In fact, I was expressly told that there would be no benefit to the baby to do that - my milk was just as good, if not better. It would have been different, I suppose, had he been taking more of the top-ups he was offered, such that I couldn't keep up the supply to meet the demand. But please, don't worry that FF will be pushed unnecessarily - IME it was not at all.

Blimey that was long. But I hope it helps.
Jen

Racingsnake · 08/01/2009 22:16

Thank you for all your advice, and for your story, Jen, which is encouraging. Her last baby was exactly the same, with lots of worry, so this time with a big (for her) baby of nearly 9 pounds, she thought it would be better, and now it is so worrying again. My dd was born 8 weeks early and fed ebm through a tube for the first weeks, so I haven't got much experience with 'normal' babies. (Although later there was fuss about how small she was and pressure to wean early, but that's another story.)

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