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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

are you there tiktok it's me chibi

18 replies

chibi · 23/09/2009 16:38

tiktok, please help!
ds is now 16 weeks (11 corrected for prem) and has only gained 5 oz in 2 weeks. i don't understand - why would my supply suddenly run out after nearly 4 months?

i will feed him more often at night (every 3 hours) but what else can I do?

my hv says to start giving a ff, when can i do this?

I want so badly to keep bf him please help me!

i feel like my heart is breaking.

OP posts:
Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 16:39

with the ff i mean so that it doesn't compromise bf.

he is alert, has heavy wet nappies 6x in 24 hours, one dirty nappy per day

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tiktok · 23/09/2009 16:47

Yes, I'm here, got you

OK - it's not good practice normally to use one single weight reading to diagnose under-feeding.

So it would be a good idea to go back to your HV and talk this through. From what you say, he's healthy and happy and thriving, so the importance of this one single weight reading diminishes massively!

In any case, a 5 oz weight gain in 2 weeks is within normal - it is certainly not a sign of milk running out, I promise you.

Lets say he does need some more calories - though on the basis of your post, there's no evidence of this. Your HV has seen him and knows you and knows all the previous weights, so lets go with this at the moment: you have the calories already...in your breasts either there or in the future ready to be made

So - let him have more of them by doing any or all of this:

  • feeding more often day and night
  • offering more 'sides' so he has the opportunity of two, three or more breasts per feed
  • skin to skin contact so he 'asks' for more feeds
  • breast compression if he falls asleep/stops sucking very soon (I don't think you will need this)
  • expressing and giving ebm after a feed - again, you prob dont need to do this, as it's mainly helpful for babies who do not bf direct very effectively

What do you think? Perhaps call your HV and say you are going to give him more breastfeeding and is that ok, instead of formula? Get her to explain why it has to be formula if she insists or is doubtful.

Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 16:54

So - let him have more of them by doing any or all of this:

  • feeding more often day and night

I will feed more at night - he feeds every 2 hours in the day

  • offering more 'sides' so he has the opportunity of two, three or more breasts per feed

i already do this until he won't take anymore

  • skin to skin contact so he 'asks' for more feeds

I will do this more in the evenings when dd has gone to bed _+ I will stop swaddling him + cosleep

  • breast compression if he falls asleep/stops sucking very soon (I don't think you will need this)

I do this already

  • expressing and giving ebm after a feed - again, you prob dont need to do this, as it's mainly helpful for babies who do not bf direct very effectively

he is having a ff right now. I fed him first and now have stopped dh feeding him and will feed him more.

should i get him weighed again next week, i normally do it every 2 weeks but will go next week if needed.

my hv is v supportive of me bf but he is only 9lb 13oz

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Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 16:56

he always seems happy and satisfied after i feed him, i have never seen a baby smile so much.

how can it all be going wrong?

as far as 'on the basis of 1 weighing', last time it was 8 oz in 2 weeks, before that 10, then before that 12 so a steady decrease.

OP posts:
Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 17:01

he has a cold this week, i am grasping at straws aren't i

OP posts:
tiktok · 23/09/2009 17:12

chibi, it's normal for babies' weight rate to slow down. Your HV may be supportive, but sorry, part of being supportive is to know what to discuss beyond formula. She should have given you the options I gave you - none of which is obscure or extreme or anything but mainstream knowledge.

I don't know if you should get him weighed next week - this is a judgement you and the HV can make. I don't see any clinical reason for it, on what you say...but you may feel anxious and upset and want to get him weighed.

A cold might affect his weight, yes - when babies are fighting bugs, their energy goes into this.

I hope you regain your confidence. Didn't you see a lactation consultant at one time? And I think she helped? How about contacting her again?

Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 17:17

i have contacted her + am waiting to hear back.

iwant my bm to be enough for him especially cos he was prem to my mind it is medicine

do you think that's why things are getting mucked up we had a v artificial startto bf, i had to express everything for the first 3 weeks, maybe my hormones didn't kick in correctly or something

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redtabby · 23/09/2009 17:20

Chibi, I am in a very similar position, 17 wk old baby (14 corrected for prem) and been told by HV at weighing session that he is not gaining enough (gained 300g in two and half weeks, and has been a decline before that too, in a very small, below 3rd centile, baby). He looks healthy and happy, has many wet nappies and poos, but is just so very small...

We were told to start supplementing with ff, which I have started doing a bit, while really not wanting to, and I have been doing all the other things tiktok suggested as well (well as much as I can as I am now back at work). Felt very upset at the idea that my breastmilk was not enough. But it seems like that may be true...I gave him a bottle of formula this afternoon, after an hour of feeding him on both sides until he just would not any more, and he drank the whole bottle straight off.

I really do feel for you, I feel the same, trying not to feel I am letting my baby down...but I have to get the weight on to him!

fishie · 23/09/2009 17:22

this is very sad, that your confidence is undermined like this. if these hvs hadn't said anything was 'wrong' would you be worried? both of you, i'd get second opinions from a bfc or even another hv - in my area you could see different ones if you went to different timed clinics.

tiktok · 23/09/2009 17:23

But things aren't going wrong.....

tiktok · 23/09/2009 17:24

That last to chibi, who asked why things are getting mucked up....they're not!!

tiktok · 23/09/2009 17:26

Babies will sometimes glug a bottle of formula down....whoosh down the hatch.

It does not necessarily mean they needed it or would not have got what they needed on the breast.

The bottle teat is a super-stimulus for sucking and swallowing. Babies may respond and suck and swallow rather than gag and splutter...and if they enjoy the sucking sensation, they continue

Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 17:30

i am going to give it a go tiktok, thanks for your advice.

i think i will get him weighed next week in the hopes that he has gained some.

i can deal with him being small as long as he is following a centile.

i just don't get it - i fed dd for 18 months, no probs really after she found her (albeit small) centile. why the drama now?

i have been v spoiled with sleep - he will sometimes go 5+ hours before waking to feed.

i will go back to waking him 3 hourly to feed -my dearest son this and more i will do for you

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tiktok · 23/09/2009 17:37

chibi - the drama has been created by your HV, I reckon

Even if the weight is correct, there is no panic or urgency or desperation, if alongside this weight (normal weight, I repeat!) is a healthy little boy.

You had a bad time in the early weeks and a bit of surprise and anxiety when he came early. You are, unsurprisingly, super-sensitive to things going wrong, and feel things are going wrong even when they are going fine!

Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 17:39

she had a quick word with his gp who said as long as he's pooing + weeing he's ok as he is happy and healthy.

he doesn't look skinny, just small.

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comewhinewithme · 23/09/2009 17:43

Chibi My dd is 16 weeks old too and was weighed today she has only put on 1oz in two weeks.
The HV started making noises but I ignored her and said I would check again in two weeks.
She is happy healthy and like your DS very smiley she is feeding /weeing/pooing as normal and apart from a slight cold is very healthy.
I am just going to offer her the boob a bit more often over teh next fortnight and if she still hasn't gained at the next weigh in then I will think more about it.
Honestly don't worry about it it is probably just a blip.

Lotkinsgonecurly · 23/09/2009 17:49

I had this same problem with my ds born at term as 8lb 1 oz but dropped of the centile around 12 weeks and was roughly 5th centile. He was just small for his age.

I regularly saw a bf counsellor and was advised very much what tik tok has advised above. I ended up not going to see my hv as she was pressurising me to ff but i knew i wanted to ebm. It took alot of support from friends to support get through it. In the end I took advice from a supportive gp who advised getting him weighed monthly and I stopped worrying and the weight sort of went back on. Managed to ebm until 12 months.

Hope it works out for you. At the age of 2 he was back to the 50th centile and is now a healthy, happy 5 year old.

Original poster
chibi · 23/09/2009 18:01

I am hoping to hear something good from my lactation consultant. she is v v v good, and was running the bf clinic at the hospital but has now begun a private practice.

i wish i felt confident enough to let it go a few weeks before weighing. i don't feel i have a lot of 'wiggle room' with his weight.

i think i will go + check dd's red book to see how she was doing at his corrected age - she was a 9th centile girl, and around 4 months i started weighing her monthly or so because it was making me go crazy otherwise.

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