Slow weight gain and only short time on breast

[BellaCullen]

DS2 was 8lbs 10 ozs when born and on the 75th centile line .hes been slow putting on weight in the last two months. Hes now 10lbs 15ozs at 11 weeks and dropped to 9th centile line.Just seems to linger under 11lbs.
He poos infrequently from once in 3 days to even taking a week.Am worried that it could be a sign of not getting enough milk.
He only stays on breast for 3-5 mins then gets upset and cries,most times will burp after a while. After that won`t go back on.He will drink mostly every 2-3 hours sometimes every hour and at night goes up to 7 hours. Have tried a bottle to top up but he refused it several times.
How long should he feed for?Not sure what else to do.

bump

DD2 is the same and at 17 weeks just tracks the 50th centile. She is EBF and feeds for max 5min with maybe a longer dream feed late evening.

DD1 was formula fed and tracked the 75th centile even though she only drank half the recommended amount. She is now 4 and off the height and weight chart. In fact the height and weight of an average 7 year old .

IME healthy babies (alert, happy, wet nappies etc) vary widely in the amount of formula or breast milk they need to grow at their genetically predetermined pace.

the not-pooing isn[t a sign of not getting enough milk at that age, it's very common for an exclusively bf baby not to poo very frequently.

if you are worried though it's definitely wortth giving one of the breastfeeding helplines a call

If he breaks off and cries it could be wind. I can't remember exactly when but I think about that time DD started to do something similar: fed for a few minutes, then broke off and did a bit of high-pitched shrieking and sometimes wouldn't go back on. I tried to jiggle and burp her several times during a feed, and that sometimes worked, also switching sides also sometimes worked. I gave her Infacol at every feed well beyond the 12 weeks end-of-colic point as well, as it seemed to help her.

I found she also sometimes did this when she seemed to want the milk to flow faster and got frustrated - are you eating enough good food and managing to get enough rest to keep your milk supply up?

The charts are notoriously unfair on BF babies, so unless he's lethargic or sleeping a lot more than usual, and if he has wet nappies then he's probably getting enough milk.

DD went through phases with the feeding where it was all peachy and phases when it was fairly monstrous with all the wriggling and interruptions. It just seemed like something that changed as she grew.

bella I had something similar and I found the wind was difficult but I got myself along to a breastfeeding cafe on the referral of a lactation consultation and thankfully was able to meet some excellent midwives. I really think it would be helpful if you see someone who is experienced and can see if there is a problem.

I think that your post means that you are concerned, but as philbee says the charts can be unfair - and I found them to drive me nuts - but checking whether your baby is alert is key.

Anyway the advice I got really helped me - and resulted in better weight gain and lots more filled nappies.

My latch was checked and some improvements were suggested.

They watched me feed and also observed my milk supply and gave me some tips for improving both.

I kept going with the burping and try burp before a feed as well as during.

If the baby fell asleep during feeds then I would try keep him alert.

Waking baby through the night - so as not to allow the baby to go 7 hours without a feed - this was to get the fatty milk in - this was the biggest difference. Also during the day I would feed every 2-3 hours, hard work but worth it to see the weight gain.

Expressing after each feed (although I was so tired I found this hard and could not always do it) but this was suggested to keep/increase my milk supply going, and then say once a day - then after a breastfeed I would get my DH to feed this to the baby.

All such hard work - but worth it for me, and once the weight gain picked up I could relax and now the baby is back to long sleeps during the night.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

Thanks everyone for replies.Have thought of going to baby cafe will try tomorrow and see whether its open.Might try laleche group next week too anyone been to one?

Good to know other babies only drink for short time just wasnt sure whether he would be getting enough milk. Hes alert and has loads of wet nappies.He has pooed more last few days but reassuring to know can be normal for ebf baby.
My other two dcs didn`t have this problem and were always on top end of charts,both ebf too.Shows how different each baby is.
Definitely think he has wind problems will try infacol.I do pat him but can take a while for him to burp.

la leche groups are fabulous, and i am sure you will get plenty of support and advice there.

Will try la leche group next week then, just been a bit shy to go as don`t know anyone there.Really need to make the effort though as want to meet people with babies similar age as ds2.
Had to bath him as had pooey nappy that leaked all down his legs.