Is my milk not good enough, what is wrong with my baby?

[devotion]

Please excuse my wingeing threads title but I feel so useless at the moment.

My baby is 7 weeks old and exclusively bf.

I have two other girls who I also bf, the first fed fantastic and put so much weight on each week. She started off a low weight and and picked up so quick.

When I had my 2nd she weighed alot more than my first but put weight on slowly and always looked so skinny. She also had reflux.

With my new baby she was also a good weight at birth bit took over two weeks to get back to her birth weight.

She normally puts on about 6 - 7ozs a week. I did not have her weighed last week so went today and was shocked to see she had only put on 7 ozs in 14 days!!!

I feed her every 2.5 - 3 hours throughout the day and feel the milk coming out and she seems satisfied after feeds. But she is quite a grumpy baby and very unsettled, i rarely get to put her down.

I forgot to also mention (started other threads on this) that she has had oral thrush on her tongue for the last few weeks due to me having an antibiotic which I am desperately battling to get rid off with no luck still. So I wonder too if her mouth hurts.

Most of the time she feeds fine bit sometimes she starts fussing at my boob and really breaks her heart crying. I squeeze my nipple and see there is still milk left.

She is also hard to wind.

But with all that in mind you could think maybe she is not getting enough milk, got wind, mouth sore for oral thrush - she sleeps great during the night. sometimes i have to wake her to feed her as my boobs hurt so it was any of the above then surely she would be waking up?

I just dont undertand why i found bf so easy first time around and my baby gained weight so well and since then my next two babies have not. My partner said maybe we should just stop bf but I love to feed her and dont want that.

I am getting depressed to think maybe my milk is just not very good.

I just want to see my baby happy and relaxed.

This oral thrush is also getting me down.

I have tried to call various bf councellors but all I ever get is a message saying try again later. Its disgusting that they only have volunteers there should be a line that you can get through to every day surely teh goverment should want bf mothers to get all teh support they need.

My gp is crap and so are the hv's - they have no advice for me on this!

I hope there are some people on here who can help me!

thanks

bump - sorry its so long!

Hopefully Tiktok or someone else equally knowledgable will come on to advise you, but I think I can definitely tell you it's Extremely unlikely there's anything wrong with your milk. I don't think such a thing even exists.

How many bf a day?

Have you tried gripe water/Colief or similar ? My DS was very grumpy/unsettled and windy and also had oral thrush. Apparently, the thrush can make them very windy, especially if its travelled from their mouth into their digestive system (and often out the other end giving them a fungal nappy rash). The wind can obviously make them fussy/not take much milk and possibly not put on much weight.

DS is 14 weeks now and is much more settled. Daktarin gel got rid of the thrush and I am also taking a pro and pre biotic multi vit to try and stop it coming back.

If it is wind/sore tummy, then I would imagine switching to formula will make it worse ??

From what you've said, it really doesn't sound like there's anything "wrong" with your milk. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along shortly.

hello

i feed her 7- 8times in 24 hours from both boobs which takes from 30-50 mins.

she seems content for awhile after.

I don't think there can ever be anything 'wrong' with BM in terms of calorific content?

It might be possible that your DD is reacting to something in your diet? I say this because DD1 struggled to put on weight despite marathon BFs and was very unsettled. It turns out that she was sensitive to dairy and, as we found out much later, wheat in my diet and had silent reflux too. DD2 is sensitive to lots of things I eat but her weight gain is fine. She has a very sore & windy tummy though.

Hi, devotion.

Do try the helplines again - the NCT helpline is one of four in operation in the UK and we answer all calls. You do not get a message to say 'call later', but if you don't get through immediately, you can leave a message and you will get a call back - I promise. We always call back. If we don't, it's because we cannot hear your number, the number has been left incorrectly, or because you don't pick up the call back. So try again 0300 330 0771

Nothing you say about your baby's weight or behaviour sounds abnormal - the weight gain is within normal limits, and babies of 7 weeks who don't like being put down are normal, too (though they can be hard work esp if you have other children - it's much easier to accept this is the way they are, though, and to think of ways to keep them happier and close to you).

The thrush may be hurting her - this needs proper treatment. Your GP should treat it.

7-8 feeds in 24 hours is not all that often - she may need more feeds to stay happy, not necessarily to gain weight as the weight could be just fine for her.

Best thing to do is to speak to someone in real life, and to explore thrush treatment, though, I think.

Hello

I the numbers I called from the NCT website had a recorded message saying they were now putting me through to a volunteer, i would then get another message saying that the person is not available and to try again later. i would have left a message.

anyway i just kept calling and managed to speak to someone through the association for breastfeeding. the lady was very helpful and said it sounded like she was having a growth spurt together with experiencing pain in her mouth from the thrush and to just continue with the treatment for 10 days and to wash all my bras at 60 degrees.

i am still in my pj's with the same bra on from yesterday so i guess thats not good. but my 7 yr old is off school with a fever since last friday (after her sister was sicjk fir 6 days)and demanding all my attention with her four year old sister so i only managed to wash breakfast dishes an hour ago... struggling with life rigt now and remembering to give my baby the thrush treatment reg and applying my nipple cream and remembering to wash it off before feed together with holding a crying baby all day is so much hard. i m not capable of much right now.

i will try and feed her more but i cant see how when it takes up to an hour to feed her and some feeds are every two hours about. i feed her until she wants to stop so i guess all i can do is try.

just totally boiled the ass out of lamb stew for girls now for dinner which is nearly two hours late so better go.

Sending you a big hug. I think it sounds like you're doing brilliantly. That amount of feeding when you have 2 others to look after is no mean feat, never mind when they're ill. I was feeling sorry for myself as I have a sick baby and this has made my toddler play up for attention - same issues re mess in the house & no time to clean up, but I only have 2 of them, not 3 and certainly didn't manage to make any lamb stew, (arse boiled out of it or otherwise). Sorry can't help re advice on milk - I'm crap at bf, baby will bf at night, but wants bottles during the day, so I'm stuck to a pump regularly and need to give formula too as can't express enough. I was told that as long as 3 Oz a week is gained, no need to worry. HTH

devotion, I'm glad you got help in the end. The message you got about trying later is not something that should happen - either someone's phone is playing up, the system has a technical glitch, or it wasn't the NCT line. I'm sorry....but at least you got some sensible contact after trying persistently. Hope things get better soon for you.

I hope you're getting on better devotion

My DD behaves the same, fussing and crying at the breast, and grumpy in between and hard to wind, but is gaining weight. It was easy for me the first time round too. I think a big difference this time is it was lovely and quiet in the house with my first DS, DD really struggles to sleep well in the day with DS around, and gets so overtired and grumpy. Plus I'm rushing around so much more with two, she picks up on it. She's a sensitive little one. Maybe something similar with your DD, plus the added soreness of the thrush.

Pop back onto the postnatal thread when you have the time