Feeding routine 5lb1 baby

[BlackberryandNettle]

I am home with my first baby - DD was born by csec at 37+0 due to a complication. She lost 13% of her weight in hospital due to being unable to latch and my supply coming in slowly (syringe feeding 0.1-0.5 mls ever 3 hrs was not enough). She was dehydrated - sure the temperature in the hospital room did not help! She rehydrated and gained a little in extra 2 days in hospital - milk came in, she latched onto nipple guard and we topped up with formula if needed.

Home and waking her up every 3 hrs to feed, expressing afterwards to top up after every feed too (we express one feed ahead).

I am wondering if anyone else had a small baby - how often you fed for. How long did the baby stay on for? How soon did you see a gain in weight? When did you drop the top ups?

I'm finding some feeds she is very tired and it ends up taking over an hour. She generally sucks for at least 30 mins at the breast.

Hi Blackberry, you might want to re post and copy and paste this in the breast and bottle feeding topic for advice :)

This bit here :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding

Congratulations on your baby :o
That sounds hard. Are you getting much real life support from midwives or your health visitor?

My 5 lb 6 oz baby fed hourly to 2 hrly at most for first couple of weeks. Do loads of skin to skin and keep baby close try and feed as soon as baby rouses before crying. Its really hard as you are so tired but a few weeks in anf it does get easier. Look after yourself. And dont worry about routine as such bf babies do their own thing and know what they need.

Forgot to add she was a quick ish feeder probably ten mins at most. Can you get some support from midwife? Main thing is to feed feed feed to get your supply up

Jaggy thistle thanks I have reposted. Still can't find the link from the start menu topics to breast feeding though...

Miaow and Abracadabra it's good to hear thongs pick up! She has a weigh in today and I really hope we'll see a gain. On day 8 she'd just gained 30g in 2 days - we are hoping to have turned a corner now and see a bigger change but I'm very apprehensive.

I also had a preemie at a smidge over 5lb. He fed every 1 to 2 hours for the first couple of months and then went to around every 2-3 hours for the next few months. We did a lot of skin to skin, me and my DH and fed as soon as he started snuffling.

Has your LO been checked for tongue tie.

My case is a little different in that my dd was overdue and had no weight list at birth, she was born at 5lbs 8oz and she feed every three hours but was amazing from day one and would go 8 hours through the night, the hv wanted me to wake her at night and feed her but because she was gaining weight and took good large feeds throughout the day I ignored what they said, figured slags would wake if hungrey! She gained weight and pretty soon sent up to the 75th centille, she is the same now at 9 lives her food and her sleep!

My other two were small to, 6lbs and 6lbs 8oz overdue and I just followed there lead on when they wanted feeding!

I think you need to do what's right for your DC if she is stuggling to gain wait then I would def wake to feed often x

Hi op, very similar here, babies took an hour to feed that went on for some months I am afraid. I fed them every 3 hours (3 hours from start of one feed to start of next, so if they feed for an hour then it is 2 hours till next feed), I set alarm clock to ping every 3 hours to make sure, woke them in the night for feeds/dream fed. Obviously if, they want more feeds in between the 3 hours give it to them, 3 hours was max between feeds. Weight gain was gradual, always on bottom centiles. Now age 6 they are not the smallest in the class surprisingly there are a few smaller.
Good luck, make sure hv weighs regularly at least once per week

I could have written your OP, the only difference is that DD lost 18% and after finally leaving hospital for tge second time we discovered she had a tongue tie (have you checked for that? Ours was missed by numerous hcps before our hv noticed it).

DD went on catch up, fed almost constantly, there was literally 20 mins between one feed ending and the next starting all through the day, and not much better at nights. .. feeding about every 1-2 hours for at least45 mins through the night. This lasted about a month, I don't know how I survived the lack of sleep in this period. However she soon started to gain weight within a week or so which kept me going. She still has top ups, we just can't seem to mamage without them, but she is now a bonny chubby happy girl at 5 months. Hope that helps, good luck!

DD was 4lb 9 and her weight gain wasn't consistent during the first six months. The hospital wanted me to give top ups but an NCT counsellor advised me to just try feeding more often so, until she was about seven months, she was feed every two or three hours at the most. Occasionally she'd want feeding every hour so I went with it. Her weight gain did pick up. It's knackering but hang in there - it does get easier

my dd was 34 weeks, just under 5lb. spent 3 weeks on tube feeds then EBF. I remember doing three hourly feeds in the day for ages, like 4 months (bit less often at night after the first few weeks). also, until she was a week past her due date she was very sleepy and it was hard to keep her awake enough to feed. once she did start to demand to be fed, the 3 hourly routine was very entrenched.

however, it later turned out she was tongue tied, which I think explains a lot of this (ie not all of it was down to being prem and small like I had assumed).

My dd was 4lb7oz at birth (full term) and under 4lb when she came home. We woke her up to feed every 3 hours for the first few days, then she woke herself to feed about every 2, or sometimes 1 hour. She fed about 15 times a day until she was about 5 months. She's now 8 months and feeds about every 3 hours day and night.
In the first few weeks feeds took up to an hour- I was constantly re latching her. Gradually she learned to stay latched on for longer and longer.
We initially topped up with formula, then expressed milk from a cup. By about day 3 I could pump enough to stop the formula, and when she was about 2 weeks old a lactation consultant said she was transferring milk well enough to stop top ups.
Weight wise, she was born under the 0.4th percentile and moved steadily up, she is now nearly at the 9th. She was back to her birth weight by about 2 weeks old.
Good luck- it was very hard work to begin with, but I'm very glad to have persevered with bf as its been so much easier later on!

Dd was just over 5lb, fed three hourly for about an hour at a time and pretty much non stop in the evenings. To start with we had to wake her for most feeds (she was jaundiced).

She caught up to the 25th centile by around six months.

I didn't do top ups for long - stopped once she was consistently gaining weight, I think.

Sounds like you are doing a great job. Don't get too hung up on how many oz are gained each day - if you are getting plenty of wet and dirty nappies, and she is gaining weight, then you are doing fine.

We used to change dd's nappy halfway through a feed to wake her up. Also try blowing on her ear or tickling the bottom of her feet.