Breastfed baby losing too much weight PLEASE HELP

[woodendoorgoldhandle]

10 day old baby is losing weight still.

I'm feeding her all day long and she's having plenty of wet and dirty nappies. My MW has told me I need to pump inbetween feeds but I am literally feeding baby 30 mins of every hour of every day and I also have a 3 year old child and no partner so the pumping I just don't think is possible.

The lactation consultant said baby is not getting enough hindmilk, how do I ensure baby is getting enough?????

Or should I just give up now and switch to formula? Because I feel so effing guilty right now. I honestly thought we were doing a Stellar job with the BF but when mw told me baby is losing weight I just broke down

Please any advice would be so welcomed

You can do this! It is hard work especially when you've got an older one to entertain at the same time.

Get some fenugreek tablets - they will help to increase your supply. Make sure you are drinking and eating lots as this will also keep your supply up. Don't swap breasts until the one you're currently feeding on feels absolutely as empty as it can be. Then always offer the other one if the baby still seems to be rooting around. Go back to the first again if they drain the second one as well. The pumping is to stimulate your milk supply, so even if you don't get any milk off, it'll still encourage your boobs to make a bit more next time.

Has your baby been checked for a tongue tie? Both of mine had them and while they didn't lose lots of weight initially, over the next 12 weeks the weight gain really slowed down until we had the tongue tie cut.

I'm sorry you feel so upset. The priority is weight gain so, since you want to continue BF, I would right away introduce formula supplementation. After each feed, offer the baby formula in a bottle. You might like to keep note of how much see is taking also. This will fix the immediate problem, which is the absolute priority and buys you a little time to request specific breast feeding support. Your lactation consultant and MW really should have helped you a lot more, so you could either call her back or look for a new one.

I had to mix feed my babies from very early on due to severe jaundice and this is how I did it - breastfeed first on both sides, then offer formula. The pumping schedule you are on sounds completely unsustainable so honestly I'd stop that at the moment, BF + top ups + more rest for you by stopping pumping + seek more BF help.

On a very basic level, has your milk come in? If it has, then you'll probably need help with latch or milk transfer or similar. If it hasn't, that's a tougher problem but again a good lactation consultant should be able to advise and support.

It isn't all or nothing - supplementing would seem to be a good option for you right now. And if you want to continue to BF, then get help as soon as you can. But please please don't let this upset you too deeply. I know how it can feel if your feeding choice isn't working out the way you wanted but please be kind to yourself, and pragmatic.

I thought talking about fore and hind milk was out of date now, so I would be looking for a second opinion. Does your baby come off the breast satisfied? Or do they fall asleep feeding every time? From what little you’ve said a tongue tie sounds likely, don’t listen to anyone who says it isn’t a tongue tie without doing a thorough examination and watching you feed (this will normally be a feeding specialist or Lactation consultant- lots of midwives told me my baby didn’t have one but they were wrong).

I am not an expert, but I should think that a baby feeding that much and losing weight is not transferring milk effectively. As a pp suggests, I would consider formula top ups and more help with bf. Get a proper tongue tie check.

If you want to keep breastfeeding exclusively do not supplement with formula, which will massively decrease you supply.

Foremilk and hindmilk are definitely still relevant, foremilk is watery and less calorific, hindmilk is what contains most of the fats. You need to get baby to get the hindmilk.

So, before every feed, express (hand or pump) for a few minutes just to let down some of the hindmilk so when baby latches she’s getting a bit of fore but mostly hind. Don’t switch breasts until the one you’re feeding from feels empty. Offer the second, and repeat. Let her feed as often as she wants as this is what will up your supply and get that weight gain going.

Next, get her checked for tongue tie, she may have a shallow latch that means she’s not able to get enough power in her suck to get much milk, hence the frequent feeds.

You must eat and drink (a pint of water with every feed) and calorie dense foods, as this hugely affects the supply and quality of your milk. So nuts, avocados, cheese (and chocolate!) etc to keep your energy levels up.

Don’t panic! Some babies gain weight slowly, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong, just that they’re not destined to have rolls. Dd was and still is very slight, but incredibly healthy and happy! You have got this!

Some babies gain weight slowly, which may be ok, but this one is losing weight, which is definitely not! Formula top ups will hinder things if it is a supply problem. If it is a transfer problem, not so much. But get proper advice and remember: the main thing is baby getting enough, whether it’s formula or breastmilk

Op what percentage weight has baby lost so far?

I would absolutely do formula top ups. Teddy baby isn’t just gaining weight slowly, they’re loosing weight when they should be starting to gain again. I really don’t understand this all or nothing approach and it’s what led me to have to stop and way before I wanted to.

I think formula top ups while you seek some advise from professionals who can watch you feed the baby is best asformula top ups will allow you to relax and ensure your baby is receiving what they need. However it’s totally up to you and what you feel is best. I found I got so much conflicting advise from midwives and HV’s and hospital staff when I was first trying to breastfeed it just got so confusing!

You’re doing an amazing job. And please make sure you’re looking after yourself too

How much weight has she lost? It is normal to lose some birth weight, even more so if she was a big baby. 10 days is a very new baby - congratulations. Your 3 year old can enjoy some extra tv time with you, or reading and maybe passing you a drink or biscuit or nappy to 'help'.

Did your mw seem concerned? Sadly they're not always as knowledgeable as you would like about breast-feeding. Try not to worry, and just feed, feed, and feed some more.

Agree with everyone else (and I have been there...) - loss of weight at 10 days is potentially serious and needs to be addressed. It does sound like your baby isn't latching properly - my DS was like that - on the breast for hours but not actually getting any milk. Certainly think about mix feeding in the short term, because the other thing that can happen is the baby can get so exhausted from hunger they can't feed properly (again, my DS stopped waking at night because he basically had no energy - I had to set an alarm to wake us).

TeddyIsaHe
If you want to keep breastfeeding exclusively do not supplement with formula, which will massively decrease you supply.

Absolute bollocks. Just stop it.

Top up with formula. Get the weight up, that’s the most important thing here. If this ends up hindering your milk supply you can just change to formula feeding full
Time, it’s not the end of the world.

A fed baby who is gaining weight appropriately is the goal, don’t beat yourself up if using formula is the route you go down.

If you want to keep breastfeeding exclusively do not supplement with formula, which will massively decrease your supply

I agree this is wrong. If you breastfeed then top up with some formula it won’t reduce supply and it will help baby who needs a hand here if she’s still losing weight at 10 days, that’s not good.

I topped up my first with formula when she lost quite a bit of weight and my supply wasn’t affected, in fact I had over supply if anything.

Other tips once you have overcome this initial hurdle

Feed lots!! Don’t feed to a schedule, feed on demand before baby is so hungry she cries.
Eat and drink plenty! Probably more than you think. Porridge helps with supply.
Skin to skin
Keep baby close
Wear a good nursing bra that allows milk to flow

Also if you’ve no partner and a 3 year old I hope you have some help cos that’s really tough. Don’t feel bad about lettting older one watch lots of tv or switching to formula if it helps. And I’m a long term breastfeeding person but I had support.

Blimey! I just said if you want to continue EXCLUSIVELY breastfeeding, don’t formula top up, because at 10 days old it will massively affect supply.

I’m a lactation consultant so I do know a little bit of what I speak.

There is no need to absolutely panic op, it is a well documented fact that breastfed babies lose slightly more weight than formula fed, and for a longer time before the weight picks up again. The op said baby has plenty of wet and dirty nappies which is a sign of no immediate danger such as dehydration. IF baby wasn’t producing nappies, then yes, immediately to formula as that is an emergency.

Baby has lost 7% :(

Really don't want to supplement with formula as did that with dc1 and my supply went down a lot but the general consensus of others seems to be to do that despite mw not even bringing that up as an option.

So is the hindmilk thing just bollocks then?

I’d get a private lactation consultant to check for tongue tie. My baby had one but was missed by all the nhs professionals, it wasn’t until I saw a private lactation consultant that she immediately saw the problem

7% isn’t the end of the world, even though it seems like it! It becomes an issue at 10% +

You need to get her checked for tongue tie ASAP, as this is usually what’s causes a decrease/slower weight gain.

No, the hindmilk is a thing! If you pimp you’ll notice the first milk that comes out is watery, after a ew minutes it’ll start to look creamier and white. That’s the hindmilk.

How long are you feeding each side on average?

Pump! Pimping would just add to your stress at the moment I think 😂

TeddyIsAHe has given really good advice if you want to keep exclusively breastfeeding and the same advice I got from a lactation consultant when my dd was losing weight at day 10 but had plenty of wet and dirty nappies. We got back up to birth weight around day 21 by expressing 2-4 oz in the morning to top up her evening feed and by block feeding to make sure she got plenty of the hind milk. The whole business about fore milk and hind milk is absolutely still right, but I've been told it's new policy not to explain it to new mothers as it's information that may worry them and which the vast majority won't ever need to know.

Do you have any pain on feeding OP?

I had a similar problem. Supplemented with formula for a couple of weeks, which solved the problem, and was back to breast milk only after that.

Is your lactation consultant actually qualified? Or is a health visitor with a fancy "lactation consultant" title which holds o weight?

Check out Dr Jack Newman on Facebook. He speaks a lot about babies weight loss in the first few days, and is very credible.

It's also worth noting, is the baby actually losing weight consistently. Or are they just not travelling up the percentiles in a clear way?

If there is an actual issue with weight-loss it does sound like milk transfer issue, and the most likely culprit is normally a tongue tie. I would look into getting an IBCLC lactation consultant to assess (if you haven't already). OR look for a La Leche league group near you- they're amazing, free and so knowledgable (much more than the health visitors in my opinion)

Keep on at it! The first few weeks are so hard, but it gets easier**

The hind milk thing isn’t exactly bollocks, through a feed the milk gets gradually less watery and more fatty and calorific - it doesn’t suddenly switch from fire milk to hind milk rather it’s a gradual change. So it’s good to try to get them to feed as long as possible at one breast before switching. Breast compressions can help to keep the flow up as the feed progresses so they don’t give up so soon.
I’d definitely get them checked for tongue tie and get someone round to see you so they can check the latch and help.

Yes, I was wondering about a tongue tie too... but that's likely to cause pain on feeding??

We'd lost 8.5% by day 10, OP, and I was told not to worry! We just had a slow start and we're absolutely fine now - dd is 12 weeks and 50th percentile (up from 9th).

Yes. I second the leche league recommendation. They will talk to you on the phone at length today or tomorrow ahead of a home visit.

This sounds very similar to me. Baby was down 9% on day 10. I saw a private midwife who advised feeding as much as possible and supplementing with expressed milk after feeds. It did mean I felt like a milk cow for 4/5 days but we were able to exclusively breastfeed and once she started gaining weight (back to birth weight at three weeks) I didn't really look back. She didn't have a tongue tie but did have a very bad latch and I think it just took her a couple of weeks to get a good latch and for me to know what I was doing.