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Breastfed baby losing too much weight PLEASE HELP

42 replies

woodendoorgoldhandle · 02/05/2018 16:56

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

OP posts:
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Littlechocola · 02/05/2018 18:04

You must be shattered op. Congratulations on your baby!
My dd was the same. My midwife was unhelpful and said to just switch to formula which upset me.
I found expressing a little first helped, she was getting the creamy yummy stuff. Do you have a breastfeeding group near you?
Lots of wet nappies is good!
Do you have friends or family nearby who can help with your 3 year old?

Moonflower12 · 02/05/2018 18:06

You need to feed your baby till you can feel her doing the fluttery tongue thing. This is her pulling the hind milk through.
I had the same thing with my daughter and it turns out she had undiagnosed tongue tie so please get that checked. And many MW etc miss it as it's hard to spot apparently.

Congratulations on your little one.

LemonScentedStickyBat · 02/05/2018 18:10

So much confusion on this thread! OP, it is really important that someone a) sits with you and observes a whole feed, beginning to end, and finds out what the general pattern of feeds is like and b) assesses your baby properly, including having a feel under the tongue to assess tongue function. Not all midwives or even all lactation consultants can or will do this so if you are not getting this support do ask for someone else.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

mayhew · 02/05/2018 18:10

7% at 10 days is a fixable situation. Are there properly qualified breastfeeding support services nearby? Go if you can.
Did you breastfeed your first child without major issues? If you did, it is unlikely you have a major supply problem.
Trying to wrangle a toddler makes it difficult to concentrate on fixing the feeding. If possible get some more help to give you some space. It's ok to top up with some formula while you resolve this.
The most likely thing is that the baby isn't latching efficiently and that can be related to tongue tie. A specialist should assess, some tongue ties are subtle.
If the latch improves, the baby takes more milk in less time and your lactation is better stimulated so supply improves. Then it's a virtuous circle.

elephanttrunks · 02/05/2018 18:18

Have only read OP so please forgive me f this has been mentioned. I had the exact same issue to the point of being readmitted twice. The only way I solved it was to use the same breast several times in a row as dd was like yours, little and often. This ensures she got hindmilk and everything clicked at about 3 weeks old .

babyboyHarrison · 02/05/2018 18:53

Sometimes it just doesn't work. I tried everything to breastfeed and ultimately I just don't make enough milk. Pumped all the time, took fenugreek tried medication that is supposed to help boost supply changed diet ate porridge till it came out my ears. I had to combination feed as baby lost 14% I tried so hard and managed to combination feed to around 5 months when a bout of flu completely dried up my supply. Do what you think is best for baby and be grateful that you live in a time where pumps and formula exist and don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work. (Easier said than done)

I had tried to breastfeed with my first but had assumed our problems were to do with tongue tie and poor latch but same happened with second child so it was just that I'm rubbish at making milk.

Good luck

chequeplease · 02/05/2018 19:17

This is La Leche leagues helpline ‭0345 120 2918‬

BumbleBerries · 02/05/2018 20:01

7% is not all that much, normal is below 10%, so don't let that worry you to much yet. They expect birthweight to be regained by 2-3 weeks, so you have time to meet that target. Even after this if your baby is healthy then I wouldn't worry too much about it, these are averages and guidelines and some babies are just slow eaters. (Mine took 8 weeks). Remember that 2oz/60g is the difference between before/after a feed of full/empty bladder, on a small baby that's a lot of variation.

If you want to supplement or switch to formula then do so, if you don't then don't. It's your baby and you're doing the feeding so it has to work for you, but don't let anyone bully you either way. Stress doesn't help with milk production.

There are support groups who should be able to help, it doesn't mean that they will. But it's worth trying. And if one doesn't suit try another. If nothing else you might find someone else in the same boat.

Hind milk is sort of a thing. My understanding is that the fatty bits stick to the sides so doesn't come out until the free flowing milk has. The milk you produce is always the same (over a day). So if your feeding every few hours for about 10minutes then the consistency will be different before and after. If you have a grazer then it's more likely to be average milk all the way through because it's not hanging around.

Pumping increases supply in so much as the stimulation says you need to make more milk, if baby is suckling all day then that should do the same thing. It's also probably not a supply issue though. Most mothers have over supply in the first week or two. If you give baby expressed milk in a bottle the get a slow flow test as baby is unlikely to be used to a fast flow from you.

You don't need to express It you don't want to, and frankly It sounds impractical for you. It's advised because it's measurable as much as anything else, and those numbers don't often help if you're still feeding directly. If you're expressing after every feed to top up then you could just feed some more (assuming latch is good etc). It can be helpful in other ways though. If you find you have an excess in supply at certain times of day when baby isn't interested or its not convenient to give a long feed you can use that later. It can also help you identify when you have more milk so you can encourage better feeding then, or when baby might want more so you know she wants to stay on for longer then.

It could be Tounge tie or it could not. Get it checked. But until then babies can feed with minor tt, it's just a lot harder for you both, so just keep going.

Make sure your eating well. That means staying approximately the same weight and eating when hungry. If you're losing weight you probably should have more calories, if you're gaining weight then it's not going into the milk. Your body will sacrifice itself to make milk so listen to cravings.

If you're feeding every hour then you can't feed more often. So anyone telling you to either isn't listening or doesn't believe you, in either case talk to someone else. Equally don't feed to a schedule, I don't care how many paediatricians tell me to, you don't leave a hungry baby crying to teach them to drink quicker.

If you're feeding extensively try burping mid feed (every 15minutes or so), less air means more room for milk.

What seems to be working for us is learning to feed whilst we were both asleep (as this is when i produce most), and giving baby a couple of expressed bottles one weekend so that she knew milk could flow faster if she wanted it to, and winding her a lot more. It may or may not work for you and may or may not be practical.

BumbleBerries · 02/05/2018 20:06

Sorry, that was much longer than intended. Just coming out of it all so very fresh in my mind.

Cbeebiesgurl · 02/05/2018 20:09

Hi. I second looking up Dr. Jack Newman. If you end up having to supplement with formula (I did very reluctantly!) you can buy little feeding tubes from Jack Newman's website and supplement whilst baby is breastfeeding by slipping the little tube in at the end of a feed. Therefore no nipple confusion and they are hopefully still stimulating your supply. Hope it goes well for you. I was the most stressed Mummy ever crying down the phone to HV, lactation consultant and everyone else too! I also found the 'fed is best' group supportive. Good luck.

mummyoftwo5 · 02/05/2018 20:21

@woodendoorgoldhandle haven't read through all the comments but don't despair! I remember that feeling at weigh ins and the HV and midwives are not specialised in breastfeeding. Have you got an NCT or NHS near you who have breastfeeding drop ins, where there's someone highly trained to look at latch etc and give support. I found this much more valuable than the advice or support given by midwives or HV. And def get checked for tongue tie! Some NHS trusts do self referrals. My DD (now nearly 7 months) didn't lose weight but had no gain in the early days and went from 91st to 25th centile. I didn't give formula until about 2 weeks in then gave her one bottle of formula a day....and this has continued since! I didn't do top ups as such, though I know this is what they recommend! But she gained weight normally from about 5 weeks. And she is absolutely fine! Some babies do appear to gain slowly however there may be more at play with milk transfer, eg tongue tie. Oh and things like fenugreek can lower supply also. And expensive and ?make you smell of curry?

Sorry if this has already been said but just wanted to share, I remember being there and baby will be fine whatever way they are fed.

sycamore54321 · 03/05/2018 03:47

Op there is a lot of well intended but I fear wrong advice that could be harmful to your baby.

Based on what you have said, the midwife and the lactation consultant (so 2 people with some level of medical capability presumably, and with a starting point as likely to be supportive of BF) have said they are concerned ably your baby losing weight. While some are right that 7% weight loss isn't the worst ever seen, the fact that a baby at day 10 is still losing weight is in itself worrying, regardless of the overall percentage. Weight loss should have long since stopped and your baby ideally would have regained her birth weight by 14 days. Posters on here blithely advising you that it sounds fine to them are being very dangerous I fear, when not one but two healthcare people have actually seen your baby and expressed fears.

There are no advantages to exclusive breastfeeding that will outweigh the risks of your baby by getting enough milk in these vital early days. None. So please think carefully and please consider my advice about supplementing.

There are some who seem to believe BF is infallible. They are wrong. And here, your problem could be BF not working quite exactly right, which is by far the most likely answer, or it could potentially be something very unlikely but serious like your baby's digestive system not working correctly to allow her to grow properly. So by supplementing, you are also getting an idea if the problem is with inadequate breast milk intake (for whatever reason) which would be seen if your baby promptly gains weight while in formula, or if the baby weight trend continues unchanged while supplemented, then you know you need specialised medical help.

Either way, the baby can't wait. She needs milk. Whether that is breast, expressed or formula is far less important than whether she is getting enough.

Best wishes.

Alpineflowers · 03/05/2018 06:40

Stick to one breast for each feed, so that the baby gets all the 'hind' milk. Do not swap about during a feed
(Yes yes I know this isn't the current advice but it used to be and seemed to work OK before mums were bombarded with all the latest, often conflicting, theories)

betterbemoreorganised · 03/05/2018 06:50

My baby lost 13% by day 4 ( cue panicked midwives and back to hospital) , I topped up with formula after every feed and after 4 weeks of topping up switch to exclusively breastfeeding. Rest and food helped my milk supply. Interestingly my baby did not drop a centile around about 12 weeks when apparently bf babies do.

Teateaandmoretea · 03/05/2018 07:06

Sycamore gives good advice. Listen to the real life professionals and it doesn't always work in the end - it didn't for me. That said 7% doesn't sound that bad and it can take up to 4 weeks for babies to regain birthweight so all may be fine in the end as others have said.

Between 2-5% of women dependent on what you read don't produce enough milk to exclusively breastfeed. This is banded by many on mumsnet as 'rare'. But if 700k babies are born in the UK each year even at 2% there are 14k women that this will apply to - hardly rare by my reckoning....!

Did you breastfeed your other child?

ParadiseLaundry · 03/05/2018 07:20

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

100% this. The amount of people I had coming into my home calling themselves experts was astonishing. But when you scratched beneath the surface they really didn't have a clue what they were talking about.

I was later provided with a supplemental system by the hospital (which ultimately saved my BF relationship) and two of these 'experts' had never heard of or seen one before. I had to give them a demonstration of how it worked FFS.

I just do not understand how you can call yourself a breastfeeding expert (or be given a LC title) when you have never breastfed a child yourself. You wouldn't accept driving lessons from someone who couldn't drive.

I don't feel qualified to give advice myself, but hang on in there OP, I have been there and know how hard it is. You are doing a great job and I hope it all works out Thanks

Reallylongstory · 03/05/2018 11:15

Agree with sycamores post. Hopefully it’s not the case and just a short term blip but sometimes there is an underlying health condition that can take a while to spot which causes a failure to thrive. I would recommend recording exactly when and for how long you’re feeding and the quantities if you combine with formula. I found this really helpful for the doctors to see that there really was a problem quite quickly when we were admitted to hospital after a similar problem. Good luck Flowers

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