4 week old weight issues but formula fed?? Help!!

[mumandcub]

My DD is 4 weeks old, we had a really rough start and she had severe jaundice, she had triple phototherapy for 7 days. Drs put it down to severe bruising around her eyes after a traumatic birth.
Our MW discharged us last week as she was happy with DD jaundice and her weight gain BUT we are now under our HV who disagrees with the MW and believes DD is showing a ‘tinge’ of jaundice and wants to refer to prolonged jaundice clinic (my family and I disagree). DD also not gaining sufficient weight according to the HV. I’ve even bought my own scales but now I feel that will stress me out more keep checking every day.
You can see she has physically put on weight as she’s filling out clothes.
She was originally breastfed but following the jaundice, I switched to EBM and some formula. Since the HV said she’s not gaining sufficient weight and making me feel awful, I’ve switched to ready made formula. She does spit up after a feed but not that much and she does hiccup but not all the time so unsure if she’s got reflux as well?
Any advice? Would be super grateful as this is all making me feel really really low 😔

How is she plotting on the weight chart? When did she regain birth weight? How often does she feed and what is nappy output like?

You poor thing! None of this is your fault and I’m really sorry that you feel low and that your HV was unsympathetic. Some are wonderful and some are complete dragons, I think it’s luck of the draw.

DS was referred to the prolonged jaundice clinic too after phototherapy in hospital. I felt really panicky about it at the time but it wasn’t a big deal at all. The doctor weighed him, looked at him and tested his bilirubin and said he was completely fine and discharged him. It was actually very reassuring. I would go for the appointment as then you can speak to a paed rather than the HV and they might be helpful re: the weight gain and possible reflux, or they will discharge you and you can tell the HV there is nothing wrong.

How are you feeling apart from the feeding issues? It’s so stressful and exhausting when they have feeding issues, especially after a traumatic birth. It sounds like you are doing a great job with your DD. I hope there is someone to look after you.

She’s dipped slightly on the weight chart. She feeds well (I think) 60ml or 90ml at a feed every 2-3hrs depending how she feels. Nappies are always wet and poo can be every other day. She’s quite windy too!!

Thank you @Gunpowder, I have another HV coming out this week to weigh again as my normal one is on annual leave so I’m hopeful she might be better and more reassuring.
I am happy to go to the prolonged jaundice clinic although I feel it the wrong call but we go away next week and my DS who is 3 is so excited so I’m reluctant to do anything until we return. I find jaundice is the overall wellness of the baby and not just the ‘tinge’ of yellow this HV is referring to. DD is alert, feeding, wetting nappies, waking for feeds, etc.
Desperate for her to have gained enough weight to pass on Friday to take some stress away

We had to take our baby to the prolonged jaundice clinic despite him being perfectly well in himself and only having a "tinge" of jaundice. Turns out he had haemolytic disease due to our blood mixing. It's definitely worth going just to be sure everything is absolutely ok.(treatment was 3 months of folic acid as it was mild so nothing worrying)

@BeHappyAndSmile DD was tested for this when we were in for a week, they also tested for liver function and did a full blood work on her for infections etc etc

And we had split billirubin done too while there so not sure what other bloods are left linked to jaundice to do

When you say baby has dipped on the chart, do you mean they've actually lost weight, or just dipped below the centile line they were previously on a bit? The former would certainly be a concern once past the first 5 days, the latter normally not. That said with severe jaundice in the mix, it does seem reasonable to be more cautious. How many days/weeks did baby take to exceed birth weight and what was their initial % loss?

I'm purely an amateur, but I'd probably accept the referral to the jaundice clinic but otherwise keep doing what I was doing and try not to stress. Baby sounds like she's feeding well to me.

Not lost weight, just dipped in the centile. Birth weight was 7lbs 8oz, she’s now 7lb 13oz and she took 3 weeks to regain birth weight as she lost 8% by day 2 because of the jaundice and not feeding to start with as too sleepy.