Hello, I'm looking for some words of wisdom. I feel this may be a long post! I had baby number 2 last Friday - normal birth following induction with pessary for 24 hours, then waters broken for me and then the Syntocin drip for 12 hours, I elected to have an epidural, but by the time it came to push it had somewhat worn off! Once I'd given birth I was up in the stirrups twice for about forty minutes each time to be stitched up - 2* tears and grazes. I also lost 1.5L of blood. Should also say was hooked up on insulin sliding scale throughout due to gestational diabetes.
Anyway, breastfeeding was established whilst in the labour suite, and we were subsequently discharged the following day. On day three daughter was weighed and found to have lost 12.4% of her birth weight - she was 3480g or 8lbs 8.5oz. We were instructed to head to SCBU where bloods were taken and we were told that her salt levels were up and that we should head to a private room on the antenatal ward where a plan would be put in place with an aim to stopping the weight loss. On the antenatal ward, the midwives appeared with an armful of Aptamil and teats, and we were told to continue breastfeeding and once she was finished she'd be topped up with 72mls of formula. At this point I made a point of letting them know that I wasn't keen on the bottle feeding as I wanted to continue breastfeeding. The midwives agreed that they would feed via cup, whilst I attempted to express for 20minutes on each side with a view to topping up with EBM rather than formula. Overnight we followed this regime, waking baby every 3 hours. She remained incredibly sleepy throughout, jaundice tested for and levels found to be just below treatment levels. Cup feeding took the midwives over an hour, a lot of it went down her front. Expressing made it clear that on day 3 my milk hadn't come in yet, all I managed to express was froth. However it did start coming in and the expressed quantities gradually increased. Cup feeding continued to cause frustration to the midwives. The day after admission baby had put on 80g ( this was after a feed from me and 60ml EBM top up), the following day she had lost 80g, and the third day she had gained the 80g back and we were free to head home for community midwife visit the following day for weighing, she had lost the 80g again.
I am now feeling pretty frustrated, whilst in hospital we had about seven different midwives, all with different views, none of them were particularly helpful with regards to breastfeeding, other than a couple who did look and agreed that baby had a good latch and was keen to feed. We saw the breastfeeding councillor eventually on our second day in hospital and she was brilliant, this was after the second 80g loss of weight. She was very positive and told the midwives that my expressed milk must be used as the top up, not the Aptamil and my mum and myself voiced our concerns regarding the inconsistencies in care, and also the way in which baby had been weighed. She was very supportive and listened.
Since we've been discharged I've seen two community midwives, yesterday we were -80g again. The midwife left and spoke to Paediatricians, and told us to revert to breastfeeding, and top ups. I explained that we didn't have a pump, so she said she'd make enquiries about a community one, she never phoned back. My husband and I decided that we'd try another 24 hours breastfeeding, as this was the situation when we'd left hospital the previous day and we felt that I was producing sufficient milk and baby seemed to be feeding every 2-3 hours, waking herself up and we all felt far more relaxed and happier at home in our own surroundings and see what her weight was the next day.
So today we've had a visit from another midwife and baby's weight was static. I was beyond frustrated and was told that I must top up with formula, midwife told me that baby must get enough sustenance for her brain development and by me ignoring advice to give top ups I was therefore at risk of affecting her brain development. Unfortunately my husband went back to work so he wasn't there to back me up and I took what she told me and silently fumed as she asked me condescending questions about whether or not I was concerned. She then suggested that I could feed baby who was fussing at this stage, I just wanted her out of the house, but struggled in a very unrelaxed fashion to get baby latched on and feeding. Midwife then suggested that she wait until baby had finished feeding and she'd weigh her again, I explained that normal feeds had been around 40 minutes in duration. After about 15 minutes I unlatched and she weighed her again - no change.
Obviously we are concerned that our daughter has remained the same weight now for six days, every day she's +/-80g. I have sourced a breast pump from my SIL and have given a 30ml Aptamil top up this afternoon after a 20 minute breastfeed as suggested by midwife. I then spent 40 minutes expressing and accumulated about 90ml EBM. This evening she's had a 20minute breastfeed and my husband has topped her up with 65ml with a bottle and teat (I couldn't watch). To me it seems crazy to keep her off my breast only to pump it into a bottle to give to her in a different fashion. It's our intention to continue this overnight tonight. I'm hoping that come tomorrow when the same midwife returns that we might have put on some weight.
I just wondered if anyone has any words of wisdom or thoughts or views. I've no idea whether we are doing the right thing anymore, I fed our first daughter exclusively for around 8 months with no issues that I'm aware of (think this is why the last week has been so hard). I really want to exclusively breastfeed this daughter and believe that I have the means to do it, unfortunately our first week as a family of four has not been what I'd anticipated.