🚨 Advance warning 🚨 This forum will be closing on 1st May – please see our pinned thread for more information.
Slow weight gain...
Zac is 4 weeks old on Thurs and has not quite reached his birth weight again yet...
I am breast feeding him (which didn't get off to a great start as he wouldn't latch on properly in hospital, I didn't get proper skin to skin time or offer him a feed until a good few hours after he was born due to having to go to theatre for stitches etc -by which time he was very sleepy! In the end he would only latch on with the help of a nipple shield which i have had to keep using all along... Also I was in pain for a week and half until we sussed out positioning and attachement etc! I nearly gave up and switched)... but now it all seems to be going well apart from his poor weight gain!
He was 8lb 2 when he was born and when HV first weighed him after 13 days he was down to 7lb 12 - she said that was normal and not to worry - then a week later he had only put on 1 oz! Demand feeding clearly wasn't working as he wasn't demanding enough so we decided to adopt a strict 'every 3 hours' routine (apart from at night of course!) and although it can be frustrating to have to wake him sometimes to feed it seemed to be working - we also started giving him his 10pm ish feed as 4oz of formula... He feeds for between 20 - 40 mins most times being 30 mins... this morning he was on me for an hour and 10 mins....
What am I doing wrong!? What more can I do!?
Help!
Amy x
0
Replies
oh you poor thing. By the sounds of it you are not doing anything wrong at all.
I had to give up breastfeeding after a week, because Charisma became jaundiced. All the experts say that "breast is best" and I agree wholeheartedly, however they do not tell you that the majority of breast fed babies become jaundiced.
Basically with me, she began getting frustrated and not latching on properly and was also very sleepy (a common side effect of jaundice) and not waking up for feeds.
We did try and wake her, but she was then too sleepy to latch on, and fell asleep again.
I was advised to continue expressing and then top her up with formula, which I did for a while, but I was finding that I was only getting about an oz from each breast, so I decided that enough was enough and I switched to formula.
From then on we have not looked back.
Sometimes though she doesn't take a full feed and I did worry to begin with, but she's gaining weight and eats as much as she wants so I'm not too concerned now.
I don't feel guilty about my decision to switch at all, she had the colostrum which is the most important thing, and if I was producing enough milk then I would have continued.
I know they say that milk is produced on a supply and demand basis, and that the babies suckling will stimulate the breasts, but I also fully believe that you either take to it like a duck to water or you don't.
Have you tried expressing to see how much milk is coming out?
You may be like me and just not producing enough, also you need to eat well and rest when breastfeeding which is perhaps something I didn't do.
It may be that Zac is suckling for comfort as well as milk, as to why he was on the breast so long this morning.
Watch his colour though, if his skin looks a bit yellow and also the whites of his eyes are discoloured then he may have jaundice.
Hope this helps.
Take care
Charlotte
xx
Like you I am breastfeeding throughout the day and my oh gives him 4ozs of formular for his last feed. My health visitor siad that bf babies do gain weight slower than bottle fed babies but as long as they are happy, content and growing then its not a concern. Hope this helps put your mind at rest a little.
Tammi & Ashton xxx