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Originally Posted by mysticmomma  You gotta look at the baby, not the numbers! How are wet/poopy diapers? You say she is meeting milestones and is gaining 2.5-3oz per week, so she is gaining, just slowly. I would not give formula at this point. Keep nursing.
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That's what I think, too, but the doctor wants raise her weight up so her weight is higher at 6 months... He says then solids will raise her weight. Not sure what to think about that. I am not force-feeding DD rice cereal (only doing baby-led solids), and I don't want her to wean until well after one (hopefully up to 2). I read another thread where someone brought up drizzling olive oil on foods and when I mentioned it to the Dr. he seemed on board with it.
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Originally Posted by PatioGardener  I can understand your doctor's concern about the slow weight gain, and I'm angry that he didn't send you to an LC before! Not very supportive of breastfeeding! 
Get to an LC as soon as possible. You can supplement with your milk instead of formula at the breast, and work on increasing milk transfer while your baby nurses.  How are you giving the formula? If you give it with a tube at the breast at least baby is getting your milk at the same time. Are you able to pump? You could give your pumped milk instead of formula.
Have you seen an LC before? Is there any chance your baby has a tongue-tie? Where does she sleep at night and how often do you nurse through the night?
You may like to take a look at the low supply stickie at the top of this forum - lots and lots of good advice about increasing supply and baby's intake.
Also, you may want to see how baby's growth looks on the WHO chart: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/stand...irls_p_0_6.pdf hang in there and keep breastfeeding! |
Thank you!
DD isn't tongue-tied. I asked the Dr. to look for it today, bc I was concerned it could be genetic in my family (my sister was but my mom didn't find out until too late...like years later).
DD's doctor says he wants to see if DD can gain weight with the help of supplements, bc if not, he is concerned she may be experiencing metabolic or heart issues. If she gains, he wants to wean her off it pretty quickly. He gave us lots of hypoallergenic formula (I told him no way to dairy formula as she is sensitive to it).
I saw a LC once in our hospital when dd was born. It was very brief and she gave me a thumbs up for our latch... The problem is it was the football hold and DD outgrew my arms for that very shortly afterwards (more on that below).
I made a call to a local LC today that someone here recommended, and I'm also talking to one tomorrow who is at my birthing center. The first LC I spoke with feels I should use formula right now as DD is so skinny, but in small amounts (2 1.5 oz feedings a night).
When I told her the doctor expected DD to gain 2 pounds in 1.5 weeks, she laughed and said "no way that's going to happen." I have to agree with her. As much as I like DD's doctor and believe he's trying to help, I felt it was a little nutty he wants her to gain so much in such a short time... Of course, I could have misunderstood (DD was crying very loud and it was hard to hear), but I asked twice.
The Plan So Far - LC#1 is planning to hook me up with a hospital grade pump and a special feeder for DD (when she takes formula) that is supposed to make her latch stronger. I'm going to be tested for thyroid issues to make sure that's not the problem. I have a feeling everything is pretty normal, but I have had some symptoms of low thyroid since the end of pregnancy... Of course a lot of that could very well be from being so tired. I had incredible insomnia during pregnancy and stayed up a lot with DD...now I wake up after 4 hours to feed each night (even if DD isn't getting me up).
We tried formula. I am hoping we won't have to do it long (if at all), but I want to hear it from at least one LC, before tossing out the idea. This baby needs to eat!
To me it smells nasty. To DH, it smells like cheese puffs. We tried DD on it tonight (I'm only having DH feed it to her to help avoid nipple preference), she drank it but kept reaching for me the whole time. DD seems indifferent to it. She only took .5 ounce, and wanted Mommy right away. DH thinks she didn't want to drink from the bottle bc her mouth was sore (she's taken BM in the past from a bottle without hesitation). I think she really prefers BM.
I'm going to talk to a few pros about this before completely settling on a plan. DD's Dr. (who has actually been very supportive of EBFing up to this point) knows more than most pediatricians, but isn't totally in the know about BFing. For example, he pushed D-drops, and told me that white babies are at risk for vitamin D deficiency, but everything I read said dark-skinned babies are). That is not a big deal, but it sort of makes me question his credibility on feeding issues.
I have a really strong feeling I'm screwing up the latch. I was doing the football hold when DD was a newborn and infant. During that time, she was gaining fantastically (plus the LC at the hospital gave a big thumbs up to it). However, she outgrew it in the first or second month, and I ended up doing a clutch...but it's hard to tell her if her lips are flanged. When I can see, they often appear flanged 1/2 the time (she sometimes sucks in the upper lip), and it's been hard to get her to do it properly.
I really hope I'm right...bc if so, it may not be simple (though not easy) to fix, and it'd be nice for DD to fatten up without formula.
Of course that baby needs to eat 
Did upping thyroid levels with meds increase or decrease supply?
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