question about my 10 day old daughter

[pronetowonder]

So, I, along with many new moms, am concerned about my milk supply.

My daughter is 10 days old.

She weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces at birth.
Her hospital discharge weight was 7 pounds, 14 ounces.
At 4 days old she had a home nurse visit and weight the same (7 lbs. 14 oz.)
At her pediatrician visit at 6 days old she weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz.
At another weigh in at 9 days old she now weighs 8 lbs. 2 oz.
***
She has 8-10 pees a day along with 3-5 yellow poops.

I feed her on demand, no longer than 3 hours between feedings except for the occasional 4 hour stretch at night.
*****
Is she gaining enough? The pediatrician seems satisfied but the lactation consultant I am seeing does not based on me weighing her before and after a feeding at her office. She seems to think I am borderline low in my milk supply. There is just so much conflicting info out there.

Any advice?

I'm already precautionary pumping after feeding her every three hours.

I'm just so tired and concerned, as breastfeeding her for as long as possible is so important to me.

Also: when we weighed her last at the pediatrician, she weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. but later weighed 8 lbs even the same day at the lactation consultant's office. 3 days prior she was weighed in at both places and they read corresponding numbers---what gives? How can her scale be off my 2 oz. and which one to believe? Grrrr....

Thanks!

[MeepyCat]

Scales can totally be off by that much. They can get slightly unbalanced for all kinds of reasons. Someone maybe jostled one or the other of the scales - don't sweat that particular difference.

I'm not a huge fan of the test your LC is doing - the thing where she weighs the baby, and then you feed the baby and weigh the baby again. This is a test that makes sense if you repeat it at every feeding all day, but doing it just once - and just once at an appointment time that may or may not coincide with your usual feeding schedule - doesn't give you a lot of useful info. I mean, yeah, you know what your DD ate right then. But babies don't eat the same amount every time.

Ideally, your daughter would be gaining about an ounce a day. On average. Some days she'll do more, some days less, but it seems she has been hitting that number over the past few days. If you hadn't talked to this LC, would you be worried?

I love that there are lactation consultants in the world, and some LCs are truly wonderful, but I've had some contact with some astoundingly awful ones. The fact that the ONLY part of your post that indicates a cause for worry is that the lactation consultant is not satisfied is kind of a red flag for me.

If your pediatrician is not worried, I wonder if you might not be better off canceling your next consultation with this LC, putting the pump away, and curling up in bed (or on a comfy chair on the porch in this nice weather) with your babe and staying away from scales.

Your daughter is very young. That means you have a lot of well-baby visits coming up, she'll be in front of her doctor a lot. Her output really is great. She seems to be hitting her stride with weight gain. She sounds fine to me.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

All scales have a different weight it is very rare to have 2 scales measure the same.

I would take that into account when having her weighed.

[SaoirseC]

I really wouldn't worry about it. She sounds just fine.

[PatioGardener]

from birth my little guy fed every 3-5 hours on cue. my midwife suggested feeding him every 2 hours during the day (wake to feed) just until he gained back his birth weight. he gained 1.5 oz a day doing this instead of 0.75 oz/day, and as soon as he hit birth weight i let him feed when he wanted. he continued to grow at 1.5 oz a day even feeding only every 3-4 hours - probably because he is bigger and stronger now.

if you are concerned you could try feeding more often.

nak

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

Her weight sounds absolutely fine to me hun, and as a pp different scales can be off by that much or more even the same scales if under different circumstances i had my ds caden weighed at baby clinic when he was younger and at first she had the scales on the bed and it put him as loosing weight (only 2oz,but still) and then when i asked if she could weigh him on the floor instead it put him as gaining weight (about 4oz) this time.

[Llyra]

So she's ten days old, and almost back at birth weight-- just a few ounces shy of it? I wouldn't worry at all, then, especially if your ped is satisfied. The problem with before and after weights is that baby only takes what baby wants at that particular time. You have to do them for a day or two, round the clock, to get a real idea of what baby takes in during a day. And at ten days, your mature milk supply isn't even all the way in yet.

If you're worried, look at feeding frequency. If baby is feeding fewer than ten times in 24 hours, it can't hurt to offer more often, especially during the night when your prolactin levels peak. I would wake a baby (and did wake all of mine) to eat every two hours until baby has regained birth weight and established a pattern of weight gain. The more frequently you nurse, the more stimulation your breasts get, and the higher and steadier your hormonal levels will be. The levels rise sharply with each feed, and then decline in between. If you offer more frequently, you keep the levels from declining so much between feeds, which helps to establish a bountiful supply.

[rhiOrion]

My midwives wanted to see L back at birth weight by about 2 weeks. It sounds like you're well on the way to that.

To give you an idea of a mom with a truly low supply- my friend's baby was born at 8 pounds 9 ounces (or something around that) and at one MONTH the baby was only back to 8 pounds.

[ClaudiaTh]

Don't even worry about it, your baby is gaining weight just fine!

[pronetowonder]

Thanks so much everyone. She seems fine to me...its all a bit tricky being a new mom and wanting only the best for her. Maybe I will try and wake her more often for feedings like some of you suggested.

; )