BFing seems to be going well, but his weight is down?

[LaydieBugs]

Puzzled ...

Our LO was 8 lb 11 oz at birth on 5/22. By 5/26 he not only hadn't lost the usual amount of weight, he had gained 5oz.

But all his feeding the first 4 days, after an extremely long labor, after a month of on-off premature labor ... I was diagnosed with exhaustion on 5/28 and spent several days in bed with others feeding me.

He seemed to get a little thin after that, and at 16 days we found that he was down to 8 lb 9 oz.

He's otherwise healthy, so the medical pros aren't too concerned ... we'll just keep checking.

I feed on demand ... he eats every 3 hours at night, every half hour to two hours during the day, and he'll eat for 15 minutes to an hour.

No indication of lack of milk ... not sure what else it could be?

[Gemini529]

Well I'm having an issue similar to yours. My son isn't losing weight but he is gaining kind of slowly. Well, slower than the pediatrician would like to see. He started out very small though. His lowest weight was 5 lbs 5 oz. I couldn't understand why he wasn't gaining much because he seemed to do nothing but breastfeed 24 hours a day. Well, I went out and bought a baby scale that measures to the .5 oz so I could see how much milk he takes in. It turned out that even during the long feeds in the morning, the most he will eat at a time is 2 oz. But usually he will only eat an ounce at a time. I now feed him at least 15 times a day and let him stay on as long as he wants. I guess he's just not that quick at getting the milk out. I was pretty surprised at how little he was getting, but he has a good latch and seems to be sucking and swallowing well. =

My point is, maybe your son isn't getting as much at each feeding as you think he is. That was the case with my son. Another poster pointed out when I asked about it that it is possible he was getting mostly foremilk and not enough hind milk. So he thinks he's full but really it's mostly water. She suggested "block feeding." Have you tried that? It turned out that wasn't the case for me but it could be for you.

I thought I was breastfeeding a lot before. He is literally attached to my boob 24/7 now.

Have you weighed him at home at all? There could be a difference in the scales used to weigh him. They can sometimes vary pretty drastically. Even a half a pound difference can throw it off at this stage when every ounce counts. Good luck! I'm told it gets easier but this is my first baby so I haven't experienced the easy/fun part yet.

[karika]

It sounds pretty ok to me. He is only 2 oz lower than birth weight. Make sure he is emptying a breast before offering the other one, to be sure the nutrient dense milk is reaching him instead of just the watery foremilk. I thought all new mothers had exhaustion, , well at least those of us that are doing it attentively... wish someone had fed me as I fed baby... you are a blessed woman. Here is kellymom's bit on fore/hind milk
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fo...-hindmilk.html

Her site is very informative on all sorts of issues. Here is some stuff about weight gain
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...ight-gain.html

[featherstory]

I agree with the previous poster it is not much of a loss and all kinds of things can go back and forth in the beginning, just make sure he is getting hindmilk and he will likely begin to gain at his own speed.

[Llyra]

Please be cautious about using block feeding with a baby not gaining well. Block feeding is a supply-reducing technique, and if a mama is already suffering from a somewhat low supply, block feeding can further compromise it. There are a lot of misunderstandings about foremilk and hindmilk that can lead a nursing pair into trouble and this may be one of them.

Switch nursing is a classic technique, however, for babies who aren't transferring enough milk during a feed, especially for newborns. Basically, as soon as the suckling slows down, and you don't hear a lot of swallowing, you switch sides. You continue to switch sides multiple times, back and forth, during a single feed, until baby seems satisfied or is so asleep you can't rouse baby to suckle anymore. This is a supply-increasing technique-- because switching sides frequently often induces additional letdowns of milk, and sends the message to your breasts and your hormones that more milk is needed. It also helps keep a sleepy or groggy baby interested in active suckling.

Breast compressions can help move more milk, too. Having baby evaluated for a poor latch, a tongue tie, or a weak suck can also help you decide whether baby needs help transferring more milk.

Something to maybe try-- get hold of a good accurate baby scale, and weigh baby before nursing. Then without changing clothes, changing the diaper, or wiping off any spitup, weight baby right after nursing. The difference is approximately how much baby took in.

Do this with every or most feeds over the course of 24 hours, and you have some idea of what baby is taking in through the day.

I would also be striving to get at least two more feeds into 24 hours-- perhaps waking baby more often at night. Sleeping skin-to-skin can really help with that.

[annettemarie]

Moving out to the general forum.

[LaydieBugs]

Thanks all ...

Both midwives who delivered him are lactation consultants; they have observed us multiple times and his latch is good. Since he initially gained a lot instead of doing the usual newborn loss, we're further convinced his method is fine.

All his weighings have also been with the same scale. We're less concerned that he's 2 oz down from birth weight, than that he's 7 oz down from his 4 day weight.

The exhaustion when he was about 6 days old was quite extreme: I got so weak I couldn't lift the baby or get out of bed. It was horrible. Baby's Dad had to leave town for a few days to take care of something critical with his other son, and had a niece come to help but she disappeared for hours on end, brought me about half the food she was supposed to, and treated me like shit. I've never felt so hungry and helpless.

Dad came back home quick and I recovered well after he got there but there were several days where I was barely eating enough to not feel starving every minute of the day. It was shortly after that, when I noticed LO's diaper covers fitting loosely.

I'll try the frequent switching, thanks. I kinda was doing that the last few days to keep him eating. I'll also change his diaper after he falls off one breast -- he HATES diaper changes and always wants to eat after. During the day I'm not letting him sleep more than an hour without trying to feed him, though at night I let him decide.

We do sleep together, and there is a lot of skin-skin contact. It's nice to feed him when he first starts to grunt instead of waiting till he cries.

I've also been eating a LOT more the past 2 days ... that combined with other things yielded a lot more poop yesterday, so perhaps we're getting somewhere.

Thanks again for the ideas!

[ewe+lamb]

Have you heard of resting up for 40 days - it's a tradition that has been lost but folk are now re-thinking about things and re-introducing this into their pp routine. Basically do nothing but lie in bed and nurse the little one, traditions - or from my dh's background were to have the feet henna'd so that you stayed still and relaxed with only the baby to nurse, other women came in and looked after the changing and maybe bathing if that was in the culture too - sometimes that wasn't done for at least a week after birth unless cleaning baby's bottom for nappy changes, this will help you rest and augment your supply. OK our society isn't quite the same nowadays but you can take little bits of this sort of thing and implicate it into your routine - it was in the multicultural forum and maybe of interest to you. Remember minimum of 8-12 nursing per 24 hours more if possible, you can also pump off the other breast whilst nursing on one to up the supply - although i really don't think you need do anything other rest a little more - be kind to yourself

[LaydieBugs]

Yeah I've heard of those traditions - ah I wish!

We did arrange more support for me until he's 4 weeks old, and Dad is ready to hire a postpartum doula if needed (or housekeeper, and or someone to cook). We live separately (except this first month), and he's sensitive to the additional stress that may pose.

Things seem to be turning around ... I started lengthening each feeding by waking him up (pissing him off with a diaper change) after he'd fall asleep and fall off. He's particular about his schedule and flat out won't eat when he thinks it's nap or social time, but adding another few minutes to each feeding seems to be working.

Now his diaper cover is fitting snugly again, and we've had the added bonus of an enormous increase in supply (I never got engorged those first few days, because he was feeding so much when my milk came in and then I got exhausted). The difference is remarkable : I can really see that he's getting much more milk per feeding.

My midwife offered a hops tincture, but it looks like just the additional sucking time helped. This is my first; I had no idea a baby might think he's full when he's not! I was feeding him until he seemed happy (fell asleep); now I feed him until he refuses to eat another drop