So she had her planned c-section

[Baby Makes 4]

I posted a few days ago about a Filipino woman I know who's OB told her to have a c-section because her baby was too large.

So on Monday she started having a little bit of bloody show and they decided to hurry up and do the c-section earlier than planned to get that great big huge baby out before real labour started.

Wanna know how big this gigantic baby was?

5lb 9oz

They are still in the hospital because he is having a hard time keeping his temp up and his weight is down to 5lbs because he isn't nursing well.

It's just ridiculous. :

At least she's trying to nurse and I peeked in his diaper to find that he is still intact!

[mum2James&Bean]

*shakes head* that literally makes me sick. Poor baby! At least his mom is giving him the best start, breastfeeding.

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by Baby Makes 4

At least she's trying to nurse and I peeked in his diaper to find that he is still intact!

FYI:

My experience with my sons' Filipino friends is that they are circumcised at age 13 years; maybe this is a cultural, Philipines thing, but I hope he stays intact.

[Baby Makes 4]

Originally Posted by applejuice

FYI:

My experience with my sons' Filipino friends is that they are circumcised at age 13 years; maybe this is a cultural, Philipines thing, but I hope he stays intact.

It's likely the way they do it in the Phillipines. My husband is Filipino but born in Canada. He and his brothers were all circumcised at birth.

This woman was asking me about circumcision a few days before her son was born and I was able to give her some good information so I think if they were going to do it they would have done it already. Hopefully he will stay intact.

[mamato3cherubs]

Not to be discouraging, but around here they wont do circ til baby is a week old. You have to go back and the your Ped does it at the hospital then.

[RiverSky]

Originally Posted by Baby Makes 4

5lb 9oz

They are still in the hospital because he is having a hard time keeping his temp up and his weight is down to 5lbs because he isn't nursing well.

It's just ridiculous. :

At least she's trying to nurse and I peeked in his diaper to find that he is still intact!

Don't all babies lose a good 10% of their birth weight in the first few days while there's just colostrum then they start to gain once the milk comes in? So 9 oz is high but I would think it's not dangerously so, as long as she is feeding on demand.

Congratulations on being a new auntie, though!

[DucetteMama21842]

That is sooo frusterating! I am glad you are there to support her though. Congrats on his arrival though!

[ledzepplon]

[doctorjen]

Originally Posted by RiverSky

Don't all babies lose a good 10% of their birth weight in the first few days while there's just colostrum then they start to gain once the milk comes in? So 9 oz is high but I would think it's not dangerously so, as long as she is feeding on demand.

No, actually, all babies do not lose that kind of weight. 10% would be a pretty significant weight loss, and would raise a red flag for me (and I'm a very breastfeeding friendly doc) There is evidence that up to 7% may be normal, and more than that may still be normal but bears watching. Losing that much weight indicates that baby is probably not getting enough milk - and in this poor teeny soul's case, it is probably because he is little and early-ish, and unable to maintain a strong sucking pattern. Now still, the answer isn't to supplement but help the breastfeeding. Skin to skin, nursing every time the little guy will open his mouth, reducing all other stress (passing the baby around, bathing him, poking him for blood sugars, etc.) are the best ways to go, and perhaps adding having mama hand express and dropper or spoon feed whatever colostrum she can get, too.

Poor little guy, and poor mama to be hoodwinked like this.

[ericswifey27]

Originally Posted by Baby Makes 4

Wanna know how big this gigantic baby was?

5lb 9oz

That is unbelievably sad. How can doctors get away with this? When a professional that you have entrusted your baby's life to pressures you into a csection because the baby will be huge and then it's small, is this not a form of malpractice? And this is not directed at the mama here, but to society in general, how is it women are encouraged to express their outrage (i.e. sue, and many times, win!) when vaginal births do not go as planned because of doctor interference or lack of necessary interference, and yet when it is clear as pie that the doctor was plain WRONG nothing happens?

Aaargh... it's just so frustrating...





It is just so depressing.

[Belle]

That is so rediculous. If they had just left him alone he might have had a chance to cook a little longer. It really makes me angry that they put his life in danger while feeding his mother a pack of lies. Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now.

I'm glad she's leaving him intact and breastfeeding him though.

[Baby Makes 4]

Originally Posted by doctorjen

No, actually, all babies do not lose that kind of weight. 10% would be a pretty significant weight loss, and would raise a red flag for me (and I'm a very breastfeeding friendly doc) There is evidence that up to 7% may be normal, and more than that may still be normal but bears watching. Losing that much weight indicates that baby is probably not getting enough milk - and in this poor teeny soul's case, it is probably because he is little and early-ish, and unable to maintain a strong sucking pattern. Now still, the answer isn't to supplement but help the breastfeeding. Skin to skin, nursing every time the little guy will open his mouth, reducing all other stress (passing the baby around, bathing him, poking him for blood sugars, etc.) are the best ways to go, and perhaps adding having mama hand express and dropper or spoon feed whatever colostrum she can get, too.

Poor little guy, and poor mama to be hoodwinked like this.

Oh it gets worse!

They are feeding the poor little guy on a 3-hour schedule!!!

Before every feed he gets stripped naked and weighed so they can tell how much he's eaten. By the time the nurse gets to their room, strips him, weighs him, redressed him and hands him off to mama the poor little guy is so tired from all teh crying and activity that he falls asleep on the breast. He only took in 15 ccs of breastmilk before he fell asleep and then they stripped him and weighed him AGAIN! After that he sucked back 30ccs of EBM because he was just too tired to nurse.

They are setting her up for failure.

I was there today and it was breaking my heart. His cry just sounded so hoarse and thirsty. My SIL and I were both so upset at the whole situation.

[Baby Makes 4]

Originally Posted by mamato3cherubs

Not to be discouraging, but around here they wont do circ til baby is a week old. You have to go back and the your Ped does it at the hospital then.

Oh I hope she doesn't do it. I will say an extra prayer tonight that they just leave him be. I'll also get my hubby to talk to the Dad tomorrow.

[wifeandmom]

Originally Posted by doctorjen

No, actually, all babies do not lose that kind of weight. 10% would be a pretty significant weight loss, and would raise a red flag for me (and I'm a very breastfeeding friendly doc) There is evidence that up to 7% may be normal, and more than that may still be normal but bears watching. Losing that much weight indicates that baby is probably not getting enough milk

I'm glad I didn't read something like this before having my babies. All four of them lost almost exactly 10% of their birth weight in the first 24 hours. Literally within an ounce of 10%...

I'd have freaked out for sure if 7% is what is truly considered acceptable now (though I've always read 10% and never gave it a second thought with any of them cause they never lost more than 10%). They all were attached to my boob non-stop, I had copious amounts of colostrum before ever delivering any of them, milk always came in full force within 48ish hours of delivery, no latch issues, nothing.

But they all dropped weight like crazy the very first day. Is that really alarming? I mean, I *know* they are fine (obviously), I make enough milk for the neighborhood, but it's sort of alarming to think nobody ever batted an eye at any of them losing that much weight by their 24 hour weight check.

To be fair, I will also add that all four of them peed an obscene amount in that first 24 hours as well. IIRC, the nurses wanted at least one pee the first 24 hours, 2 pees from 24-48 hours, and more after that. Mine came out peeing (literally) and were soaking diapers the first day. They also passed all of the black sticky poop in the first day (one baby took 48 hours to get it all out), then were pooping perfect BM poops by 72+ hours old. Is it normal for them to pee that much the first day? Heck, maybe we ought to be concerned that their kidneys aren't right or something...

[doctorjen]

I'm not suggesting one go just by a number. In your case, in the face of good nursing behavior, an obviously hydrated baby, and the fact that they were cesarean births, and possible a little overhydrated prior to birth, I wouldn't worry in the least. I'm fond of saying babies don't pretend to be fine just to make their mothers feel good - a baby who seems fine almost always is fine! I don't go just by weights in any case, and in fact, don't even look at them at all in a baby who is nursing well in the first week of life.
In the above case, with a sleepy, tiny baby, who is not breastfeeding well, I'd be worried. I've seen cases where a well-meaning person says "Oh, that's just 10%, that's normal" and ignores all the other red flags going on.
The 7% guideline comes from a multinational study of infant weight loss in the first few days postpartum, and is not meant to be used as a cutoff (as in over 7% means you need formula and breastfeeding will fail) but as a guideline to use with other factors to see if some intervention is needed. And often, the intervention we are talking about is frequent nursing and not disturbing the mother-baby dyad. LLLI uses 7% as a guideline now, and I belong to a professional listserve for professionals interested in breastfeeding and most IBCLS also use 7%.

The test weights described above are just nuts. On the rare occasion I do test weight, baby is weighed fully clothed, then nursed, then reweighed fully clothed - without adding or subtracting any clothing, blankets, or diapers (if baby pees or poops, you weigh before you change) There is no reason to strip the little guy twice every 3 hours! And that method is less accurate, because if you feed the baby, and he pees at the same time, you will get a falsely low picture of intake.

[Romana]

That is really sad. I always keep these stories in mind in case anyone ever gives me the "big baby" line. I birthed an 8 lb baby at 38 wks and while she looked big to me when she was born, I wouldn't hesitate to birth a bigger baby . . . I hope BF works out for that mama.

Julia
dd 9mos