[Greensleeves]

I

 

[becca011906]

mama, you are doing such an awsome job!!!!! when you started suplementing was it only b/c of the body weight? or was she also not having enough wet/dirty diapers too? that's the best to go on for "if she's getting enough questions" vs trying to guess how much you are producing...
a bigger baby doesn't nessicarly need more milk unless she's not having wet/dirty diapers, i was able to excluivly BF my 9lb 2oz son for 6 months then with solids for 14 months when i was only 16. so there is hope for BF a big baby with out formula.
I would slowly cut back 1 oz of fomula out of the SNS a day and keep nursing nursing nursing, are you taking anything to help with supply? mother's milk tea, fingreek, ect? that could help too. getting lots of rest, taking care of you and baby and that's all... I'm sure others will chim in with other tips!!!

 

[DaryLLL]

My first dd is now 19 yo, but I had a similar exp to yours.

I was in labor and it was progressing slowly and they wouldn't let me eat in the hosp so I became dehyrated and starved after 12 hrs. So I was put on IV.

Eventually (next morning) after an hour of pushing they told me she wasnt going to come out, so I had a c-sec. She was 10'2".

I think her weight was artificially raised b/c of the 16 hours of IV that bloated us both.

On her 2nd day she hadn't nursed in a while. I sent her to the nursery so I could shower and when I got back they told me she had lost too much weight (I forget how much) so I should give her a bottle of glucose water after I fed her. So I bfed her and managed to get her to take 1 oz of g water, which was unpleasant as she didn't know what to do with the rubber nipple and most of it went down her front.

Later in the day she had gained 6 oz over the earlier weight and I know that wasn't from the 1 oz of g water!

My milk had come in.

So, at day 4 we went home and I didn't think a thing about supplementing. I just bfed her every time she peeped or wiggled.

She doubled her birthweight in 2 mos.

She marathon/cluster nursed, esp in the late aft/early evening. I did not expect this, but when I started going to LLL, found out it was normal and healthy.

I would suggest gradually cutting back on the supplements. Are you working with a IBCLC? She is wetting enough and may be pooping seldom b/c of the artificial milk.

Take excellent care of yourself. Are you getting lots of help with meals and laundry while you heal and babymoon? You need rest, food and lots of water.

 

[mighty-mama]

Here to give some encouragement...

I was blessed with a 9.6oz ds, although I was told to supplement in the early days, as he lost weight I fought with the hospital and continued to nurse. But it happens my friend when thru the same thing, and she unfortunately got the wrong advice and stuck with the formula. My opinion is to cut back on the formula as much as possible, the thought is, less formula to eat, more breastmilk to eat and produce. Keep in mind all babe's will lose about 10% of their body fat upon birth. They were born with extra reserves. I know how distraught you are over this. YOU CAN NURSE.... I had the same emotions, I thought my babe wasn't getting enough and I just sat there with my feet up, topless watching tv with him laying on a boppy. I drank the Mother's Milk tea, immediately after his birth and suprisingly my milk came in in unde 48 hrs, and that was with a c/s w/ complications. I know you said you had another little one at home, so relaxing in front of the tv may be difficult. I would suggest putting your dd in a sling, exposing your breast, this will make it so readily available to her and you can still interact with your toddler. Also it may take some of the pressure off both of you to get her to nurse, as it will be a more relaxed approach..

Another thing was sister had me do which I thought was crazy, but hey she's a fellow mdc member.... I nursed on one side for two hours. Say ds would start eating at 10:00, no matter what I would switch him at 12:00. If he was up straight then he'd have the same side, say if he slept for past 12:00 and only nursed on that side for 10min, I'd still switch. My ds who lost the standard 10%, ended up gaining 10oz within 1 week.. My ped was even shocked and I still have an overabundance of milk.

Honestly within time, you will look back on this and be so much calmer. It does get so much better, believe me, I had the highest-needs nurser, you just got to say I can do this another day and keep going. No matter how well you raise your babe in the future, there is nothing more healthier than breastmilk.

**A great book to also have on hand is Dr. Sears's Breastfeeding Book...

Best of luck...YOU CAN DO THIS

 

[aydensmama]

I had a 9lbs 8 pz baby. He lost the 10% of body weight plus some I believe, but gained it all back when he should of. We exclusively breastfeed until bottle with EBM was introduced at 6 weeks!

You can do it and are doing great, cut back on the formula, unless you experience not enough wet diapers! Nurse on demand, whenever he wants, and next thing you know you will be writing about your abbundant supply!

Good luck and hang in there...this to shall pass!

 

[daekini]

My babes both went from 8+ lbs to around 6 lbs before leaving the hospital.
Naturally the peds wanted me to supplement, but I refused. They asked me to bring the babies in the day after I left hospital for a weight check, so I nursed 'round the clock and they both gained weight - my milk came in on that day both times.

I wish that doctors wouldn't be so quick to advise supplementing - it usually isn't necessary and it puts women in the situation you now find yourself in, compromising their own instincts and instilling fear. Best of luck mama and hope you'll have no trouble weaning off the bottle. I nurse my 12 week old on demand and he is doing wonderfully (16+ lbs), just follow your instincts and don't let the docs scare you!

p.s. Miles still does the cluster nursing thing in the evening, nursing a half dozen times in about 3 hours. But at 6 weeks he was sleeping 7 - 8 hours at night! What a dream!

 

[Momtwice]

Some things that are good for your milk supply:
skin to skin contact with your baby (it releases the milk making hormones)
avoiding caffeine and chocolate
like Daryl said, taking excellent care of yourself (easier said than done, but important!)
Getting into bed with the baby for days and doing nothing but nursing (let someone else worry about the dishes, get help with other children if any)

Know that VERY frequent nursing is normal
avoid artificial nipples (there are other ways to supplement)

You can get more information about weaning from supplements safely and anything else you need to know from
a LLL leader
a board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC)
http://www.kellymom.com

and us of course

Keep up the GOOD WORK!

 

[zanelee]

to you and your hard work. Don't stress too much. Here's my story...
My dd was 10 1/2 pounds. (not gestational diabetes, just large.) We had her at home, so we didn't have the doctor breathing down our necks about her weight or anything else for that matter. She lost weight, was slightly yellow...the whole bit. Sleepy, sleepy sleepy....finally things evened out.
I didn't worry about her weight, jaundice or anything except taking care of her. The way I look at things, you know when your baby needs more help than you can give. Trust your instincts. I know that the beginning is stressful and sometimes confusing, but try and sit and listen to what you know in your head.
The way I look at it, there are a few facts...babies always lose weight after birth, always. If you're feeding her on demand, don't stress. She'll get all she needs, and your body will adjust to that demand.
Babies always get a bit jaundiced. Since this is what happens to all babies, I don't get hyper about it. I truly believe it serves a purpose, maybe, just maybe doctors don't know everything.

I think it's not something to get all hyped up about like they would have you believe.
Now, are there certain instances that you should get worried and search for outside help? Certainly, but trust yourself to know when that would be.
You are doing a wonderful job with your new baby. Don't doubt yourself or your body's ability to provide for your sweet newborn. Read the above posts again and follow your instinct.

 

[alegna]

Personally I seriously doubt you need supplements at all. I expect that the birth weight was inflated (I bet you had an IV like mentioned) and as long as output is okay I would drop the supplements and nurse nurse nurse.

I think it's a load of bunk that big babies need supplements.

-Angela

 

[beansavi]

My first child was 10 lb 6 oz (no diabetes, tho'). I just nursed him and remembered that it takes 24 hours for my body to catch up and make more if they nursed longer on a given day/were growing. Six pee dipes and a poop dipe in a day sounds fine to me. Have you talked to your doc?

Just love and feed your baby and don't analyse so much...

My second babe was 9 lbs 10 oz.... and still no probs with milk...

 

[~Megan~]

I do think you should just rest, feed yourself and her.

I'm not a trained Lactation Consultant (though I'd like to be some day) but here is what I would do.
I'd have someone to take come over to care for me and my kids. To prepare meals and do light housework.
Have some mother's milk tea and oatmeal with fruit for breakfast along with a protein of your choice, eggs are really good.
Snack all day, drinking lots of water.
Have a healthy lunch and more water or mm tea.
more snacks and lots of water
have a healthy -protein and good fat rich- dinner, fish if you eat it maybe
continue taking prenatals and omega-3 supplements
take as many naps as possible
sit with baby in a warm bath

and I'd cut out the supplements unless I really felt they were needed. I'd imagine that after a day or two of the above your milk supply should enough. And as she gets older she will get more efficient and have a bigger tummy and then nursing will be a lot easier for you both.

It sounds like you are very dedicated and doing so great so far.

 

[roamingfamily]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alegna Personally I seriously doubt you need supplements at all. I expect that the birth weight was inflated (I bet you had an IV like mentioned) and as long as output is okay I would drop the supplements and nurse nurse nurse. I think it's a load of bunk that big babies need supplements. -Angela

Agreed. My son, born 9/30, weiged 10 5. He ended up losing 10%, but even before that, a dr. told me to supplement. When the nurse relayed the info, I simply said "I won't do that." Clear and specific. Hee. He later told another nurse to tell me to supplement, "but, I know she won't." I told the nurses that I had to do what was best for my family in the long run and I was not going to create long term problems to solve a short term problem with other solutions. They all understood. In fact, eventually became clear that every other doctor and nurse did not agree with Doc #1. Including my ped who said the she expects 15% loss in a baby this size! I agree. Try dropping the supplements altogether, see what his output and demeanor is and then add them back if you absolutely have to keeping weaning the supplements in mind when adding them back.

 

[InDaPhunk]

Remember also how very small a newborn's stomach is....regardless of birthweight.They just aren't made to hold ozs and ozs of food. So focus more on number of feedings rather than how many ozs you can pump at once or how much DC takes from a bottle.

I had a rat b#st$rd doctor in the hospital that said my DS's blood sugar was low and tried to make me supplement after each feeding- this is all as I was checking out of the hospital. I called my midwife crying when I got home and she asked me a series of questions that helped me determine if he was getting enough nutrition......besides numbers of poopy/wet diapers..... how did he look? Did he have good color, was he lethargic or did he have good movements and was energetic? Did he eat enthusiastically, or more lethargicly, or somewhere in the middle? Did he cry energetically? What was my overall feeling about his state of health? Answering those questions not only made me confident in my decision to tell the dr when he said to supplement "That just ain't gonna happen", it also made me more confident in my innate parenting ability. So maybe answering those questions will help you determine how well your child is thriving and whether or not to focus completely on a percentage of weight lost or whateva when making the decision about whether or not to supplement. Good luck and

Oh yeah, and stop that negative talk!!!! You can do this. You are determined to nurse that child and so it will happen, even if you have to walk around naked for the next year so you child can nurse on demand.....ok , it probably won't come to that, but really, you will be successful, so try to relax some.... it helps your milk let down better, anyway.

 

[*Jessica*]

Everyone else has given great advice (as they always do!

) but I don't think anyone addressed the one poopy diaper a day "dilema" did they? While my first pooped at least every time he ate (which was for 45 minutes every hour and a half) and often even more than that, my 3 month old has been an every 4-8 day pooper (occassionally pooping twice a day or really throwing me for a loop and pooping two days in a row.) He is a very healthy 3 month old baby at 14.5 pounds (up from 7 lbs 1.5 ozs at birth) and pees much more than 6 wet diapers in a day. I think that as long as your little one is having 6+ wet diapers a day and isn't constipated I think you can stop worrying about BMs unless the IBCLC thinks you need to.

 

[dynamohumm6]

Congrats!
My daughter was 10lb 4oz (10 days 'late', no GD) and she also lost over a pound before we left the hospital, but I never gave her supplements, nor did anyone suggest it. Did anyone tell you why you had to supplement, or did they just assume because she was big?
My suggestion is to cut out the supplements and just nurse on demand whenever your babe wants to nurse. A lot of that newborn weight was probably fluid (esp. if you had an epidural - I did with my daughter, and she was very puffy), so I'm irked that you were told to put her on supplements to begin with

: And FWIW, my daughter certainly loved to nurse, but she really didn't nurse anymore than my son (who was 7lbs 7oz)...she comfort nursed a lot more, but that's an entirely different topic

You can do it mama!!

 

[ladybugchild77]

You have gotten lots of great advice...just wanted to add that my dd was 9lb 4oz at birth and no one ever suggested supplementing her...I have never even heard that!

: Her (ex) ped told me to give her formula only because I was so "tired" in the beginning but it wasn't because she was so large...Hmmm...I still ebf my almost 8mo dd who is waaaay over 20lbs...Good luck Mama! You're doing a great job!

 

[DaryLLL]

Another thread about nursing big babies:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...=362608&page=3

 

[musicmaj]

You said you had a c-section. I have had one vaginal birth and two c-sections now. My milk was very slow to come in after my c-sections so my last two babies lost about a pound before they started to gain again. Their pediatrician was not concerned about it because it is typical for a mama's milk to come in 4-5 days after a c-section with no labor. That could possibly be why your little one lost so much weight. My 6 week old has gained 3 lbs in the last 4 weeks - after losing a slight bit more than a lb in the first week pp. He was 8lb/8oz at birth, so not huge, but not really small either. If I were you I would try to wean off the supplementing or stop altogether and just nurse, nurse, nurse for a couple of days. All the nursing will bring your milk supply up and your body will regulate how much your baby needs.

 

[2tolove]

Hi -
I didn't see this mentioed yet, but because I just left the Hosp w/ a baby
( born 10-28) the Ped said 4-6 wet dipes a day and not to count the poopy ones because it varies so much for BF babes

Sounds like you are doing a great job Mama

Just a thought - my little guy has been BF every hour at night ( tiring yes, but good for supply

) So I am going with it & hoping it encourages increase

Good Luck!!! &

this too shaal pass

 

[Greensleeves]

S