My MCHN also suggested that regime (once things got really desperate for us), and it totally stuffed things up for us. Once I spent a few days just having DS on the boob almost all the time, things improved alot. So I would second what the ABA counsellor suggested to you, just lots and lots of feeding. TBH, I think that is more important ATM than top up feeds (JMO), because they can be detrimental to your supply. If your DD got to a stage of losing weight, less output, and being very unsettled after feeds, then top ups might well be required, but I think in your case that extra feeding will really, really help. Maybe for the next little bit you could make sure she doesn't go longer than 3 hours between feeds? And of course feed her as often as she wants!
I know it's very hard to trust your body when you've had a scare like this - but you can, you really can. You body is making oodles and oodles of milk Taurean . That is so fantastic! Trust your body that it can nourish your baby, remember that it grew her for 10 months . I know top ups make us feel more relaxed in the short term, but they really are a PITA. When you can breastfeed successfully without them, you will find such pleasure and relaxation in feeding your daughter. Remember that babies are designed to feed frequently, sometimes 2 hourly around the clock! Yes, it's tiring, but it's what they need, it's how they survive. I hope that once you see some good weight gain, you will be able to relax into trusting your body and breasts to do their thing. I really believe you can do it!!!
Good luck today, and please let us know how it goes . I feel positive that you will see some good results for your hard work, but please don't expect too much of yourself, or your DD. It's only been a few days, and sometimes it takes longer than that to see that things are improving. Often it's good to look at the bigger picture with babies weight gains - don't forget that .
You're getting great advice here, I'll just add my voice to the chorus.
70ml is heaps to express at once at this stage. I happen to have very good supply of milk, even an oversupply. In the first couple of weeks I couldn't express more than 20ml at a time (now I can get 150ml or even more sometimes). I would not be doubting your supply at all.
By the way little things like whether she was weighed before or immediately after a wee or a poo will make quite a difference in how much she weighs at that moment, so she could well have put on more weight than the measurements suggest.
In the first few days, while we were in hospital, DD had a bit of jaundice. So we had to feed her 3-hourly to try to clear that from her system. Some things we did to wake her up enough to feed were:
- don't let her sleep for too long without waking for a feed
- feed one breast, then change the nappy to wake her up, then offer the other breast
- express a bit of milk so there's a drop on your nipple, and try to get this into her mouth so she gets the taste of it and remembers there is milk to be had if she sucks
- stroke her head to wake her up, stroke other parts of her
- gently wipe her head with a cool wet cloth to wake her up (yeah, it seems mean, but it worked for us - I called it "bugging the baby into feeding more").
- If you are using the normal, front hold, tuck her bum in closer to you to get her to suck again with more enthusiasm. No idea why this works, but it helped us. It was a suggestion of the breastfeeding advice midwife in the hospital.
Great news! Izzy gained 40g in 3 days!!!! It's not huge but enough apparently and a very 'nice' gain. We are heading in the right direction again. I also managed to express 110ml on one sitting thus morning - 80ml out of one side! So my supply doesn't seem to be an issue. I'm so happy!!
All the advice you girls gave me was fantastic and the words of encouragement really gave me that confidence boost I needed. Thank you all so SO much
ps we had over an hour of skin on skin breastfeeding in bed this morning. It was beautiful and so good for both of us. We will be doing it more often.
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. I know top ups make us feel more relaxed in the short term, but they really are a PITA. When you can breastfeed successfully without them, you will find such pleasure and relaxation in feeding your daughter. Remember that babies are designed to feed frequently, sometimes 2 hourly around the clock! Yes, it's tiring, but it's what they need, it's how they survive. I hope that once you see some good weight gain, you will be able to relax into trusting your body and breasts to do their thing. I really believe you can do it!!!
. I feel positive that you will see some good results for your hard work, but please don't expect too much of yourself, or your DD. It's only been a few days, and sometimes it takes longer than that to see that things are improving. Often it's good to look at the bigger picture with babies weight gains - don't forget that
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