help?

[AngelPants]

mods, feel free to move this if its in the wrong place.

mr c is almost 7 weeks old now and is still a skinny minny...

he normally feeds 3-4hrly but not for very long and he only wants both boobies twice a day...other then that he falls asleep on the boobie after about 15-20min and if i try and make him keep feeding on that boobie or have the other boobie he will just chew on my nipple... (he likes to snack around 10am-1pm tho)

we had the 6wk checkup last monday and he was only 3.5cms longer and had gone from 3.75kgs naked at birth to 4.1kgs with a nappy on (so 3.9-4kgs?), from what i can see on his growth charts thats not good, hes gone from 50th% to almost off the bottom of the chart. he is sleeping 4-6hrs at night and 2hrs in the arvo, other then that he only cat naps on and off (unless i dare put him down).

help!?!?

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

It can be a big shock when you think everything has been going well, but the scales tell a different story. His weightgain is too low, but in this situation there are usually some fairly simple strategies you can follow to improve his milk intake.
Did the doctor give you any advice on how to proceed?
It would be worthwhile for you to have a full assessment of feeding. Tell me, how did the birth go? Was he full term? Jaundiced? Do you know when he got back to his birthweight? Did he seem to feed well from birth? What have his wet and dirty nappies been like (colour and quantitiy)
The thing that stands out is that he is having a relatively low number of feeds per day. Most babies need at least 8-12 feeds in 24hours. In the first instance I would wake him every 3 hours, day and night and feed him, leaving him on one breast for no more than 20mins and always offering the other breast(a nappy change between feeds might help him to wake up) In the early days this may seem difficult, even counterproductive, but persist. The more they feed the more they will want to feed. If he is restless, always offer the breast as a means of settling. Does he have a dummy?
It would be very worthwhile to get a lactation consultant to help guide you through this temporary period. I could possibly suggest some-one if you let me know where you live

[AngelPants]

thanks barb,
he got weighed by a nurse and she didnt say anything about it, just filled out his book.
his birth was a bit dramatic, he had been in distress when my waters broke 5days overdue, my ctx stopped after a few hours 3 times over a week before my waters broke. i ended up having synto cos my ctx stopped again and his heart was being funny, was born 3hr 45min after the drip was put in with apgars of 9 & 9. he was only mildly jaundiced. https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...-johannes.html if you want to skim read, but its a bit long...he was back up at his birth weight on day 10. he didnt feed well, we had some attachment issues (apparently to do with him getting the pethadine). he is only having 2-3 pooey nappies a day (with normal yellowy poo with bits of white stuff) but every other time i change him (just before or just every feed generally) he has a wet nappy. his poo stains everything everytime, not sure if thats normal or not...
i tried waking him for an extra feed last night and he absolutely did not want to wake up and wouldnt feed, only swallow when i expressed into his mouth.
he does have a dummy, mainly cos he was wanting to chew/suck on my nipples 24/7 without actually feeding more than he is now... he also gets quiet restless and just chews on my nipple and fusses in the middle of feeds sometimes which i assume is wind.
my MIL is an midwife and ABA member, not sure if shes an actual lactation consultant tho. we are in adelaide's north eastern suburbs.

not sure if this would effect it but he has had really bad rash coming and going on his face, head & neck which we think is an allergic reaction to something im eating, im seeing a natropath on monday to try and resolve that.

[onthefly]

Hi cmarfol,
I think getting an LC to come to your home for a consult woudl be a really good idea to get on top of any feeding issues you may be having. If he's really not keen on waking during the night, then perahps try getting more feeds in during the day. 1-2 extras might be enough to beat the 'sleepiness'. As Barb says, give him 20 mins (at most), then burp/wake and offer the other side. I'd do the same if he's chewing rather than feeding. If he's still awake and interested you can then put him back on the first side again if you want. I'd try and aim for 2-3 hourly during the day - feed before and after naps maybe.
Rashes are very common with young babies - what does it look like?
All the best

[AngelPants]

ummm his rash is eczema i think but at one stage we got sent to womens and childrens hosp to check it wasnt staph or strep it was soo bad. his lymph nodes (is that what their called?) are up around his ears and neck which the GP said could be related...

[deletedit]

(a nappy change between feeds might help him to wake up)

If mine is snoozy and I want to feed him those icy cold wipes and icy cold fingers do a marvellous job of waking him up *evil grin*

Had to do that a lot the week he was sick. All he did was eat and sleep.

Maybe try feeding him shorter feeds really often during the day, like an hour after his last feed and not let him fall asleep?

Drinking coffee is probably not a good suggestion

[Jennifer13]

ummm his rash is eczema i think but at one stage we got sent to womens and childrens hosp to check it wasnt staph or strep it was soo bad. his lymph nodes (is that what their called?) are up around his ears and neck which the GP said could be related...

Sounds like your LO could do with a full check-up, JIC. Most newborns get a hormonal rash a few weeks after birth that lasts a little while, but that's from Mum's hormones, not from an illness. Not sure if it could be that?

If he's not well, then more frequent bfs are a good option, for both putting on weight and helping him recover.

You're doing a great job to keep such a close eye on him and keep bfing.

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

Can you tell me, do you have a family history of eczema or asthma? Either side of the family? 5 weeks is very young to have eczema What does you MIL think?
I know it's hard, but I would try to lose the dummy for a while. Try some extra feeds during the day - if he's grizzly give extra feeds in preference to the dummy.
I will try to find you an LC in your area

[AngelPants]

thanks everyone.
he has been on the boob almost constantly today cos he has been so grizzly. and both DF and i have eczma and asthma MIL says DF got a similar rash when he wore wool as a baby but he looked a michelin tyre man at this age and so did i. im seeing her again tonight so i will see if shes an LC or knows of one.

elf- hehe poor bubs i can just imagine how unimpressed he woulda been with ur icy cold fingers on him!!

[Ryatha]

Hi Hun, Sorry to hear you are having troubles.

I second the other posters who said to ditch the dummy & use your bb to comfort. Yep you will feel like they are out 24/7 but it should help him with the weight gain and the rash. Make sure you get plenty of rest, food and fluid as well to make sure you are making heaps of the good stuff for Mr C

[AngelPants]

so we saw the doc yesterday, mr c has lost 200g in just over a week. he's put me on maxalon to try and up my milk cos even after mr c hadnt fed for 4 hrs on wednesday night i could only express 30mls per boobie. i havnt been able to express that much since either even tho ive had him on the boob almost constantly during the day thursday and DS has been grizzling almost constantly. i resorted to buying a tin of formula and gave him a top up and he drank 75mls straight after both boobies and then slept for 2.5hrs straight, unheard of during the day for him and he didnt even want his dummy makes me feel worse about it being so long before i talked to the doc about it.
so far he has had 3 formula top ups, the last one he had 120mls plus 2 boobies so i dont think he is getting much, if anything from me. how long should it take for the drugs to work if they are going to work?
also would getting sick effect my milk? cos DF is sick as a dog and as of wednesday i am getting it as well. i think DS is as well, one of the 1st signs was a snotty nose and hes got a snotty nose.

[ladybird11]

I was wondering about supply issues, same thing happened to me with DS (and DD for that matter). I can't remember the name of the LC that came out to me (we're in the same local area, so you may score the same one perhaps?) she recommended the forumla top ups, and keeping a diary of feed times and how much breast milk he took (EBM or b/f) and the duration, and I had to start offering and recording each formula top up too. I may have offered 100mL but if only half that was taken that would be recorded and the rest discarded, until the 100mL gets close to always being finished, then i upped the top ups as DS grew. Through expressing I saw my supply dwindle quite quickly to nothing, so I gave up *red face*.

And yeah, it did make me feel bad (as I'd tried those lactation cookies *yummy*, and maxalon, and one other prescription too), but for me it was about what was in the best interests for a healthy baby.

Good luck hun!

[onthefly]

I think it will take a few days for the drugs to work. The absolute best thing to increase your supply is frequent feeding - how much you express is not a good indication of supply as many women have trouble getting much out with a pump and yet their babies do ok. So try as much as you can to get him on the breast.
Try not to feel bad - it's all trial and error in the early days and you will sort this out. The first rule is always feed the baby, so if you're doing that you're doing well
Illness might affect supplyl if you're dehydrated, but otherwise it shouldn't have much of an effect.

[Dansta]

'mar.
Expressing isn't always the best way to tell how much milk you've got. some boobies just hate having milk taken out by anything but a baby!
can you co-sleep with Mr c? and just let him have an 'open bar'? maybe after a few hours change sides? see if that a) give him more boobie and b) upps your supply? another thing that may help with supply is RLT. you're doing a wonderful job and i'll be sending milky making vibes your way too.
if you need to talk PM me.

[sas85]

Oh chicky, I know you are disappointed atm but good things are he is getting some breastmilk or his poos wouldn't have been yellow before you introduced the comps, true, pumps are not the best guage - some people can pump milk like a dairy cow but others can't get anything or can just get what's in the fore breast and not fully milk the breast like a baby that is sucking well so you prob still have more than 60ml over 4 hours, and it sounds like the topups will help him wake up a bit and take better feeds etc. When I had to put my girls on top ups the MHCN said to think of it like medicine - if our bubs were sick we would not feed badly about giving them some medicine to improve their health, and that is the same when our supplies are legitimately low - it's medicine on top of the booby goodness to help our bubs grow.

My suggestion is not to offer a top up after every feed because it makes them go longer between feeds (since formula is heavier to digest) and if you can't express much between feeds it will be counterproductive long-term. I've found offering one or two bigger top ups in the day keeps DD gaining weight well as well as helping her settle and still demand lots of breastfeeds (I know for me motillium takes a good couple of days to kick in but have to have that increased stimulation for it to work it won't just automatically increase on its own kwim) Hope it kicks in for you soon 'mar.

[AngelPants]

ok so i have only been offering DS a top up when hes been fussing at my boobies after feeding for a bit, when they r empty and hes not full or if hes grizzly still after a feed. so far its been 4 or 5 top ups. and i baked those lactation cookies last night and a few hours later expressed 80mls from 1 boobie very strange but they work at least a little bit... just sitting down to a RLT as well, fingers crossed we see some improvement soon!

[Kmn]

Sounds like the maxalon is doing its job! There is another medicine called motilium which is also used to increase milk production, and seems to be better than maxalon for some people - so if you are still having troubles in a week or 2 then ask about that as well.
FOr a little while you need to either feed bub or express (if he's asleep) every few hours (even the dreaded 2am slot) to give the maxalon the best opportunity to increase supply as well.
Hang in there!

[deletedit]

Have porridge for breakfast!

Oats, sugar, cold water, cook in a microwave for 7 minutes. I do 1/2 cup of oats, and you need 3x as much water as oats. Lactogenic goodness.