hi there my breasts were never/are never engorged, however I do feel let down in one breast, strange I know and notthe other! You can express to see how much you produce per feed but its not really necessary or accurate, I have more than one let down per fed so if I only expressed for one let down I wouldnt get much at all, like Feeb says. Newborns should be feeding at least 8 feeds a day if possible, 6 feeds is not enough really for newborn, although when newborn they do mostly sleep, if you find her sleeping more than feeding she maybe conserving her energies cause she needs more food? its so hard to tell though if the baby is happy with the amount of feeds per day or sleeping due to not enough food, are you demand feeding? Like the girls say if your bubs is weeing and pooing each feed she sounds like shes doing great, I would just try and get an extra 2 feeds in per day it would also benefit your supply too. The best way to describe if the breast feels empty it feels light and floppy hope that helps!
Itsme, if she is feeding until she doesn't want anymore, that's fine. She's probably emptying it. I would say it all sounds good. But as I say, 6 feeds in 24 hours is on the low side, so if she starts to feed more often, go with it and don't worry. Also, if there is any problem with weight gain, feeding more often should be all you need to do. It is quite possible the MCHN might tell you to give formula, but definitely try and bf more often before you do that.
I am not sure how it works in Melbourne, but here we have to contact the MCHN. You can also get her weighed at any Child Health Centre without an appointment, just drop in, and at most pharmacies. THe pharmacies have a child health nurse there once a week who'll do a check and weigh for you, but they usually have scales set up so you can weigh bub yourself at any time.
In Melbourne the hospital passes your details to the MCHN, who then contacts you to arrange a home visit.
It might be worth calling the MCHN yourself in case the info didn't get passed on.
You can always take her back to hospital for a weigh if you are concerned - though it sounds like all is well.
Thanks for all the advice. I finally had a MCHN come today and they weighed Maya and she's not put on much weight at all. So they've advised the same thing as you guys, that I need to up the feeds during the day. I've found that she's naturally started wanting more feeds anyway, whereas she seemed to just want to sleep a lot more before. Yesterday she had 8 feeds in 24 hours. So I'll continue with at least 8 feeds in a 24 hour period and hopefully at her next weigh (next Tuesday) she'll have gained more weight!
I just wanted to say thanks again for all the advice! And also to let you know that DD was weighed today and had a healthy weight gain! So the extra feeds are definitely working.
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So they've advised the same thing as you guys, that I need to up the feeds during the day. I've found that she's naturally started wanting more feeds anyway, whereas she seemed to just want to sleep a lot more before. Yesterday she had 8 feeds in 24 hours. So I'll continue with at least 8 feeds in a 24 hour period and hopefully at her next weigh (next Tuesday) she'll have gained more weight!
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