Weight gain issue

[Isadora]

DD has just hit 12 weeks, and she is so small! I have been worried about her for the past few days, she just seems all skin and bones. So the CHN weighed her today, and in 6 weeks she has only gained just over 200g. She has been having 6 feeds a day, content after feeds and sleeping well. Overall she seems to be a very happy and easy baby (touch wood). For the past 4 nights she has slept through and missed her 3am feed, so really she has only been having 5 feeds on these days.

So the CHN recommended that I feed her more during the day and ensure that she still has 6 feeds per day. She also suggested that I express after a few feeds to increase my milk supply. The only problem is when I express, I get barely anything. Does the type of breast pump that you have make a difference? I have a tommie tippie that was given to me and I know its one of the cheaper ones on the market. Wondering if I should get an electronic avent one, or would I be wasting my money?

Also as for my supply, she asked me if I feel low. I kind of do, theres not so much engorgement anymore and I dont randomly let down as much. I just thought that was because my supply is settling down though? What other ways can I increase my supply?

Trying not to panic (but I am a panicker) and I really want to make breastfeeding work, especially seeing as how much effort it has taken me to get this far with it.

Has anyone else had a bub in a similar situation?

[black_rose]

I had a lot of trouble getting weight on dd1 and Ds. Ds was only averaging 50g a week instead of his target of 180g.

Tbh the avent pump is a waste money, it wrecked my nipples and in the end I hired a good pump through the aba before buying a medela swing.

It can be a hard path to take if you express and then top up, both dd and Ds ended up ob bottles full time. Another option you can try is offer more feeds during the day and make sure you rest and drink lots of water and see if it makes a difference.

[onthefly]

I think aiming for more feeds would be more effective if you can. Have you tried a dreamfeed at all? If there's a worry about weight gains then waking to feed in the night might even be an idea.
How many wet nappies does she have? Is she quite alert when awake? Any signs of dehydration?
What you describe is normal when supply settles down, so it's not necessarily a sign of low supply.

[Heaven]

I think aiming for more feeds would be more effective if you can. Have you tried a dreamfeed at all? If there's a worry about weight gains then waking to feed in the night might even be an idea.
How many wet nappies does she have? Is she quite alert when awake? Any signs of dehydration?
What you describe is normal when supply settles down, so it's not necessarily a sign of low supply.

What I was going to say too

I would just try and get in a couple more breastfeeds.

[Trillian]

I would be waking her and getting her back to 2-3 hourly feeding during the day and then waking her at night - if she misses a feed get up and wake her up anyway. The other thing I wanted to say was that this may just be her and the way she gains weight. One problem I had with my second bub was that she didn't gain the mountains of weight that my first bub did and I couldn't help but compare the two of them. Once I accepted that she was never going to be a massively chubby baby and gain a heap of weight each week, it made it so much easier to see small weight gains without thinking anything was wrong with her. You're in a similar situation DD1 was a chubby little thing and gained weight well, but DD2 is a different baby and is also fully BF and BF babies don't always stack on the weight like FF bubs can. I still think you are doing a fabulous job though!

[Lisa B]

Isadora - obviously I'm still learning to BF but I have experience with a breast pump. We hired a medela symphony from a chemist (about $30 a week). This is what they used in the hospital. Apparently they are very expensive machine but I must say it does the job efficiently for me. The hire fee is worth it for me as I express about 7 times a day. I haven't tried any of the other ones so I don't have a comparison point. I think I read somewhere that in the early days a bub needs to be BF about 7ish times to keep milk on track.