Nursing 6 week old not gaining enough

amother

Sat, Apr 16 2011, 2:22 pm

Op here again

Went back to dr for weigh in, saw the other dr in the practice, my baby gained NOTHING in the 10 days between visits. I was panicking like crazy.

But my dr said it's likely that my baby who was 9 lb at birth simply gains slower since she's so big. A 5-6 lb baby needs to gain much more and faster. Being that she has at least 7-8 dirty pampers a day, seems calm and satisfied, is not lethargic or sleepy at all, she is alert and social when shes up, he thinks she's fine. I need to come back to weigh her right after pesach. I'm trying to nurse her as frequently as I can over yom tov but its not so easy.

As for supply issues, I felt full on Friday so I pumped after a feeding.....got 8 oz. I never pumped so much at once. I put it in the fridge, to supplement for her later, but she always seems full after a feeding and spits up if I try to feed her more...don't know what to do.

baba

Sat, Apr 16 2011, 3:10 pm

How long does she nurse for?
I know it's scary. My dd lost quite a bit when she was around 2 months old. She was also born big and then almost dropped off the charts. It turned out she was nursing for too long, which caused her to burn more calories than she was taking in.

amother

Sat, Apr 16 2011, 3:19 pm

Op here

She nurses for 30 min to an hour. I make sure to nurse her no less than every 3 hours, except in the evenings she wants more often like every hour and a half and at night if she sleeps then I don't wake her. Dr says I should only nurse her 10-15 min max but if I do that then she is unhappy, which I assume means hungry. I take her off after 10 min to burp but if she seems unhappy then I nurse her more.

baba

Sat, Apr 16 2011, 3:33 pm

This is exactly what happened to me.
The dr told me the same thing and he turned out to be right. Nursing for that long really wasnt effective and she was just burning too much from it.
Try to watch how she nurses and you'll notice that at some point she's not swallowing as often. This is around 10-15 min and that's when you should stop. She might be unhappy, but not necessarily because she's hungry, but rather cause she enjoys/needs the sucking itself.
It sorted itself out after about a week of cutting it short, she gained nicely and I ended up nursing for 16 months.

amother

Sat, Apr 16 2011, 7:13 pm

Your doctor can test the quality of your milk. I was in the same situation with my baby when he was 4 months old. I did not notice how underweight he was. The doctor was so alarmed and told me to stop nursing cold turkey. This is a doctor that actually encourages nursing. Breast is best - but not when it doesnt nourish your child.

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Apr 18 2011, 8:45 am

That makes no sense. No doctor who is "pro-nursing" will say to quit cold turkey. If you need to supplement, you need to supplement, but that doesn't mean your milk is water and should not be fed to your baby.
A doctor who was truly pro-nursing would refer to a competent LC (as my ped does) to see how nursing can still work with adequate weight gain. Sometimes it's a matter of changing nursing patterns to increase the fat in milk while supplementing until the baby catches up. There are ways, but to quit cold turkey? That's absurd. Impossible for the mother, depriving to the baby.

amother

Thu, Apr 28 2011, 9:44 am

op here

weighed baby again, she only gained 6 oz over pesach. dr said to feed her gentlease formula every time I nurse however much she wants for the next 24 hours. has anyone ever donr this? he said this will help me figure out how many extra ounces a day I need for supplementing, and then maybe I can pump to supplement...has anyone ever done that too, supplementing with pumping/breastmilk? if so did you need to pump every feeding or just 1-2 times a day and give baby some of it by every feeding?

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Apr 28 2011, 9:57 am

6 ounces over Pesach means --- how many days?
An average weight gain is 5-7 ounces in a week: under an ounce a day is still acceptable. If we're talking 6 ounces in 8 days, that's still ok.

Have you gotten in touch with your LC? I'm still not sure if there is an issue as large as the doctor is making it out to be: there are numerous factors in seeing if baby is getting enough milk, and I'm still not sure his approach is the best way to maximize intake.

Laughing Bag!

Thu, Apr 28 2011, 10:12 am

if she is gaining then I wouldnt be conserned if she wasnt then I wud think twice pesach you eat differently too so it might have an affect I would wait another few weeks.
I personallt hate formula and had my nursing babies gain very slowly, nothing to be conserned about!
good luck! Smile

amother

Thu, Apr 28 2011, 10:23 am

op here

she gained 6 oz over a 2 week period, about 3 oz a week so that's really little. she just gulped down 4 oz of formula after nursing for 20 minutes. I think she would have taken more but she spit up a little after 4 oz so I didnt want to stuff her.

I hope I dont need to supplement. I dont mind giving her ONE or TWO bottles a day, each by their own feeding, but to have to prepare a bottle every time I nurse is a huge pain in the neck I I dont see myself doing that for too much longer...

amother

Thu, Apr 28 2011, 10:29 am

op again

oh and so far I'm nursing clean so can I continue nursing clean while supplementing? has anyone else had experience nursing clean while supplementing?