My son isn't gaining!!

ldrosophila

My son is not gaining enough weight at 8 weeks he is only 8lbs and 1oz. I am large and so is his father. I'm so worried I'm going to have to supplement...does anyone have advice? I am seeing his pediatrician and talking to a lactation consultant, but I wondered your experiences.

kozlow27

Nurse, nurse, nurse. There are really so few women that actually have to supplement but are told by the ped that they should.

How much weight has your son gained since birth? Is he back up to his birth weight?

You could always pump after he's done feeding on the breast and give him the pumped milk via a bottle. That way you know how many oz he's getting at a time.

Here is a link with a ton of good info: http://kellymom.com/category/bf/

Also, the FB group "Breast is Best" has been really helpful for me.

kcasey155

Firstly, what was his birth weight? How much did he lose during the first ten days? How old is he now? How is he in himself? Fractious? Cries a lot? Never satisfied? Never sleeps?

But I second what winklkr says - keep him at the breast as much as possible. Breastfeeding is about supply and demand - as in the more he demands the more you will produce. So don't worry if half the time he gets nothing for a couple of days, it is comfort to him as well as stimulating milk production.

You just make sure you're eating at maintenance plus 500 and drinking as much water as you can comfortably each day. Trust in your body to let it do what it's designed for. When is your doctor's appointment?

kozlow27

Also, I forgot to ask. How many wet and dirty diapers is he having per day?

lisapr123

I had some luck with oatmeal, Fenugreek & Mothers Milk Tea. My girl is getting some breast milk, and more formula. Not thrilled about it, but I'm not beating myself up over it either. She drinks 30+ ounces a day at 12 weeks. (She weighs about 14 lbs.) My advice: don't be hard on yourself. Stressing about it will only make it worse. Hopefully you get the answers you need from his doctor and the lactation team.

RBXChas

I am also curious about his diapers and his current weight compared to his birth weight.

As long as he is pooping and peeing plenty, I would continue to nurse as much as possible - sometimes it's called a "nursing vacation" because you do nothing but nurse all day.

However definitely pay attention to what your LC and pediatrician say. We can't tell over the Internet whether or not your little boy is eating enough. If you need to supplement, nurse for a while, then top him off with a bottle (either pumped milk or formula). Then nurse again after a short break so that you get the stimulation that causes you to produce more but don't have a fussy baby. (I hope that makes sense.)

Just know that if you have to supplement with formula, it does NOT mean you are a failure or that your BFing career is over. You can still supplement for a bit and, by continuing to nurse and/or pump regularly, still have an adequate supply. If you end up giving more formula than breastmilk, that's ok, too! When I had issues with my first (he was supplemented for three months and then fully formula-fed), the LC saw how distressed I was over my feeling like a total failure and told me to just do my best, that every drop of breastmilk I could give him was good. I wasted so many tears crying over formula, but once I got over it, everything was fine.

Try to breathe and realize that you're not the only one who's been in this boat. Go with your gut and be confident in your decisions :flowerforyou:

luvemykids

In order to be really useful, we would need more information as already mentioned by these other mothers. Some other things that could cause this: Lactose intolerance (baby does not gain because his body cannot handle milk products consumed by you. This does not mean you have to quit nursing, but is does mean that you have to cut out all milk in your diet.) Tongue tie (there are several forms of this, but basically baby really is not getting enough because he cannot nurse properly. He exhausts himself trying to nurse.) I am definitely in the camp of breastmilk is best, but please do not let it stress you out if you have to supplement. Your babies health is much more important! When you stress it affects your milk supply. I would recommend pumping to get an estimate of how much you are making. Praying for you!

ldrosophila

Oh goodness sorry to not follow up...thanks for the advice.

His BW was 6lb 10oz and his low weight was 6lb 3oz. He is an unmotivated nurser I get about 3minutes before he starts to nibble or get tired. The LC wants me to pump 5 minutes before nursing and offer him a bottle afterwards to top him off. I'm hoping that will help him gain.

kcasey155

Babies his age typically gain 5 to 10oz a week, so he's not doing too badly. I hope in the bottle you're offering him after you're giving him the milk you pumped in the first five minutes? I don't really see that offering him formula is going to help your milk production, but then I am in no way a professional. By my estimation he's only dropped one percentile on the growth chart though (which is also based on formula fed babies), which means your persistence is doing a pretty good job on it's own and really he doesn't need any topping up at all. You just need to keep at it as much as possible. IMO you're doing just fine at the moment. Just as weight loss doesn't happen the same every week for everyone, neither does weight gain for babies. For comparison my youngest boy dropped three percentiles between birth and 18 weeks and is now a huge three year old, a little taller and stockier than his big brothers were at his age. I hope other mums will back me up here in saying it all sounds like you're doing perfectly already from everything you've said. :happy:

kozlow27

That's great that you are seeing a LC and getting advice from her. Pumping before a feed and giving him the bottle of pumped milk after he nurses sounds fine. With time you'll probably want to get him just on the breast and get away from the pre-pumping and bottle feeding so make sure you keep your supply up. But I agree with kcasey155, it sounds like you are doing just fine. My little guy was born at 6 lbs 3 oz and his low weight was 5 lbs 15 oz. He started to gain after that. Remember, when a baby is born they are (1) learning how to eat, (2) getting colostrum which isn't high in fat, and (3) have extra water weight to lose because of the IV you were likely hooked up to while giving birth.

Keep up the good work, mama! Persistence does pay off. The first 6-8 weeks are the hardest and then it gets SOOOO much easier.

kcasey155

I also wanted to say that small babies don't nurse for long as they have teeny tiny tummies that get full quickly. The time he nurses will increase as he gets bigger. That's why you need to offer feed as often as he will take it. Doesn't matter if it's every twenty minutes or once every four hours.

ldrosophila

thank you ladies so much your help is priceless

FitMama2013

Just a thought - by pumping first, you're essentially having your biggest letdown for the pump and not for your baby. He may get frustrated because he wants that fast flow associated with the letdown and he isn't getting it. Has your LC checked for a possible TT or ULT? It's completely exhausting for babies who cannot feed properly and they may give up. My son was slow to gain weight until he was diagnosed (2 LCs and his Ped missed it, but a 3rd and wonderful LC diagnosed him and I'm so thankful). Once his TT and ULT were corrected, I no longer needed to pump and he got everything he needed from nursing only. The difference in his 3 month photos and his 4 month photos was AMAZING because he was getting everything he needed.

ETA: when we struggled with the TT and ULT, I nursed first and pumped after. It's a lot of work, but that way he got my first letdown and the most milk before he was exhausted trying to nurse.

mkcolombia

I agree with the feeding first, then pump and give the rest as a bottle. Seems to me that you could potentially over pump, then baby is fighting to get anything out and gives up! I found with my 2 kids that feeding on one side and pumping the other, then the next feeding switch was the easiest way to increase supply and see how much they were eating. It meant A LOT of feedings and pumping but it seemed to work the best!

lisapr123

In regards to the pumping first: I did that too, because if let down didn't happen quickly enough my girl got frustrated and gave up. I'd pump one breast for a just a few minutes until the milk started flowing, then I'd put her on. It worked very well. Any milk I pumped was given to her later. So for me it worked rather well as long as I kept doing it. I wasn't frustrated, she was happy...it was the best move all around for us. I'm hoping it all goes well for you!