10 weeks and feel like giving up :( HELP!!

[mummybear2011]

Hi ladies,

I've been breastfeeding lilly since she was born 10 weeks ago and i would say our journey has been a positive one compared to some that i hear of. i had no latch/supply/nipple confusion problems at all...thats until now and i've become mega paranoid about my supply!!

OH has always given LO a bottle of my EBM before bed which i have expressed that morning..this started off at 3oz and now she takes a full 8oz before bed and i easily expressed this for the night feed.

I had mastitis when LO was 6 weeks old so stopped expressing for a week to give my sore breast a break, since then i haven't had the 'full' feeling and am paranoid that i have lost some of my supply, not jus for expressing but for LO's regular feeds too

So, a week ago i started on fenugreek and havent really noticed a difference (i took 1 three times a day).

Yesterday, i noticed my nipples have gone smaller

To top it all off i took her to be weighed today and she's only gained 5oz in 10 days :'( i tried being optimistic and saying well, atleast shes gained weight, thats the main thing, right?? At the beginning she was following the 50th centile but now shes gone down to 25th. Today at 10 weeks she weighs 10lb 12oz and she was born 8lb 6oz.

I suppose what im asking is has anybody experienced this?? Any advice for how i can increase my supply? What did your LO's weigh at this stage? should i just call it a day? i love feeding her, but feel so stressed about it at the min..i just feel like giving up because feel shes not getting enough even though she pulls off herself and goes 2 hours between feeds except for when she sleeps through the night. she does about 2-3 dirty nappies a day and about 4-5 wet nappies.

 

[CeriB]

As they get older, they can get more fussy at the breast - nosey, easily distracted ect. This is just a developmental thing rather than frustrated with your supply. I don't have any experience, but from what you have said, it all sounds great!

If you want to keep your expressing up, just keep doing it at the same time every day and your body will soon catch on.

Your doing great!!

 

[summer rain]

Hun please do not worry. Its perfectly normal and acceptable for babies to drop down one centile, most babies do at some point. Its only when they cross downwards two or more centile lines and show no sign of starting to gain better, that further evaulation may be needed. Even still in many cases it is just that the baby is starting to gain more in line with a genetic pattern that is normal for him or her. Its only recommended to weigh once a month or less now as weighing fortnightly or even more often than that; is misleading.

It does sound as though your LO is gaining enough to me and its normal for your boobs to go softer at any point between 1 week of age onwards, but around six weeks is a very common time for it; at this point your nipples may start to go back to similar to how they were pre-pregnancy as well. My son was about 12lbs 10oz at your LOs age (born 8lb 2) however at about 16 weeks his weight gain started to fall dramatically (could still be 8oz one week but then virtually nothing for the next 2 weeks) though otherwise he is fine, alert, plenty of wet and dirty nappies (he still usually does one large poo a day even though many babies of his age now skip up to a week) and he has grown 4 inches in length in less than 3 months, so he is growing well overall. I have an oversupply and still frequently choke LO with torrents of milk and I've weighed him before and after feedings so I know he is taking enough in; he is just burning it all off as he is very active; he can roll both ways, sit unaided and is currently trying to commando crawl.

There is more to your child's overall health than just weight gain; its only really the UK where we are obsessed with weight gain but neglect measuring height and head circumference increases, and as such in this country there have been cases with babies who are gaining well in weight having serious medical problems missed.

 

[mummybear2011]

wow, thank u so much ladies, your replies made me feel much better.

Cerib, you hit the nail on the head about the being nosey bit, she'll pull herself off as soon as somebody walks in the room or she hears a familiar voice!

Summerrain, what you say about us not measuring height, head circ, etc...it would make a difference to me if they did as i think she's a particularly tall baby, she's the same height as her 6 month old cousin, but he's 10lb heavier than her.

I feel like never getting her weighed again as i felt like this last time and thought i'd see how we went on over the next 2 weeks. i think ill just take her monthly from now on.

thanks again for your replies ladies

 

[Bumpontherun]

I really don't think you should worry. Your supply stabilises around 6-8 weeks and at this point you should stop getting engorged so much and I have heard that a lot of woman find expressing more difficult after this. I fed my baby exclusively until we started weaning but I was never able to express enough for a whole feed in one go.

I hardly ever took Helen to be weighed, I just didn't feel it was necessary. I think she had a dip in her centiles though, she was born on the 50th, dipped down to 25th and then went back up again to just below the 50th. I have no idea what her weight is doing now as she hasn't been weighed since she was one Your LO doesn't necessarily stay on the centile on which they were born. If she is going 2 hrs between feeds and sometimes sleeping all night then she is doing brilliantly. If you are still enjoying feeding then I would say relax and keep going.

 

[summer rain]

wow, thank u so much ladies, your replies made me feel much better.

Cerib, you hit the nail on the head about the being nosey bit, she'll pull herself off as soon as somebody walks in the room or she hears a familiar voice!

Summerrain, what you say about us not measuring height, head circ, etc...it would make a difference to me if they did as i think she's a particularly tall baby, she's the same height as her 6 month old cousin, but he's 10lb heavier than her.

I feel like never getting her weighed again as i felt like this last time and thought i'd see how we went on over the next 2 weeks. i think ill just take her monthly from now on.

thanks again for your replies ladies

I would take her monthly; the WHO/Child growth foundation (the folks who made the new charts) now even advise for normal healthy babies that they should be weighed at birth, 10 days, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks and then not again until a year because most babies their weight will often be all over the place in the middle months (which is normal) but by one year it will usually be following a steadier pattern. You know your LO is growing fine (esp. in length etc) and that is what matters. xx

 

[todteach]

Start dreamfeeding her at night maybe? Only if you're still really concerned. If she sleeps through, you could always set your alarm to get up and feed her once while she's asleep. Would also continue to pump, maybe even throw in an extra pumping session for yourself during the day, to have on hand for another day.