Breastfeeding/Formula

[kaziscool]

Hi All,

I need some reassurance/advice.

Isabella (born 27+5) is now 39+6 has been breastfeeding for around 7 days (have done 3 days of exclusive) & the rest breast during day & tube at night.

She has lost 80g in total which I've been told is normal but I'm concerned she isn't getting enough milk from me. When I'm expressing at home (the nights I'm not at the hospital) I can only get around 20-30mls in total per expression & I'm terrified that when she's feeding off me thats all she's getting.

Tomorrow is weigh day again & i'm thinking that if she's lost again I'm going to have to give up on the idea of breastfeeding & go onto formula as we are hoping to come home at the end of this week, but won't be allowed if she isn't gaining weight.

Has anyone else had this issue or give me some advice?

x

 

[whistle]

Even with the best pump, pumping is less efficient than a baby at getting your milk out, and some women don't get on with pumping but breastfeed all their babies for months (or years). You say at home you're only getting 20-30 mls. Are you renting a hospital grade pump? Are you pumping at the hospital at all? Getting more or less? Check all the parts on your home machine including valves/membranes which can get tired.

So as for losing weight. If it got really bad, would they consider putting a fortifier in her tube feed milk? And before switching to formula, could you try breastfeeding then topping up with your own breast milk in a bottle, or combining breastfeeding and formula feeds? Any breastfeed bubba gets will be beneficial, even if you have to do half and half, and once you're home and you can truly feed on demand and she can have those good night-time feeds that boost supply, you may be able to ditch the formula. I'm sure there are women on the breastfeeding section who could help with this once you were home.

Anyway, just thinking aloud. Good luck, I hope weigh in goes well!

 

[Foogirl]

Dont't give up on breastfeeding altogether. It is too early to assume it isn't going to work. See your doctor about getting a supplement to help milk production, keep on pumping and feeding when you can, and if your LO needs a top up with formula, that's ok. It is possible to have them feed by breast and bottle when they come home.

 

[25weeker]

My lo also lost weight when she started exclusively breastfeeding but after a week she started putting back on. Like you I was really stressed about it but the nurses weren't worried at all and told me it was normal because they have went from basically doing nothing for their food to having to work for it.

A whole day pumping (min 8 times) used to give me about 500mls so I used to worry I wouldn't have enough milk but babies are much better at getting milk than a pump ever will be.

I hope she has gained weight tomorrow.

Good luck

xx

 

[Sam182]

Hiya,

As you know I had to give up on breastfeeding as my supply just wasn't good enough and we'd be stuck in hospital for ages trying to establish feeding, but when I started to find my supply dwindling, I asked my GP for domperidone which really worked to increase my supply for a while x

 

[kaziscool]

Thank you all for your advice.

Well the choice has been made, we've moved onto formula & bottle feeding as she had maintained her weight & if she doesn't start to gain weight in the next 2 days we can't come home as hoped this weekend.

I'm gutted in many ways as really wanted her to continue with breast milk but I just can't do it any longer. The expressing was hurting & all she wanted to do was feed on me all day but was obviously getting nothing. I've already had a course of domperidone which helped slightly but can't continue on it.

Oh well, onwards & upwards I guess

 

[toothfairyx]

At the end of the day you just want to do what is best for her. It is bloody hard work maintaining a decent enough supply for the length of time you need to if you want to be able to breast feed a premature baby of the gestation we have all had them. I did breast feed my first and it was a bit of a nightmare to be honest, but meant I didn't have the breast-feeding police that are the local health visitors able to look down on me and make me feel guilty! He breast fed well but was always hungry as it took ages for my supply to catch up with his needs, plus he was so tiny he took ages to get a feed done as he kept running out of energy. I came to the conclusion you needed to be a bit of a masochist to breastfeed a preemie god knows how those with prem twins manage!! But it is totally understandable how gutting it is to make the decision not to breast feed.
My second baby is on bottles, and I struggled a bit with my decision not to breast feed him as I wasn't even able to see him that much at the hospital so was worried about bonding and that if I did breast feed him would make up for his lack of cuddles, but at the end of the day it was the right decision for him as he was pretty dreadful at breast feeding but better at bottles was the reason why I made it - I just wanted him home too.

Fingers crossed for this weekend xx

 

[whistle]

As long as you are both healthy and happy then you've made the right choice. Remember you can still do a little bit of combi feeding when you get home away from all the stress if you want to - the breastfeeding forum on here is great. But as it stands, you've given her the best start by doing as much as you did - I hope she's home with you soon!!!