Newborn feedings

[kalyrra]

Hey all,

My LO #2 is two weeks old tomorrow, and we've had some feeding issues with her... she really just wasn't interested for awhile. She lost just shy of a whole pound within the first week. The pediatrician said if she doesn't gain at least 4-7 oz by this next week check up, he wants me to supplement some formula until her weight gets back to birth weight.

Obviously I'd like to avoid this as much as possible! Everyone has said she needs to feed every 2 hrs, or at minimum 8 times during the day. However, I have found that if I try to feed her that often, she's just not interested and fusses or barely snacks on one side then quits. But if I wait and then try to feed her every 3 - 3 1/2 hrs during the daytime, she eats just fine from both sides.

During the night, she goes more to the 4-5 hr mark before being interested. I feel like I should be feeding her more often, but she just isn't interested!
And I remember that newborns sleep a lot, but she isn't awake much more than maybe 1- 1/2 hrs (not consecutively). My son was awake a lot more, and ate a ton... so I'm just not used to this!

I'm sure she's fine, but just looking for some similar experiences to give me a little comfort that it's normal?

 

[noon_child]

I've been there with a baby that just doesn't seem interested. I wouldn't get too hung up on whether her feeds are 2 or 3 hours apart if when she feeds she feeds well, but when a baby is not gaining back their birth weight I do think a 4 - 5hr gap is too big. With that kind of gap between feeds, a hormone in your milk will be telling your breast tissue that the milk isn't needed and to slow down production. This will mean that LO will have to work harder to build your supply when she does feed. Sleepy babies do NOT want to do any hard work, so she may just be taking what's readily available and not working at getting your breasts to produce more.

Try a 3hr gap through the night (if you know 2hrs gets you nowhere) . If she keeps falling back to sleep then strip her down change her nappy and keep her cool during the feed so she's not to cosy. It is a pain in the bum but once she's at her birthweight and gaining you can go back to just demand feeding. Night feeding is also better at building your supply than day feeding.

I had to tickle LOs feet and ears, wipe her back with a baby wipe, constantly undress and re-dress her just to get her to wake up enough for a decent feed. So annoying but very common.

 

[kalyrra]

I already strip her down and change her with cold wipes at night. It usually gets her awake long enough to feed. I tried waking her up closer to every 3 hrs at night, but she wasn't interested in eating... I would fight with her to eat for well over an hour, and then once we hit the 4 hr mark, she'd finally start eating a little. Now, if I wait until at least 4 hrs, she'll actually eat.

 

[Eegee]

Jasmine lost 8.9% of her birth weight and they advised me to top her up with expressed breast milk after each feed using a feeding cup, or even a syringe if she'd refuse the cup. She managed to get her weight up after a couple of weeks (I started the top ups at about 3 days old but didn't do them all the time). Hope she has a decent gain!

 

[MommyJogger]

What was your birth experience? Were you on a saline drip for an extended period? Or any kind of IV med? Just might be useful to keep in mind that those can artificially inflate the birth weight and make it take longer to regain it. Has your LO been checked for ties or has a feed been watched by a LC? If your LO is having lots of wet and dirties and is gaining weight steadily now she IS gaining, I would be wary about supplementing just because she doesn't follow their typical weight gain expectations.

 

[MommyJogger]

Also agree with Eegee. There's no reason to sup with formula and risk your supply when you can sup with expressed milk and build supply instead.

 

[kalyrra]

My birth experience... I got to the hospital at 2 p.m., and she was born at 2:32 p.m. So no, I wasn't on any drip for an extended period of time! They barely got my IV on me in time. I tested positive for Group B strep, so they did hit me with antibiotics as soon as they got it in. But it was seriously only in about 15 minutes before she was born.

Her latch is fine, no ties of any kind. She was jaundiced enough that they tested her blood levels to see if we needed a light. Thankfully, over the last week she's gotten past that. My milk didn't come in until almost day 6, so I think that had a lot to do with her initial loss as well.

She eats like a champ during the day now as long as I don't try to force her to eat before she's ready. I think she gets way more milk if I let her eat on her own schedule of every 3 hrs, because then she hits both sides like I expected her to... if I try to force her sooner, she just kinda sips from one side and spits me back out of her mouth or outright refuses to latch on at all.

Over the last couple days, her wet diapers have finally picked up to probably 6-8 within a 24 hr period. I don't plan to supplement formula unless she is seriously at risk with her weight. I honestly don't think it's going to be necessary. I believe she'll show a gain (even if it's a minimal one) at her next weigh in on Thursday morning. My pediatrician is pro-breastfeeding if at all possible, so I don't believe he'll try to force me to supplement unless he thought her health was at risk.

 

[noon_child]

Over the last couple days, her wet diapers have finally picked up to probably 6-8 within a 24 hr period.

Sounds like she's getting there if her nappies have picked up. Maybe at the next weigh in you won't have anything to worry about!