Newborn not feeding much

[Perplexed]

I tried to bf him at the hospital but it didn't go too well...he didn't pee for the first 24 hours and they gave him maybe 20ml formula and he peed.

He bf a little after but mostly ff. he did get a little breastmilk that I expressed but mostly ff. but even then he's not drinking much. 30ml every 2-3 hours and he takes them gradually. He throws up a lot and his diapers are mostly dry. I can't feel any liquid in them. I'm feeding him on demand and burping for a long time.

My first was ebf and always on the breast but plenty of wet and dirty diapers. This is all new to me and I have no idea what to do he seems to be throwing up everything he drinks.

 

[MindUtopia]

Oh gosh, he's only 3 days old. 30 ml every 2-3 hours sounds like a pretty good amount to me. Their stomachs are really small still at that age, so that's plenty. It sounds like actually the concern is really that he's throwing it all up after. Is he happily taking that much or are you trying to encourage him to take more than he wants? An overly full stomach often leads to vomiting, so it could actually be that he needs less to keep it down. The only other thing I can think of would be reflux? Does he seem in discomfort after a feed? That could explain why it's coming back up. Is he gaining weight? While yes, he ideally should be having wet and dirty nappies, if he's gaining weight then that's a step in the right direction and the nappies will probably come soon. I was expressing and giving formula top ups at 3 days because my daughter couldn't latch, but she definitely wasn't having more than 30 ml every 2-3 hours, if she was even having that much. So really the amount sounds fine.

 

[Perplexed]

i wonder if he has reflux too as he seems to be uncomfortable before bringing up the feed that I can tell it's about to happen.

I was able to express a bit more breastmilk and he actually peed after. He's getting weighed at the hospital later today for some newborn screening thing. But the fact that he's only peed after having breastmilk makes me think he's probably not keeping any formula down which is why I'm worried.

 

[noon_child]

At three days old his stomach is only about 10ml and is still learning how to stretch and grow. By a week old it will be about 30ml and have more capacity to stretch. Babies throw up excess food far more commonly than they suffer with reflux, but obviously that's not to say he doesn't have it.

Breastmilk also has a hormone in it that signals babies to stop drinking because they are full, so maybe that's why he brings up the formula -because he doesn't know to stop drinking and then has too much?

It is very common for babies to not be great at latching and sucking straight away (especially if it was a medicated birth). Maybe now he's a bit more rested and is gaining weight you could try breastfeeding again. Depending on where you live there are different support organisations to turn to for reassurance and help.

 

[redneckhippy]

I don't have a solution or answer, but just wanted to give you some encouragement. My LO had quite a few issues at birth (needed an IV for glucose so wasn't really feeding at all to begin with, jaundice, etc) and he didn't poop at all for like the first 3 days and wasn't peeing much either. Then we had quite a struggle in those first few weeks with getting him to latch and his feeding (jaundice makes babies really sleepy so sometimes they don't feed as much also) and I worried a lot about it, but once all those other issues resolved things picked up and now he pees and poops like a champ. I know it's really stressful at first and you worry so much, but most babies will work things out within the first couple weeks and whether you breastfeed, forumla feed, or both they will get the hang of it and their peeing, pooping, and weight gain will work itself out.

 

[laura109]

My daughter struggled for the first couple of days too hun. She was gagging and beimg sick. They said she possibly had some mucus.

I found the hospital teats were not the right flow for her so she was alot better on tommee tippee teats at home.

I used to burp her half way through too xx

 

[Perplexed]

Thank you ladies. He's doing much better now!