premi at 34 weeks

[dizzymeg]

Hi
My LO was born last week at 34 weeks to the day, we have been in the hospital since. He has to put on weight and sort his jaundice before we can go.
I have been breast feeding him for the last 2 days, before then it was via a tube. He was initially on formula till I came in with my milk which was within 2 days, and since about day 4 he has been exclusivley on my milk.

He has lost 10% of his weight since birth, he is now 10 days old. The Dr are saying to keep breast feeding and express and top up his feeds via the bottle just to make sure he is getting the fluids he needs.

I am really worried that he isnt gaining weight and whats going on and whether I should be bottle feeding him exclusively so I can see how much fluid he is taking in. But have worked hard at the breast feeding.

Surely if he was hungry he would be waking up more? he is pretty much sleeping most of the time, and the Dr said that isnt due to his jaundice as the level too low for that, and he would wake up if he was hungry.

I know this is far from an extreme case and that many of you are in far worse a position, but I am so worried. I am trying to stay relaxed and calm. but is doesnt help being stuck in a hospital. I get so lonley here as well and feel a bit lost in it all.

Sorry again if this is trivial to those you going through far worse, I hope all your babies are ok too.

It is amazing the bag of guilt and worry that comes with having a child.

xxx

 

[Cheryl xx]

hi hun. What did he weigh and what does he weigh now?

It is normal for babies to loose weight after the birth. Grace was born at 35 weeks weighing 5lb 12 oz and dropped to 5lb 2oz at her lowest. I exclusively breastfed and i think it does take them a little longer to put on the weiht. I would say he is fine so long as he is having dirty nappies and putting weight on and not loosing it. If he was hungry, you'd know about it. I hope you are both doing well and can go home soon xx

 

[dizzymeg]

he was 5 lb 3 oz and has today been weighed in at 4 lb 5oz so that just on the 10% border of what they are allowed to loose. I am just so worried I havnt been feeding him properly,altho the fact has been sleeping says to me he mst be content or else he would wake. I just dont know whether to top him up with 10 ml extra on every feed unless it a very good long feed of around 30 min? he still small and not got full sucking strength.
just dont know what to do. and the Dr and MW are only so helpful, some are totally unhelpful.
ahhhrr!

 

[25weeker]

Hi congratulations on the birth of your little boy.

When my lo moved from being tube fed to exclusively breastfed she lost weight the first week then slowly started putting it on again. This is because they will use more energy up feeding from you rather than a tube but they soon do adjust.

As for the not waking up. This is common in even newborns and your lo shouldn't be born yet so will be sleepy. My lo was for a while but don't worry that will soon change as the weeks go by.

If you really want to breastfeed I would hang in there a while longer. Like you I wondered should I move to bottles as my lo lost weight then didn't put it on well but decided to stick at breastfeeding and 5 months later I still am. However if you do decide to go to bottles don't feel guilty as there is benefits in formula as well.

Hopefully it won't be long until your lo is home

Xx

 

[cat81]

My little boy was born on 20th July at 33+5 and was in SCBU for almost 3 weeks before coming home. At first he was being tube fed with my expressed milk but I really wanted to breast feed him. I wasn't even able to start trying to do this for about 10 days as he was in an incubator, so all this time, I was expressing and he was tube fed. When I first started him on the breast, I had exactly the same problems you describe. He was really sleepy - I was having to wake him up after four hours and try to get him to feed. When I put him on the breast he would suck for a minute or so and then fall asleep.

He was born at 5lb 1 and dropped down to about 4lb 10 before starting to gain weight. I also had the same concerns about how much milk he was getting. The problem with breast is that there is no way of knowing how much they are taking at each feed. At first, we were topping Thomas up with either tube feeds or giving him a bottle (with expressed breast milk) after he had a go on the breast.

It was a slow process but please don't give up if you want to breast feed. You will get there in the end. By topping him up with the bottle after a feed, he gained more weight and I was able to get him home quicker. I never gave him formula because I was able to express enough. After I got him home, everything just started to fall into place. He was getting stronger and stronger and much less sleepy and I was more relaxed. After a couple of days, I was able to cut out the top ups and exclusively breast feed him. Now he is 7 weeks old and can't get enough of the breast. He would stay there all day every day given the choice.

Good luck and keep up the fantastic work. I know it is hard but try not to worry about it. You are doing everything you can to do the best for your baby and I am sure you will have him home and feeding well soon. xx

 

[nineena]

Hiya hun and congrats on birth of your LO. Sounds like things are going really well. As for the feeding as others have said you'd deffo know if LO was hungry. I tried for 3 wks to BF Ella, she'd latch on to the eye and "feed" for an hr and fall asleep so i'd put her back in cot and within 5mins she'd wake up screaming the place down and take a full feed via cup so that fact that your LO is keeping seetled suggests theyre getting enough. You'll be amazes once your LO gets the hang of things how quickly the weight will gain and that tube wont be needed anymore

Really hope your LO is home with your soon xxx

 

[mummyconfused]

awwwwww