Sleepy baby, low weight, 3 hourly feeds - help!

[evasmum]

I've posted a few times and been so thankful for the advice and support - so here I go again!

My little girl is 17 days old, we struggled with breastfeeding and I have been doing a combination of breastfeeding and expressing and topping her up with ebm.

She lost about 10% of her birth weight and she has not regained it yet. HV has put me on to 3 hourly feeds, breast feed her first and then top her up with at least 60mls of ebm.

The problem is she is so sleepy when feeding now, I wake her and then it takes me 2 hours to breastfeed her (she is not actively drinking that whole time) and then give her a bottle of ebm, I have to undress her, tickle, move and dign to her, put her down, wash her face, change her etc. I'm using TT closer to nature bottles as the faster flowing Nuk ones were making her bring the whole feed up again.

I think she is really sleepy because she is only getting about an hour sleep at a time because it is taking so long to get the feed into her by the time she goes down it is only an hour before I have to get her up again to feed.

She is so sleepy that she is often only taking 30mls of top up.

HV is coming tomorrow to weigh her and I know she is not going to have put on, I'm not sure what they will suggest now but I suspect it might be formula.

I think she is having enough nappies.

Does anyone have an advice or suggestions? Sorry this was so long.

 

[summer rain]

Have you had your baby checked for tongue tie, this can cause BF to be really hard work for them and thus feeds can last hours and it can make them really sleepy as well. Some babies struggle with bottles as well as on the breast, with tongue tie, the NUK bottles are about as slow flow as you can get (unless you've accidentally bought the larger feed hole ones) so if they are causing an issue that raises a flag for me xx

 

[eagermom]

Sorry dint wanted to RndR

But i would suggest you to try demand feeding...let her sleep longer and start feeding her when shes really very hungry... Try this for a couple of times in a day for one day... Think this should help...

She will grow with more sleep she gets and eat well when shes hungry... Thts wht i do.. DD IS one month today... Doing good in weight...

 

[BattyNora]

Definitely have LO checked for tongue tie - sounds similar to us where each feed would take a couple of hours and she would literally take a few sucks then stop for a minute or two; it turned out it was all just so much hard work for her she had quite a substantial tongue tie making it that much more difficult. If it is a really quick procedure and re-learning the latch could make all the difference!

As for trying to get her more awake during feeds I used to strip her down so she wasn't warm and snuggly, sit her up and burp her frequently, change her nappy, tickle/stroke the back of her head and behind her ear, tickle her feet, blow gently on her face (how mean do I sound!) just to get her to stay awake long enough to finish!

Good luck, let us know how it goes tomorrow x

Ps. I also agree about demand feeding but don't want to tell you to go against HV advice. However, especially this you, IMHO if you were to let feed when she was hungry and nap inbetween that at (and there is no TT) you would see her be more alert as it's what she wants when she wants, when she wants it; but you of course know your daughter best so do what you feel is right.

 

[evasmum]

Thank you ladies

I will speak to the HV about TT tomorrow.

I will also discuss the demand feeding, it makes sense to me.

 

[katlin]

She wants you to top up with two oz after every feed I personally find that crazy my little one will be ten weeks on friday and can yardley eat 80 oz every few hours and goes as as long a for hours between each feed so I find it personally odd that she would instruct you to top up with two oz! I demand feed even though I express there's no schedule baby eats when baby wants.

 

[ellie27]

We are kind of in a similar position.

LO is 12 days old and weight still dropping, though we are only at 8% down just now.

Midwife is also coming today hoping to see a gain from saturday.....I am doubtful there will be one though!

I was also told to express and top-up. I cannot express - hand nor manual pump - both too painful. I know its perhaps not recommended by ladies on here, but I have topped him up with 1-1.5 oz formula in between 2 feeds yesterday (so really only 80ml max over 24hrs)

We have plenty of wet and poo nappies here so I am confident he is doing well, but I just need a little weight gain to get the midwives off our backs!

I am offering the breast on demand, every time he is awake - could be hourly to 4 hourly depending when he wants fed.

I think its great that you can express!! And 80ml sounds like a huge amount for a top-up.

I would let her sleep though rather than wake her up...........unless she was premature and still very small....what does she weigh??

Hope LO is gaining for you.....but sounds like you are doing good anyway!

 

[mandyselinger]

If you haven't already, get her checked for tongue-tie and if LO is tongue-tied, get it fixed ASAP!! My DD is getting the procedure done tomorrow morning and it can come soon enough. When she was born the doctor said not to worry and it would correct itself, but it hasn't and we have been struggling everyday and she will be 2 months next Friday! I had to push and call a plastic surgeon myself to get her booked and I am hoping that after tomorrow morning our life will be normal!