My poor baby has gained hardly any weight. I went in today for the 6week postnatal check up and I have a follow up appointment booked in two weeks where I think they'll be quite adamant for me to top up with forumla and I really don't want to!!!!

Help me fatten up my baby please! What can I do? I already take fenugreek and fennel. SHoudl I eat fattier foods? will that help?

Awww

How often does LO feed and for how long at a time? Have they checked for tongue tie? Are there plenty of wet/dirty nappies?

xx

She feeds almosta ll the time as she finds it comforting but sometimes will feed for a few mins (10 - 15) and then falla sleep. Since she WILL NOT sleep unless she's on the boob in the daytime I let her do this (BUT NOT NOW!!!!)

Otherwise she'll feed for about 40 mins. I haven't times how often,

SHe has quite a few wet nappies in a day (we use pampers so they dont need changing that much but they are heavy) and from having MANY dirty nappies a day she went down to two, then one and now she hasn't been in three days!!!!

If I eat FATTY or calorfic foods will her milk be fattier or more calorific??? My mum's been making me lots of healthy meals (fried brown rice and veggie currys and big salads) because i wanted to get all my vits in but thinking about it, its probably not a very calorific diet!

I'll get a whole cake down me if that will help!!!

Emma was early and lost a lot of weight in the 7 days after birth so I can understand how stressful this is for you. We were readmitted to the neonatal unit 9 days after birth (and 4 days after her initial discharge) due to weight loss. At that point I had to top up with formula for 3 days. She was 8 months last weekend and still BFing and we haven't had to top up again. Just wanted to say that even if you do have to top up, it doesn't have to mean the end of BF.

It is really important to get to the hind milk as that is the fatty stuff. The foremilk which comes first is thinner and more of a thirst quencher. The hind milk is where the calories are. So you want to make sure that your wee one is taking a full feed each time and if you are swapping boobs, dont do it too early in the feed.

The neonatal unit told me to try to get Emma to feed for at least 10 mins as at that point she should be getting hindmilk. Dont know if others have other experiences but that worked for us. Also making sure that she didn't fall asleep too early in the feed was important to make sure she had enough too. We used the baby whisperer trick and I would rub her palm when feeding and this stopped her sleeping.

Make sure that you are getting your full calorie allowance for the day as that is vital. Brown rice is good but a bit of cake will be no bad thing once in a while either! I also take Cytacon Vitamin B12 tablets. You have to buy them from the pharmacist. They were recommended by the nurse at my BF group. They help with tiredness but also with increasing supply.

Let us know how you are getting on.
Lesley

redpoppy - does your lo take a bottle? ours was a slow gainer initially and the mw recommended expressing at the end of a feed (to get more hind milk) and then topping lo up with that. it should also help to increase your supply if there happens to be any problem there.

might also be worth getting a lactation specialist to check the baby's latch - they could be maybe getting the milk out more efficiently???

good luck with it all. know its hard not to, but dont panic. its what i did when we had similar problems, but there was no need, he did pick up after a few days. lo was born on 75th percentile, and is now tracking up the 25 centile - i heard they can take a little while to find their 'true' centile iykwim!!

Can you express?

This would give you an idea of how much she is actually taking.

Is she too wrapped up and cosy when she is feeding? If so, strip her off. Being too warm and cosy will send her off to sleep.

Alex

A friend of mine's baby is a slow weight gainer, she was advised to top him up with EBM as she didn't want to give formula.

I only manage to express 1.5oz on average from one boob. Is that all she's getting?

Expressing isn't a good guide at all to how much baby can get, they will always get much more than any pump. DON'T start trying to judge how much baby is getting by how much you can express, you'll drive yourself mad and it's just not accurate at all.

I would also recommend drinking a TON of water...I usually notice a difference in how much I pump when i drink more water!
The expressing will also just help to increase the amount of milk you're producing, so maybe just pump for a few minutes after a feed to increase your supply.
My son has always struggled with weight gain. My DR said he's fine as long as he's still on the chart...if he dropped off, then we would've worried. And I had tons of milk, he just wouldn't take a lot. Still won't, and is almost 8 months and can't stand solids! Try not too worry hun. Some babies are just a bit smaller.