Zac is 4 weeks old on Thurs and has not quite reached his birth weight again yet...

I am breast feeding him (which didn't get off to a great start as he wouldn't latch on properly in hospital, I didn't get proper skin to skin time or offer him a feed until a good few hours after he was born due to having to go to theatre for stitches etc -by which time he was very sleepy! In the end he would only latch on with the help of a nipple shield which i have had to keep using all along... Also I was in pain for a week and half until we sussed out positioning and attachement etc! I nearly gave up and switched)... but now it all seems to be going well apart from his poor weight gain!

He was 8lb 2 when he was born and when HV first weighed him after 13 days he was down to 7lb 12 - she said that was normal and not to worry - then a week later he had only put on 1 oz! Demand feeding clearly wasn't working as he wasn't demanding enough so we decided to adopt a strict 'every 3 hours' routine (apart from at night of course!) and although it can be frustrating to have to wake him sometimes to feed it seemed to be working - we also started giving him his 10pm ish feed as 4oz of formula... He feeds for between 20 - 40 mins most times being 30 mins... this morning he was on me for an hour and 10 mins....

What am I doing wrong!? What more can I do!?

Help!

Amy x

hi hun, dont panic, im sure your doing great. im feeding my second l/o and her weight gain is slow but its just what goes with bf really, at chloes 8mth check she only weighed 17lb, iv recently seen people saying there 4 and 6mth olds were at the 20lb mark, but i know she is happy healthy and actually developing faster than most. give your self chance, as you said it has taken time to settle into a routine. as long as your l/o is gaining something i really wouldnt worry. when you breast feed you really cant get caught up in weights, trust your self. if baby is producing plenty of wet nappies,alert when awake and happy, your are doing great. also i had to use nipple shield with my first and we did manage to stop after a couple of months when we both knew what we was doing. dont know if this helps but i got a little dummy sterilising box that goes in the microwave, id do them both in that and use the box to take them out with me or take them both to bed so i had 2 sterile for the night. good luck

sian

yes, i would not worry either. breast milk is not that fatty and provides them with all they need...nothing else. The hv should show you a graph for weight gain in bf baby as opposed to bottle fed. totally different. Amelia is nearly 5 months and weighs 14lbs. She was 5lb 7oz born.

Your baby was big born and they always take longer to gain what they lost.

keep at what you are doing and if worried talk to your hv

d xx

it sounds as though ur doing everything right,dnt worry about the weight gain i bet he'll have a massive growth spurt and pile it on in 1 go.My grace had her 1st major growth spurt at about 5-6 weeks when she put on over 1lb in a week!If he were hungry he would let you know,all babies just grow at different rates and i think sometimes we get too hung up on weight gain xxxx

Hi yes it is me who has slow to regain birth weight babies! My first 2 were over 5 weeks by the time they got back to their birth weight although I did better with my 3rd who was 4 weeks and 2 days.
It was really stressful with my 1st and made a lot worse by unsupportive health professionals (especially drs) who threatened to report me to social services if I didn't give my baby formula! However I am not one to give in easily or be bullied so on the way home from the hospital I stopped off af Boots and hired a dual breast pump then expressed every 2 hours for a couple of weeks to build up my milk supply. I also attended a breastfeeding support group 20 miles away weekly for the entire summer. Anyway, to cut a long story short we got there eventually and I bf him for 8 months.
With my 2nd I was more prepared and started to express from a few days old but as my 1st was now fit and healthy I wasn't as concerned. I bf him for 11 months (both stopped on their own).
Just before I had my 3rd a new policy came out to refer babies at 14 days to the GP if they hadn't regained their birth weight which made me a bit stressed again. However, as it was my 3rd baby and the first 2 were absolutely fine the hv was ok for a bit and fortunately lo started to put on weight just as the hv started to get nervous!!
It sounds as if you are doing fine and Lindsay gave lots of good advice. The only things that I can add to that are to make sure you get good support from your hv and if you don't ask to have another one. Explain that you know of others who have been in the same situation and their babies have been fine (our trust got nervous and implemented the policy because a baby died of hypokalaemia due to lack of fluids but this is so so rare and I'm sure there were other factors involved). Ask to see a breastfeeding counsellor for extra support.
Don't be bullied into giving formula unless you are happy to do so and instead express some extra milk if you can and give lo that (When my 3rd was 2 weeks we gave her 1-2 oz expressed milk in a beaker (so that she didn't get used to a teat and she has never had one) some nights for a couple of weeks. I carried on expressing until she was 14 months old (to get a supply and ensure I never had to give formula) and have only just stopped donating to the milk bank. I still have a freezer full of ebm!
The other thing worth considering is your positioning as my husband (by now a breastfeeding expert) kept suggesting that I try feeding under arm (rugby position) which I really didn't want to do but after we went away for a week when baby was 10 days old, I fed her nearly the entire time, came home and she weighed exactly the same as when we left (and hadn't poo'd for 8 days!) I gave in and tried changing position and she put on 2 oz a day for the next 2 weeks! My hubbies theory is that our "squirters" are in different places and positions and obviously my milk comes out better in that position! She is still feeding in the same position at 16 months although it is getting harder as she is getting longer!
I also know of other women whose babies have continued below the 9th centile for their 1st year (all of mine were big at birth and back to the 91st centile by 4 months so looking back I don't know what the fuss was about!) and maybe some of us just take longer to build up a good supply but you can do it, your breasts are designed to make enough milk to feed your baby! Hope that helps xx

I have just read your post again and as your lo feeds for so long I just wanted to make sure that he has been checked and doesn't have tongue tie as this can cause long feeds and slow weight gain as they are unable to strip the milk from you effectively (both my boys had it and it wasn't picked up until my 1st was 5 weeks and the hospital didn't spot it at all which is quite ironic when it was them that told me I had to give formula!) x

Hi Amielou

I faced similar problem like yours. My lo didn't gain weight to his normal one on the chart untill he was 8 weeks. My lo wasnt latching properly to me and I had a severe back ache... he took hours to feed on me with a couple of naps in between yet not getting the ideal weight and waking up in the nights. My HV was realy good who suggested me to express milk. Then I bought the tommee tippee expressing machine and started giving him EBM. That also bought my nipple out and I didn't have to spend hours feeding him on my breast. He was full aswell. just a tip... might help

xx

Thanks for all your comments - I have been expressing now and although i don't get loads it helps to top him up if he needs it...

Anyway we went to clinic today and Zac has put on a whopping 14oz's this week! Perhaps he was just storing it all up!

Amy xx