Baby Not Gaining Weight

[Anonymous]

My baby is almost two weeks old and isn’t gaining enough weight. We had his appointment yesterday and an LC appointment today. The pediatrician said to supplement after every feed. The LC said his latch was bad and I likely have low supply. She recommended a couple of things to help. What else can I do besides this? I’m super worried.

[Anonymous]

Formula feed only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Formula feed only.

Or nurse and then formula feed. Don't worry about anything else, just feed the baby.

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn't you supplement? That sounds dangerous not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't you supplement? That sounds dangerous not to.

OP here. I never said I wouldn’t. I asked what I can do besides supplementing and some do the things the LC said to do to make him gain weight fast.

[Anonymous]

Combo feed. Best of both worlds. I tried everything recommended for low supply including pumping after every feed for weeks. I became depressed. When I ditched the pump and moved to combo feeding it was the best of both worlds!!

[Anonymous]

Mothers Milk tea and eat buckets of oatmeal; my supply went bonkers with that.

And supplement with formula. The most important thing here is calories for your baby. If your supply and latch issue resolve, maybe you can go back to breast milk only. But until then - just feed when s/he'll take.

[Anonymous]

Improper latch and low supply? Your baby will gain weight faster with formula at this point.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me, OP, and I made myself crazy trying to increase my supply, fix baby’s latch, pumping 24/7, in addition to supplementing with formula. I wish I’d just switched to 100% formula sooner.

[Anonymous]

Once you introduce some formula things will pick up and the latch may improve with time so you can always change the ratio of breast milk to formula as you go.

It will be just fine and you've got all the supports you need in place. Good work, mama.

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry. My son had a bad latch and high arched pallet. My LC helped me try the “triple feed”- try and latch, pump, supplement. SO hard. Have you tried pumping yet?? Are you producing milk? I’m now an exclusive pumper, baby is 5 weeks old and gaining wait. Nursing just didn’t work for us

[Anonymous]

If you want to increase your supply, I would suggest nursing for 20 minutes and then hand the baby over to partner/family member who can give baby a bottle of formula. While that is happening, pump for 5-10 minutes. If you get any milk, give that to baby after next session. As you pump more milk, you can reduce the amount of formula (if you're interested in moving off the formula eventually).

Do this as many times as you can over the next couple of days. Bring the baby back on Thursday or Friday to get weighed.

I know it's really stressful, but try not to worry. My daughter lost more than the 10% of birth weight when we went for a one week check-up. Within a couple of days of this "triple feeding" she was gaining a lot and I was making enough milk for the neighborhood.

And if you're not interested in increasing your supply or trying to continue nursing, that's fine. I'm the biggest proponent of breastfeeding, but I'm a bigger proponent of fed babies and stress-free moms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry. My son had a bad latch and high arched pallet. My LC helped me try the “triple feed”- try and latch, pump, supplement. SO hard. Have you tried pumping yet?? Are you producing milk? I’m now an exclusive pumper, baby is 5 weeks old and gaining wait. Nursing just didn’t work for us

OP here. I have pumped twice so far. I pumped about an ounce of a little more but that was on different days. The LC did tell me to pump a couple of times a day. She said after every feed will be very hard and to not stress myself out. I have flat nipples that are the size of a small eraser when erect. I don’t think he had enough to get a latch on. I also have big breasts and big areolas.

[Anonymous]

How much does he weigh? Did he lose weight or is it just issues with weight gain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to increase your supply, I would suggest nursing for 20 minutes and then hand the baby over to partner/family member who can give baby a bottle of formula. While that is happening, pump for 5-10 minutes. If you get any milk, give that to baby after next session. As you pump more milk, you can reduce the amount of formula (if you're interested in moving off the formula eventually).

Do this as many times as you can over the next couple of days. Bring the baby back on Thursday or Friday to get weighed.

I know it's really stressful, but try not to worry. My daughter lost more than the 10% of birth weight when we went for a one week check-up. Within a couple of days of this "triple feeding" she was gaining a lot and I was making enough milk for the neighborhood.

And if you're not interested in increasing your supply or trying to continue nursing, that's fine. I'm the biggest proponent of breastfeeding, but I'm a bigger proponent of fed babies and stress-free moms.

OP here. I’m fine with supplementing but I would like to breastfeed if possible. The LC recommended against pumping after very feed because I will become stressed. She said to pump 4-5 time a day ( about half the feeds) for 10-20 minutes.