Breastfeeding - HELP

Wanted to see if anyone could provide any reassurance at all as I feel like I’m going in circles a little bit… Our 10 day old newborn has been amazing, his latch is around 85% of the time great. However a health visitor today came to weigh him and has only gained 15g compared to his previous weigh on Sunday - she told me he should be gaining 25g a day. So naturally we began to panic a bit, although she viewed a feed and said our latch is great but corrected our form as I wasn’t holding him perfect. This has caused my brain to go into overdrive and think of every possibility as to why he may not be gaining weight. He feeds on the breast 10-12 times a day for an average of 20-40 minutes a time, however after each feed regardless of whether he stops the feed himself out of losing interest, frustration or even falling asleep he always acts like he needs more after around 5-10 minutes. We always wonder whether he is getting enough milk from the boob so as a measure we prepare a bottle for him from previously expressed milk and my partner feeds - always giving 45-65ml per bottle, and our son always finishes the bottle. Whenever I express using a pump, I always gather more than 30ml of milk per boob from 10-15mins of pump so flow or supply isn’t a problem I don’t think. However even with a seemingly perfect latch, could our son not be getting a good flow? He does have a very minor tongue tie we have been told, could this be effecting his feed from a latch that much?

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Did you know that newborns typically lose weight in the first week of their life? The aim is generally to have them back up to their birth weight by around day 10. So if your baby has gained weight in this time you're doing amazingly

If your health visitor hasn't made a referral to the infant feeding team to address the weight that suggests she isn't concerned either I would suggest you try find a local lactation consultant though

My daughter lost a lot of weight when breastfeeding and I had to top up with expressed bottles but after a couple days she would just not feed properly from my boob and would only feed properly from bottles, our health visitor said it’s because she had realised how much easier it was to get milk from the bottle, maybe the same for your little one? She’s piled weight on since.

Bottles shouldn't be introduced until at least 8 weeks if you want to EBF so the baby can master the latch. The best way to get baby off the bottle is slow. You have to get baby to latch when baby is quiet and happy. If baby is fussy it's not going to happen. As far as supply goes. You've gotta eat and hydrate. You're probably making enough just give it time. Also, your supply will regualte at 3 months, so once you have the energy, start pumping your freezer stash

Don’t let her put you off your doing a great job just make sure you’re getting plenty of calories in to produce more fat in your milk. You’ll know your own baby and he would let you know if he was hungry x

Rather than give a bottle, can you put him back on the breast? He will be better at drawing off milk than a pump. Plus you don’t want to end up with an oversupply. I personally didn’t wait the recommended time to introduce a bottle as I’d had friends whose baby’s refused, so I gave one at 3 weeks but the bottle is easier for them so perhaps stick to the breast until you feel that feeding is well established. You should have a local breastfeeding support group that’s free to drop in to. And look into paced feeding if you do want to use the bottle. He sounds like he’s doing very well though! ☺️

I was under this pressure. Baby boy took a month to get back to birth weight. Just keep latching baby onto boob and your supply will regulate so he gets enough. He is taking a bottle because it’s easier. Babies have to work harder on the boob. You are doing an amazing job! If he’s having enough wet and dirty nappies he is getting enough! Also I believe those charts were created based on formula fed babies.

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