Sorry if this is long but it is a bit complicated.
I had my baby 9 days ago now, he was born following a c-section and a long labour at term +10 weighing 9lbs. I had a bleed in theatre and left the hospital with a iron level of 8. When we went home the first four days were really tough, he was breast feeding for about one hour in two and I was finding it really uncomfortable but we were coping. At this point my milk hadn't come in but did start on day 4. On day four if had a midwife visit who decided to weigh him as he had urates and a sunken fontanelle. He had lost 13.5% of his birthweight. She was happy that he was ok and came up with a feeding plan for us but said that she needed to run it by one of the paediatricians. She said she wanted to see him and do blood tests. The end result was that he was found to have a high sodium and he was dehydrated. We were told that he needed to be admitted and that the two options were to put him to the breast and then top him up with formula 2 hourly or put the formula down an NG tube and not be able to breast feed at all. I was at this point feeling really low and like a failure. I chose option one.
Over the next 24 hours I gave him regular formula but struggled to latch him as he was so full he just didn't seem interested. I hand expressed as much as I could bug didn't get much. He gained 275g in 24 hours and was discharged the next day .
Since getting home he has been putting on weight though is not back at his birthweight yet. The feeding plan at the moment is to feed him from both breasts for as long as he wants it. Then top him up with a combination of expressed milk and formula.
I have found that I struggle to get him to fed from the breast for more than 10 minutes. When he does he appears to be sucking and swallowing but then falls asleep. He will then wake up and the the formula really well. I am pumping to try and increase my supply but only really get a max of 50mls from both sides combined, though this is after feeding him.
I now have a week until his next weigh in so a bit more time to play with (they had been weighing every other day). I am desperate to try and reduce the formula and increase the amount I breast feed with the hope of breastfeeding alone eventually but I don't know where to start.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to try anything :(
I just don't know where to go
Since
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.
Infant feeding
I don't know where to turn
16 replies
randdom · 17/06/2014 14:24
OP posts:
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.