BF but not enough milk?

fuzzy bee

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Wednesday, June 13th 2012, 11:19pm

I guess this has come up already but I can't find where.

I am in need of some reassurance I guess.
My twins will be 4months old tomorrow. They weighed 4 and 5lbs at birth so we decided to formula feed them from the start and attempt breastfeeding along the way. Well it took three weeks before lil man actually managed to latch on at all. Missy had been trying to feed but with a fuss. I also expressed. It took a couple of weeks to get my milk going, and about 10weeks in total for me to be 90% bf and 10% top ups (usually the last feed at 8pm for Missy and only occasional feeds for lil man)
Well here we are at week 17, neither baby has gained weight in two weeks and lil man has lost 70g over those two weeks, not much I know but he’s only 9lb 9oz at 4months, so he’s not exactly big.

I thought I’d try him with a bottle tonight to see how much of a top up he took and he had 160ml. Clearly I have never managed to get that much into him from me and it’s left me feeling terrible. Guilty that I’ve been starving the poor boy. And generally rubbish that I can’t provide for him the way that I should be able to.

Has anyone else been through something similar. I was so happy I could bf at all, I really hoped that I’d be able to continue bf to 6months and beyond, but I just feel that if I can’t give him enough and drop feeds to bottle feeds that it’s the quick progression to my milk running out altogether. I am taking domperidone, so I'm not sure if the meds are causing me to have more foremilk and less hindmilk so maybe he gets enough it's just not the good fatty stuff?

I guess I’m just after reassurance that it might improve, that I haven’t done any lasting damage to him by trying to exclusively bf and that my milk might still increase?
any advice appreciated!

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Thursday, June 14th 2012, 8:23am

Hi Fuzzy Bee,

First of all sweetie, you have done so well to give your babies your breast milk for 4 months, that has given them SUCH a good start already, regardless of how long you continue to feed. Secondly, are you going purely on their weight gain in thinking they are not getting enough or do they seem unsatisfied after a feed? My LO was never a good weight gainer, she always put on weight, but sometimes it wasn't much, but she was always satisfied after a feed and so the HV was happy she was getting enough. I found with my milk that sometimes I felt I had more than other times. When I got my periods back, which was fairly early I noticed that I didn't have so much milk around ovulation and my period.

One very positive aspect sweetie is that your LO's have doubled or almost doubled their birth weight already, which is excellent. My LO took 6 months to do that although she was a normal weight baby.

You are doing a wondeful job. Keep feeding and doing as you are doing and just get them weight checked regularly, although not too often because as they get older they will put on a little less and over a longer period. The HV will keep you right and if they feel things are not going in the right direction will advise you. Speak to them about your medication too. The situation could easily improve, just keep an eye on them and make sure you are eating well and getting as much rest as you can with twins! Give it another few weeks and see how they are doing.

You have already given them an amazing start and you have done brilliantly to feed 2 babies for so long. xxx

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jenny73

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Thursday, June 14th 2012, 3:50pm

Hello

well done on getting your breastfeeding going in such difficult circumstances. I wonder if you have heard of the Baby Cafe network - The Baby Café Charitable Trust - this is a charity that gives breastfeeding advice. They gave me invaluable help when I had my little boy and he didn't feed for the first five days. Baby Cafe really is brilliant so I would go and see them, if only to put your mind at rest. I know that if you start to supplement with formula your milk might reduce, so I would go as soon as you can. Oh, and as for your little boy taking on 160ml formula - you may well be giving him that much yourself, just tricky when you can't measure how much is going in.

Hope that helps. Good luck
jenny

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Thursday, June 14th 2012, 10:14pm

Oh hun don't feel bad. You are doing a great job. I also agree with what AG has said. :thumbup:

I have worried myself silly about the weights of my girls on many occasions, ask Bells she's the one that has to sort me out every time I have a wobble.

I exclusively BF both our DD's and neither of them were/are very big. With DD1 she didn't gain much weight at all from 13 weeks until I started to wean her at about 20 weeks. With DD2 I didn't get her weighed much at all, she's is now smaller than DD1 even though she started out being bigger. DD2 dropped off the line of a centile on to the 0.4th one by the time she was 18 weeks, which is in line with what her sister did at the same age. I have also spoken to other BF mums that experienced the same slow down in weight gain at around the same age.

I hope you feel a bit better about things now. You are doing great!

xxx

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fuzzy bee

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Wednesday, June 20th 2012, 12:07am

Thank you for your replies!
I think I just needed to post somewhere for my own sanity as sometimes I find I can talk myself into very negative thinking. I guess with the starting weight being so low in the first place I've never really been happy that I'm doing the right thing breastfeeding as it seems that other folks with formula fed babies have massive growth and my poor boy is still in newborn clothes at 4months (ok depends onthe shop!)
I'm still persisting with it but have come to accept he may have to have a top up at some point in the day.
Jenny funnily enough someone else mentioned the baby cafe and there is one reasonably local to me that I'm going to try to get to next week.
Thanks again for you posts!

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Wednesday, June 20th 2012, 12:34am

It took my little girl an age to double her birth weight! She's only a kilo over double and she's now 10 months. Exclusively breast fed. You've done an amazing job especially as you have 2 LO's to look after and feed.

I also sat in baby group comparing her to other babies who seemed to rack the weight on when O could just about manage 4oz each week! At 6 months the health visitor told me she's not built to be a big baby and that she'll likely be a slim long build (not like me at all!!) as she grows. If top ups are what baby needs then it's the best for baby so brush aside any guilt.

xxx

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Wednesday, June 20th 2012, 2:27pm

You are doing AMAZINGLY!!

Some babies are little and some are big. With the formula thing, I had to formula feed and my friend formula fed, her LO is quite skinny and always has been. My LO is a solid chunk and is big and tall with long legs. I also have friends who bf exclusively and they are little chunks too and others who are small. What I'm trying to say is that it all depends on the baby and not on whether you are bf or ff!!

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Wednesday, June 20th 2012, 3:32pm

Your doing a great job BF.
Most babies that i know that are BF including my daughter are usually smaller then bottle fed babies. I was told by my HV that BF are more healthier then bottlefed babies, dont worry about the ' red book centile lines ' if your hv is happy with their weights then so should you.
If the twins are happy & alert i really wouldnt worry hun.
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Thursday, June 21st 2012, 9:46pm

Quoted from "fuzzy bee"

Thank you for your replies!
I guess with the starting weight being so low in the first place I've never really been happy that I'm doing the right thing breastfeeding as it seems that other folks with formula fed babies have massive growth and my poor boy is still in newborn clothes at 4months (ok depends onthe shop!)
!

It's not all about how much your son weighs and can put on in a week. After I had DD1 there was another mum I used to bump into everywhere, by 4 months her DD weighed nearly twice as much as our DD1, she changed to formula so she knew how much her DD was getting and thought I should do the same especially as our DD1 was so little. The truth is our DD1 will probably never had got the same weight gain as her DD if I'd given her formula, she isn't built the same way and is naturally small like me and the other women on both sides of her family.

As for clothes sizes, my DD2 wears 3-6 months and 6-9 months clothes, she's 15 months. Our DD1 who is 2y 10 months wears 9-12 months all the way up to 2-3 year old stuff. Clothing sizes are all over the place depending on the shop and cut of clothes.

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BF but not enough milk?

BF but not enough milk?

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