Venturing into new parent section with BF worries

[Calli]

Hi ladies

This is my 1st query on the forum as a new mum. Had Joseph on Friday and he's a little stunner!

I'm trying to BF but am having problems. Seems like everybody does! The support worker came round yesterday and said he'd lost 10.2% of his birth weight which puts him in the 'bit of concern' category. But she stressed that this is all normal and I'm not to panic.

She said Joseph's tongue is tied so is arranging an appt to get it cut ASAP. And she showed me a better latching technique which worked while she was here but I can't replicate it now she's not.
She's coming back tomorrow though so can go through this again then.

My biggest concern is that we've had no dirty nappies since Saturday morning at the hospital which makes me think he's just not getting anything at all from my boobs. I can't bear the idea that he's not really had any food in 3 days. I panicked last night and gave him a little formula but he didn't have much of it and now I'm worried that i've just made things worse.

I've read other threads where people are struggling to feed or latch correctly, but everyone seems to comment on having dirty nappies. Has anyone else had experience of no dirty nappies? Or have any advice? I know I'm in the right hands with the feeding support staff but it would be reassuring to hear other similar experiences.

I didn't really have a strong opinion on breast feeding - just said I'd try it because my midwife recommended it, but am feeling like this is not for me in the long term. For those ladies that top up maybe one feed a day with formula, could you give me any advice on how best to do this without harming(upsetting??) the baby? Last night he just looked at me as if to say "what's this you're trying to give me mum?" and he barely touched it anyway.

Thanks in advance for any advice guys!

Cheryl x


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[Mrs. KM]

Congrats on your little guy!!! Don't worry about the nappies. K only pooped about once a week until she was 3 months old. Even now she only goes every two or three days. Some babies are very efficient at getting all the nutrients from your breast milk. Did he have his meconium poops? If he is having plenty of wet naapies, he is fine. Try to stay away from formula as it will mess up your supply. Also there is now a great sticky in this section for new mums xx

 

[Calli]

Thanks MrsKM! He had his merconium poos at the hospital and we've had a couple of wet nappies, but the wet nappies have lots of orange crystals in, which the support worker said means that he's dehydrated. Which again makes me think he's not getting anything from the breast.


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[Mrs. KM]

Ok K had the uric (sp?) acid crystals too. Have they advised you to try to pump a lot to get your milk supply up? I ended up topping K up with formula but gave her too much and didn't know to pump so had a lot of trouble getting my supply in. I would try pumping as much as you can and have him on your boob as much as possibke to get your supply up. If he will tke what you pump by bottle, I think that is fine too. Hopefully they will fix his tongue tie asap! xx

 

[mum2b410]

Hey hun! Congrats on ur little man and welcome to mummyhood!
I think once the tongue tie is sorted u will find things get easier. Its v hard to know what to do in the mean time coz I can c y u r worrying- what I would say is milk supply with bf doesnt tend to come in until around 3 days, this is how it was for me and it made things sooo much better! Ethan cried and cried and cried for those first few days but he was a big baby and v hungry! I guess being a first time mum I didnt really realise and didnt give him any formula coz I wanted to ebf so I cant offer u advice about that, but I would say now that he is a few days old ur milk should be coming in and he will hopefully get more. Like the others have said just keep putting him ti ur breast and keep practicing the latch- its a learning curve for u both and practice makes perfect! If u can get past this first week or two and get the tongue tie sorted it will be worth it hun. Keep in touch with the support worker and get them to come out again if u really cant get him to latch. BF support group may help too if u r happy to go. Hope things improve soon hun, Im sure they will

 

[Maria1977]

Hi, congrats on your little boy...


My son was tongue tied and he lost over 10% of his birth weight too and the urate crystals etc etc, very stressful time, esp for a first time mum!

Defo make the most of the support workers coz they are fab!! Pump, pump and pump when you can and if you have latching problems feed expressed milk in a cup, when you know baby is eating you'll start to relax and feel better.

Once Oscars tongue tie was cut he latched on right away and within a few days we had it mastered!

Put baby to the boob as often as possible to help your supply.

Once you are established it's easy and you'll be fine.

Good luck hun, I know what you're going through but it all works out ok xxxx

 

[l_maclean]

Nipple shields can also help with latching.

When G first came home from hospital it was days before her first poo.

Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[x_larlybelle_x]

Henry used to poop all the time, every single nappy. He then went 5 days without & it now varies from one a day to one every 3-4 days x


Using tapatalk so can't see tickers

 

[Calli]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I bought a manual breast pump and did one feed with that, which made me feel a bit better. At least I could see that he was eating something. I'm not producing much milk yet though so there was less than 30ml for him. He had put n a little weight yesterday though when the HV weighed him.

Still no dirty nappies either... The health visitor said she'll leave us until Friday but if there's still no sign of a poo then she'll get a pediatrition involved.


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[Mrs. KM]

That's great about putting weight on! I still wouldn't really worry about the bowel movements. Sometimes it just takes a bit to get things going . Has she scheduled anything to fix his tongue tie?

 

[Calli]

Should be getting the tongue tie fixed early next week. Just waiting for confirmation on the appointment.
Am hoping that we'll have an almighty nappy explosion soon... Never thought I'd be saying that!


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[beckyboo1]

Calli it's amazing how life changes so quickly isn't it.

Waiting for poos really is quite exciting!!

 

[Kayelle]

Brian went aaaaaages like at least a week before his first poo nappy, he still goes a few days now!
Bet now you've worried and asked about it you'll have a lil explosion hehe

Well done for keeping up with Bf even through problems, were all here to help!! Xx

 

[Maria1977]

Don't worry about how much you express as baby can always get more out than a pump. I could never express very much at all. Keep pumping to maintain supply and once LO has their tongue tie sorted get them on the boob as much possible and it will all be fine.

xxxxx

 

[mum2b410]

Yeh, dont worry about not getting lots from pumping hun- sometimes I could barely get a thing but LO could feed no probs at all! Just pump what u can to keep things going and hopefully next week things will be much better xx

 

[Calli]

Just a quick update... Maternity support worker came round at lunch and because Joseph still hadn't had a poo she rang the hospital. We were told to go in straight away so they could check him and maybe give him a suppository to help things along. So off we dashed but when we got there the pediatrition poked his tummy a bit and said that he's ok, and that it's fine for a baby not to poo for up to two weeks or even longer. He said we should only be concerned if he wasn't pooing but was being sick as well.
So we'd been sent off in a panic for no reason! Still, it was great to have someone professional say that all is well. And just to cheer me up even more, when we got home Joseph did the biggest poo you've ever seen! Well done little man!!


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[Kayelle]

Yey so glad all is ok and youre all happy

 

[pinkyprincess]

Yay to the poo!!!! Glad everything's ok!

 

[Mrs. KM]

Yay for poo! Glad the doctor put your mind at ease too. Xx