u/ciuchinoino

Hi all!

I'm 7w pp and I need a bit of guidance on pumping please - my goal is to increase my milk supply because baby is inefficient at removing it (doesn't swallow actively for as long as he should). He had weight issues and now we're topping him up with formula or breast milk if available after every feed. My ideal goal would be to EBF.

I met with a IBCLC who told me I should pump 4-5 times a day, one of which is a power pump at night. It took me a while to get the hang of pumping as small amounts would come out, now I can pump maybe 1.5 or 2 oz on one side, and 1 on the other (that's after breastfeeding).

I struggle so much with the plan because it feels that very often when baby "is done" and settled, I give him to my husband, wait for 20 ish mins (as per consultant's advice) and pump for 20, only for baby to wake up and demand food, which I don't have because I've just pumped it. So I find myself in the cycle of having him super frustrated at the breast for slow milk flow and me having to give him the same milk I just expressed via sns (I prefer it over the bottle). So when am I supposed to pump, then? And should I prioritise having baby at the breast or pumping? After we realised his weight was not great, we now assume that whenever he cries, it's because of hunger, so I pop him on the breast and he 99% of time latches and stays there, either comfort sucking, or eating a bit.

Another question I have is: I struggle SO MUCH with waking up at night to pump. It's like I'm a totally different person with 0 willpower whatsoever. How important is it that I power pump at nighttime specifically?

This is more of a vent/asking for similar stories post. It'll still be long, so bear with me.

Baby was born 37+5 via C-section due to placenta praevia, weighing 2940g. I had my heart set on breastfeeding. At day 5 he'd lost 6% and developed jaundice (below treatment threshold). The midwife there noticed he was a sleepy, ineffective feeder and advised switching breasts and using compressions.

I started implementing this. At day 11 he was 2800g. The health visitor vaguely said I could top up with formula/expressed milk "if I wanted to". I stupidly thought I'd have time to let him regain his birth weight because he was still gaining, and the midwife wasn't concerned, both because he was gaining, and she expected slow gain due to the jaundice. I went to a breastfeeding support group, they also said to keep switching/compressing and that his latch was good.

He finally regained birth weight on day 23 (2950g), after we started giving 30ml formula when he remained unsettled after feeds. Occasionally he'd take a whole 70ml bottle. The midwife was happy because he had the recommended amount of dirty/wet nappies and said we could even let him sleep up to 6 hours at night. She referred him for blood tests because he remained jaundiced. (Jaundice still below treatment threshold).

At day 31, we found out he'd only been gaining 14g/day.

I then paid privately for an IBCLC, who said he was very inefficient at one breast and recommended a "soft triple feeding" plan: pumping 4 or 5 times a day (including one power pump), switching/compressing, and topping up with the milk I'd produce. I really struggled to follow the plan. I frankly hated pumping, and I'd often finish pumping only for baby to need me and then become frustrated at the breast because there was little milk. (I later discovered my flange was two sizes too large.) I was still topping him up around four times a day, thinking that was sufficient, and his nappy output was always good.

At 5 weeks + 3 days, we went to the weight clinic and found he'd gained only another 100g that week. They plotted his weight on the chart for the first time as the health visitor never did and we realised he'd dropped from the 9th to the 0.4th centile.

The lactation counsellor at the weight clinic told us that by "topping up", they meant EVERY FEED, not a few times a day.

She also advised that my pump flanges were still too big and gave me the correct ones. I finally started pumping much more and topping up consistently, either with my milk, or formula. A week later, he'd gained 28g/day.

Now I'm looking at my whole journey with hindsight glasses and I really struggle with coming to terms with:

1. How frustratingly vague I found the advice given to me and how left to my own devices I felt. Everyone seemed okay that he was gaining in small amounts, the reasoning being "at least he's not flatlining or losing"

2. How much I blame myself. I should have acted on the slow gain at day 11. I should have clarified exactly what the IBCLC meant by "top up". I keep thinking that if I'd just done things differently, he wouldn't have spent his first six weeks underfed.

I'm terrified I've damaged him and that this will cause cognitive or physical problems later.

He's also always been a rather fussy baby, and since he turned 5 weeks he's become even fussier. I now think that almost every time he cried before, it was due to hunger, so now I'm terrified he's still hungry despite offering the breast constantly. This past week we've often had to increase his top-ups because he seems rarely satisfied after feeds. I mentioned this to the health visitor, but she didn't seem concerned.

I feel so lost, I thought I started understanding my baby and now I feel back to square one.

Has anyone had a similar experience? How did things turn out for your baby?

TL;DR: My baby had poor weight gain during his first 6 weeks. Vague advice and my misunderstanding of how frequently to top up meant he was underfed for longer than he should have been. He dropped from the 9th to the 0.4th centile before we started consistent top-ups, and I'm terrified I've caused lasting harm

Hi all,

I'm a FTM - today my baby boy turned one month exactly! He was born at 37+5 via C-section due to placenta praevia. After birth he lost 6% of his birth weight and they noticed him being jaundiced, but below the threshold that would require treatmentz so decided to just monitor it. He then very slowly increased his weight, he was 23 days old when he got to be 10g above his birth weight. The midwife was not concerned, she said that as long as he's gaining and having wet and dirty nappies, she's happy.

However, I felt uneasy after the health visitor said that my baby's cry was a "hungry baby's cry", so I started topping up with small amount of formula (30 ml a day).

Baby vastly favours left breast over the right - I notice that when I pump, a lot less milk comes out of it. When I hand express, it takes me way longer for drops of milk to appear - baby has very good gulping and active swallowing sessions on the left, but less so on the right. He often gets frustrated on that side. I'm also noticing how my right breast is now smaller and more deflated than the right.

I booked a LC appointment and she told me I would need to increase overall milk supply as we would like to see baby gaining 30g on average a day (at the last weight check, he gained an average of 19g a day). So the plan is for me keep breastfeeding on demand and also to pump 4/5 times a day, do one power pumping session at night, and feed baby the extra milk. That should last at most a week to boost my milk supply.

She also suggested doing compressions when breastfeeding and switching breast as soon as he stops drinking effectively and getting sleepy - his sleepiness is a recurrent issue.

While I'm waiting for the correct flange size to arrive, I've pumped twice - the day after, my left breast felt huge and was leaking, whereas the right felt just tender.

Do you know if I'm at risk of becoming even more uneven, or incur into mastitis? Has any of you done such a regime, and if so, did your milk supply increase evenly on both sides?