Difficulty breast feeding young infants
Question:
Hi there
I’m breastfeeding my 2.5 week old girls but they are not gaining enough weight (average 15g a day). They eat on demand and can be every 1.5h to 3h. They eat between 10-15 minutes max and fall asleep. I think I’m producing enough milk as when I press milk is going out. In the mean time, I’m losing too much weight. I eat like crazy but maybe not what is important (eat bread, cheese, yogurt, 2 eggs on morning, meat fish veggies ( I love veggies and fruits) rice pasta… Bulgur homemade chili …
I’m concerned for all of us. I’m getting exhausted by lack of sleep so need really to be sure I have good foods. Also I don’t pump (too painful for me) and I don’t want formula for them at all!
Thank you for helping me out. V.
Suggestions: It sounds as if you are doing really well in making sure that you are eating well so that you can provide the best nutrition for your daughters. The very first thing I would suggest is that you all get checked out by your doctor to make sure that you are all healthy. It may be that you may have low iron or something else that is very easy to fix which is explaining your extreme fatigue.
When you have all been given the all clear, we can focus on how to improve the feeding sessions. I think a really good thing to hear is that they are gaining. Losing or slipping would be more worrying. Gaining is always good. You don’t say if they were premature and if they were and depending upon how much, will affect their ability to strongly feed simply because they would be smaller than full term infants. For premature babies, sleep over takes the need to fill the tummy. You might try waking them from the sleep to continue feeding: think about burping them at regular intervals so that they wake up; or you could hold them under the arms, stretched out (as if ‘walking’) so that they wake up. Some parents have undressed them down to the diaper to ensure that they wake up and continue to feed. The idea is to fill their tummy and not just let them eat enough to get by, otherwise you are feeding them again within a shorter time frame.
Can you try these ideas, including up top making sure that everyone is healthy and then we can try some other ideas should they not wish to feed.
You are doing so much right and your diet sounds as if it should work but it may be low iron or something else that needs easy correction.
Best wishes, Lynda
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