A Little Concerned

[intokermit]

Today I BF'd my ds for over 1 hour, for one feeding. After he came off, he was still hungry, and we had to give him some EBM. He took 4 oz, and was still acting like he was starving. He hasn't had many wet diapers today, and after his hour feeding, he didn't have a wet one. He seemed to be sucking well, and when he came off, he had milk around his mouth. What did I do wrong? As long as he ate, he should have been full, but he seemed like he didn't get anything. This happen to anyone else?

Edit: Just finished pumping after feeding ds, and got 1.5 oz from each. He was still starving after feeding, so maybe he isn't sucking correctly?

[jonesie]

I don't know if I'm any help....both my little fellas have done this around growth spurt times....wanting to eat alot for long periods of times, and also didn't dirty diapers as frequently.....but not sure if this would be the same issue ur having.....but after a day or two they seemed to go back to better feedings and not so hungry...not much help but I would keep an eye on the diapers...sounds like u have milk and he's probably getting it too.....but if he's not letting it out something may be wrong...what goes in must come out?

[ima062002]

Did you feel your breasts before feeding and after? That is a good gauge of whether baby got a good feed. Do you do breast compressions when you feed him? One hour is a long time to be at the breast and I assume that he did a lot of comfort nursing in between.

The fact that he downs 4 oz from a bottle where the drip is constant, is not necessarily an indication that he needed the food. Most babies will suck while it is coming...

How is his weight gain up to this point?

[KerryS]

How many wet diapers is "not many"? What about poops?

You cannot gauge milk supply by wanting to nurse a lot or being fussy. If he came off with milk around his mouth, that's a pretty good sign that he's getting milk. Are you hearing him actively sucking and swallowing? Is he *actively* nursing for that whole hour, or is he "hanging out" at the breast, dozing and comfort nursing (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

Four ounces of expressed milk, on top of nursing, is A LOT. A baby that age only has the stomach capacity for about 2-3 oz. Rule of thumb is that a baby only needs about 1 oz. of milk per hour.

Babies have a strong need to suck, and he could have just wanted to suck more. Or he could have had a gas bubble (which is uncomfortable and they often mistake it for hunger pain, so they act like they want to eat more in order to get rid of the pain of the gas). Or he could be going through a growth spurt and is trying to increase your production.

As long as he's gaining appropriately, I wouldn't worry about supply. If he wants to nurse again, put him back to the breast. I really would discourage supplementation and "topping off" after feedings unless there is a medical need (such as slow weight gain).

Here are "signs" that are NOT GOOD INDICATORS of low milk supply:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html#supply

Notice the part about "guzzling down a bottle of milk" after feeding, and why that's NOT a good indicator of low supply.

[intokermit]

I did some breast compressions around the end. I have a fast letdown, and he chokes on the fast flow. As for the hour feeding, his eyes were closed, but he was actively sucking and swallowing. We are new to breastfeeding thing, so I can't use his weight as a gauge. I had to pump for the first 2 months, and feed him that. We've been BFing for a couple of days. As for the number of dirty diapers, no poop for the past few days. Today he has had 5 wet diapers, and fed 9 times, so far. The thing is that after the hour feeding, he was rooting and was very upset, crying, and his binky wouldn't comfort him. It wasn't until he got the EBM that he was satisfied.

[RedheadbyChoice]

I'm betting he's still pretty used to that flow of a bottle, sugar. And 5 diapers, so far today, is a good number.

ITA with Kerry, though, it's not always hunger that makes a babe want to nurse.