Carolyn Tay wrote:
> My 3 week old has been gaining slowly and > ... I don't feel comfortable
with the advice of the HV
> [to] only nurse him every 3 hours ("to allow
> your breasts to fill up") and to supplement him with 4oz. of formula after
> EVERY breast feed.
Carolyn - This pernicious Old Wives' Tale, about reducing feeds to let
the milk build up, makes me *so* angry, just as angry now as when I was told
this with my own first baby 35 years ago (but that's another story). In
situations where complementing (giving supplements after a breastfeed) is
necessary, and I'm not sure if it is in your situation, surely complementing
after *some* feeds, rather than all of them, would make better sense?
I see no good reason at all for the instruction to cease pumping! Can
someone mind your other children during the day for a day or so, so that you
can take your baby to bed with you, and have a holiday in bed with the baby
(a good old LLLI saying)?
The impression your posting gives me, is that your baby is alert, not
listless, and has improved at the breast recently. It may well be that he
has turned the corner. Do you have a few days to wait, to see if this is
so, while monitoring your baby's condition? Is he *swallowing* during
breastfeeds, passing clear urine, stooling, and continuing to be alert?
I've only briefly touched on the issues in this posting, as I'm sure you
will receive lots of detailed responses from others.
Some babies are of course small gainers, and if there weren't some at
the bottom of the percentile tables to balance those up near the top, there
wouldn't (by definition) be percentile tables. With a family history, too.
No thyroid problems, etc?
All the best.
Virginia
in sunny Brisbane
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
