Only gained 1oz in weight
I found out at our 1 month checkup that from 11 to 32 days old my LO gained 1oz. So effectively she’s had no gain. I’m devastated. At our last weigh in she had gained 5oz between 5 to 11 days old. Now we have to start giving 1-2 oz in a bottle with every meal. I have a small freezer stash I’d been building for when I go back to work but it’s not a lot and I’m not pumping as much as we are supplementing with every meal so before long we will have to supplement with formula. I wanted to EBF so badly.
We had to triple feed with my other child. Eventually he was taking more and more formula but never nursing better. I burned out with triple feeding and it’s the reason why I gave up of breastfeeding him. This time around I was so determined for things to be different. Things seemed to be going okay in the hospital. We saw the LC there and the only issue was that she had a shallow latch. But her mouth was so small I figured we could keep working on it. At first, it was hard on my nipples but after the first week they stopped getting torn up. She still isn’t latching properly. I do my best to try and get her to latch better but the longer she stays on she tends to slip down to the tip and my nipples always look slightly squashed when she comes off.
I don’t know if the issue to her latch or I don’t have enough supply. I’ve never been anything remotely like an oversupplier but I figured I was a just enougher. I’ve been pumping in once in the morning and once it the evening after feeds to try and build my freezer stash and I’d slowly increased to getting about 3 ½-4 oz a day. She’s had the appropriate amount of wet and dirty diapers. We’ve been feeding an average of 10 times in a 24 hour period. I’d noticed over the last week or so before our 1 month appointment feeds were taking forever and she’d get hungry right after. I figured she was just going through a growth spurt. I wish I’d realized something was wrong.
Our doctor refereed us to a feeding clinic but it took a week to get in. I just hope they can figure out why she isn’t getting enough. It feels extra hard to start triple feeding now after a month. My husband (who has somewhat flexible paternity leave) is back to work three days a week. I’m already tired from a month’s worth of staying up with her and getting little sleep. I want so desperately to EBF, but I just don’t know how long I'll be able do this without burning out.