The doc said I need to supplement...sigh (sorta long)

[mommyof3armywife]

that is just nuts a baby not show hunger just because it is BF WOW I can tell you that they do show hunger A. B. YOu are doing great honey she is sleeping through the night and nursing great durning the day. EVERY single one of my children went from 50% to the 5% by the time they were one and only one of them had FF and guess what she did the same thing. IT is the baby not the BM.

[lj2blessed]

Hang in there mama

If I were in your shoes I would "dream feed" a few times at night, and block feed when she nurses during the day (keep her on the same boob for the entire feeding, don't switch).

[Midwife@heart]

I think the Doc is wrong.
My only advice would be to nurse your dd from only one breast per session since she nurses for such a short time. This way she can get more hindmilk in her.
Do not give her a paci because that might make her wait longer to nurse.
Offer to nurse her every 2 hrs. if she takes it fine, if not, don’t worry about it.

[lindsayinpa]

Oh wow...like others have said, I'd be on the phone finding a new, breastfeeding friendly pediatrician. My daughter was 8 lbs 7 oz at birth, and is a SLOOOOW gainer. She went from 50th percentile at birth to about the 3 percentile at her 6 month check up. She still isn't 15 lbs, no where near doubling her birthweight, even at 7 months.

I was worried about her slow gain. Know what our pediatrician did at her 6 month check up? First, gave me a round of applause, and then came over and hugged me for meeting the 6 month milestone of exclusive breastfeeding. THAT'S the kind of doctor you need to find for you and your LO.

[cupcakewright]

I would not go to one side but I would start waking her and feeding more often during the day...I wouldn't let her go mroe then 3 hours during the day, unless you are napping for one of those times, I would also start Dream nursing...that is if she goes to bed around 9 go in and wake and nurse her one more time before you go to bed at 10 or whatever. Does that make since.

She sounds like she is doing fine and you are making th milk she is asking for, I think you just need to try to add 2-3 more feeds a day. That will up your supply and her calories, and I bet in 4 weeks she will have gianed weight.
I would do a weight check in 4 weeks but not with that Dr. I would look into a new one.

And whatever you do, don;t give her formula, her body doesn;t need it, it will change the pH balance of her tummy and could make your supply drop because you aren't asking your body to make milk that feed.

Just feed that baby, you are doing a great job!

Also look for the Le Leche League in your ares, a free support group of nursing mom's helping nuring moms, it is wonderful!

[cupcakewright]

The reason I am saying not to block feed is because when you don;t have an over supply, which you don't it can mess with supply, If you usually feed ehr on both sides at each feed, keep that up, even offer the forst side again, to get more milk in her.

Also if she nursed better in a quiet room, or in a certain place go there so that she eats well at each feed.

[VeganCupcake]

There is no evidence that during a woman's first breastfeeding experience, her body doesn't know what to do. That's just silly.

One thing I would say, though, is that Dr. Jack Newman says that a young baby needs to empty the mother's breasts roughly 7 times in 24 hours for her to maintain a supply (for mothers of older babies or toddlers, that number can go down). If your baby is sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night and is only nursing every 3 or 4 hours, she's probably not nursing 7 times, right? I would try to get to 7 or more times in 24 hours.

[KristieW]

ITA with everyone who says to find a new pedi. Or if you're comfortable enough with it, just ignore his advice... he can't FORCE you to supplement.

DD was a sleepy (and lazy!) feeder for months, and then she turned into one that was too busy to nurse for long. She's also just a peanut--her daddy was at her age too. She's hovering around the 5th percentile (15th on the WHO charts) and our ped has finally just accepted that she's small. He's never been anything but BF supportive, but he did have us going in for weight checks, first weekly, then biweekly, then monthly, then every few months... and at the last one, he said he didn't need to see her again until she was 3--yaaay! In any event, the one thing that really helped me supply-wise was to pump after daytime/evening feedings. I did it quite a bit from about six weeks through about six months, at which point, we all had the whole thing figured out, and the doc decided he wasn't so worried because she was sticking to her curve and meeting milestones. In any event, I'd put the milk in the fridge and skim the cream off from a few feedings and have daddy feed it to her. She also nursed all night until she was 20 months old, at which point I decided that she'd been holding to her curve long enough that I could stop worrying about her weight and nightweaned her. She's still nursing at 26 months, though!

The other thing we did that really helped my peace of mind was doing weigh-feed-weighs with the LC.

Hang in there, mama! Your milk is GREAT and so are YOU!!!

[TinaDeanette]

Originally Posted by aries416 I would feed on one side only per feeding, that will help make sure she's getting enough hindmilk

She is still hungey after one side. She comes off and goes back on and comes back off and fusses until I put her on the other side. I alsways start a feeding on the side she had last...does that make sense?

And thank you all for the wonderful advice. This is DD 2nd Pedi!! I've got an appt with another pedi next week! I hope she is what I need

[songbird516]

I would definitely start feeding more at night, if possible. I would do that before supplementing, for sure. And, if you do feel like she's not getting enough, I would try to find a milkshare mom or even raw goats milk before formula.