introduction/question

erinchrisitne424

Hello. I am new to this board but have been active on the October 14 board for a while. My son was born 10/20/14 at 11#2oz. This is my concern/question.

I have been exclusively pumping since DS was 1 week because that's when my supply came in and I could jeep up with his demand. As mention he was born at 11#2oz and by the time we left the hospital day 3 he was 10lbs 4 oz and then day 5 at the pedi he was 10#2.5oz. He eats 2-3ozs every 3 hours roughly. I am pumping instead of nursing because I can see better his intake. When I took him to be weighed yesterday he was only 10#4.2oz (day 11) I know I am not going to get him up to birth weight by Monday. My doctor is only concerned with the weight gain because he is ahead of the marks on everything else. I am concerned that my milk maybe too lean for him. Do you have any suggestions on how to fatten it up so he can gain without supplementing. He is eating so much better not having formula.

Thank you!

greeneyed_bride

I totally understand wanting to be able to monitor his intake by pumping, but babies are more efficient at removing milk from the breast than pumps are, so it's entirely possible (and even probable) that he's actually getting LESS milk because it's pumped than he would if you just breastfed him. Now that you've been pumping for 12 days, you have a realistic idea of the minimum amount that he's getting per nursing session and you know that it's a sufficient amoubt, so it might be better for you to just nurse him so you increase his total milk intake. As reassuring as I'm sure it is to be able to *see* that your son is getting exactly 3oz (or whatever he's getting,) that's really not necessary. An appropriate number of dirty and wet diapers is a perfect indication that your child is getting enough milk. Just let him nurse as long/often as he wants to, and let go of the idea that you need to know how many ounces your child gets. I never once in the 16 months I breastfed my son had any idea how many ounces he was getting (he refused to take a bottle,) and he was regularly in the 90th percentile for height and weight until he hit about two years old.

TheBorg7of9

I understand your idea, but it's really not necessary to know and monitor how many ounces he's eating. Especially with such a big baby. Just count his wet and dirty diapers and he'll be fine. You're really just making it a lot harder than it has to be.

flcl

Totally agree with PPs on here... they've given great advice.  Are you able to give BF a try?  If so, try BF your baby on demand.  That was how my BIG baby was able to get what he needed and how my body was able to establish that supply for him.  I have to admit that I am biased as I love my BF relationship with LO but I hate my pumping one with that darn machine!  GL!

surpriseaddition

I have BF two pretty big babies 9lb 12oz and 9lb 6oz (along with my first who was a mere 8lb 5oz). My larger babies lost more weight pound wise but you really need to focus on percentages. It is very common for BF babies to lose up to 10% of their body weight initially. It may seem a pound is a lot of weight to lose, but it is really the percentage that should be the focus. Your LO only lost 9%. My last LO lost 12%, and it took 3 weeks to get back to birth weight but she was consistently gaining and my pedi was happy with that. I agree with PP that the best thing you can do is just nurse as much as your LO is willing. This will ensure he is getting to the rich hind milk and will keep him nursing longterm. EP is a lot of work, and you don't want to risk he won't take the breast later on. GL!