Baby not eating

E

eva

Registered User
My baby is 3 months old. These few days she seems to eat less and less from breastfeeding. She used to feed for 10 minutes each session (quite short already). Now she's doing anything from 3 to 7 minutes total. Very discouraging. i am a working mom, so am very worried about milk supply and also really want to breastfeed her in a normal way; the way she's nursing make me feel like she's snacking. Should I give her less ebm while i'm in the office??
Please help! Here's my schedule:
7:30 breastfeed (after bf pumped 60-90ml)
10:30 ebm - 120ml given by maid (i pumped in the office about 90ml)
13:30 breastfeed (after bf pumped 40-50ml)
16:30 ebm again - 120ml
19:30 breastfeed (after bf pumped 60ml)
23:30 ebm again 120ml (pumped 60ml)
Is there anything wrong??? Not much people in the office i can ask as i found out only recently bf is not popular among chinese.

Thanks a million everybody
 
Dear Eva,

The only way to tell if your baby is doing well is to look at the baby. The amount and times of feeding tell you nothing. Some babies take 30 minutes to drink 60 mls and others can do it in five minutes. Indeed many babies are so efficient at feeding by three months that they only feed for five minutes at each feed but still grow well.

I would be expecting your baby to have at least six wet nappies in 24 hours and to be increasing in weight (an average of 4 to 6 oz (110 to 140 grams) a week for a baby between 3 and 6 months). Most babies will still be feeding a least eight times a day at this age. So if you are worried about your baby not getting enough you might like to increase the number of times you feed your baby.

I would also suggest that rather than give EBM before bed that you directly breastfeed. This would save you the EMB that can be used in the day while you are at work and also give your breasts more direct stimulation. Remember that your baby will be able to get more milk than you can pump out.

You might also be interested in the following topics from the La Leche League International web site,

Working and Breastfeeding
http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBworking.html

and Pumping
http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBpumping.html

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
:bighug 1st, i want to compliment you on doing a VERY good job at working & feeding your baby.

yes, some babies are very efficient in sucking milk from mommy some only takes 3 mins on each side. i remember the nurse at my ped told me they had a baby who was 90% in weight, who only nurse 3 mins on each side.

so just see how much wee & poo your baby has & whether he's gaining weight well. i personally find weight gaining the best gauge for breastfed babies. cos w/ the diapers on the market, we really can't tell how much wee the baby has. i was worried too, so i ended up investing in a baby scale at home. weighing my baby once a week or 2 weeks gives me the reassurance that i needed knowing that i have enough hind milk. my 15 mth old now loves to stand on the scale (the one that i bought is the one w/ the removable tray, i bought it at mothercare)

keep up the good job!:bighug
 
Hi there,

I can tell that's is exactly the way I felt also when I was breastfeeding. My daughter new fed for long on the breast either. By 3 months she was on for a few minutes only. I went to see a lactation consutant and they told me that the breastmilk changes as with baby gets older. Supposedly they wont require to feed as long because the bm is kind of thicker(not sure how to put it but similar to hind milk) more of the hind milk and less of the foremilk. And babies will always let you know if they are hungry so if yours seem fine then i wouldn't worry to much. Another thing is you can chack out how she measures on the growth chart. If she is up to par then you really don't need to worry at all.
 
The only problem with weighting your baby as often as once a week is that you are looking for an average increase. This means your baby is doing fine if he only puts on 2 oz in one week and goes on to put on 6 oz the next week. But most mothers will start to panic when they read the 2 oz measurement.

If you don’t want to go to the expense of buying a scale height is actually a better gauge of how well your baby is growing than weight is. The reason that doctors use weight rather than height is because it is easier to measure.

The World Health Organization has just published new growth curves available at http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/en/
There are charts for both weight and height.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
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oh yes, i agree with sarah. i forgot to mention that sometimes baby gain more weight at one week & less at the other. so i was happy as long as she was gaining (whether it's 100g or 500g). cos at one point my baby was actually losing weight (that was when i had mastitis & she wasn't getting enuf milk at around 2 mths =( )
 
THANKS EVERYONE,
it's really reassuring to hear there are babies similar to mine. Yes, she is actually gaining weight stedily becuase i have a scale but i dont always weigh her, sometimes i weigh her before and after a feed to see how much she drinks, but i dont think it's very accurate like that. SHe 's 13lb14oz (quite fat) at 102 days old.
About the 6 wet nappies, somehow i have only 4-5, and some pee is really samll ones and i dont know if i should count those.
About Sarah's suggestion on the last feed of the day, I would like to feed her myself but technically it's very tricky. My husband always have to wake her up and keep her awake enough to take the bottle. She doesn't need this feed at this hour, we give it her so she could sleep longer thru the night. If I breastfeed, she will never take the breast at her completely sleepy state. Plus I could really use some rest myself as I forget to mention I bf her at 3:30 - 4:30am everynight at her request (crying). I have not/do not want to wean her middle of the night feed yet, in fact that's the only feed she will quietly feed for 10 minutes and never fuzzy about it.
BTW, what is Mastitis and thrush??? I read about it but will I recognize it if I hve it? I am not quite sure what to expect.
Thanks again for sharing with me.
 
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