EBF baby not gaining weight.

I'm posting for someone else.
Her son is 2 weeks old and he has lost a pound since birth, the mother is EBFing
She went to the doctor to have him checked today and they told her to give him 1oz of formula 4 times a day.

I let her borrow my pump and she got 1oz total from pumping both sides, so she mixed one ounce of formula and one oz of breast milk.

Is he not getting enough from BFing ? or can she do something different ?
Advice an opinions welcome!

Is he back at his birth weight? Or near it? Is she feeding on demand and letting him comfort suck? Get her to stop the formula, pumping and bottles now and get plenty of skin to skin and latching. Offer boob ALL THE TIME.

She more than likely is one of many women who do not have enough nutrients in their breast milk. He may be eating enough but it doesn't have enough calories and stuff. They'll probably keep getting her to supplement with formula but more than likely they'll end up telling her that breast feeding isn't working with the baby and she needs to formula feed only. Same thing happened to just about every woman in my family. I'm going to try to breast feed but I'm sure I won't be the one lucky woman in my family who can EBF   So I'm considering supplementing formula from the start but we'll see.

Quoting Sofia's Mummy♥:" Is he back at his birth weight? Or near it? Is she feeding on demand and letting him comfort suck? Get ... [snip!] ... Get her to stop the formula, pumping and bottles now and get plenty of skin to skin and latching. Offer boob ALL THE TIME."

No he was born 9lbs 1oz and he is now 8lbs exactly.
She is using a nipple shield because he cannot latch well.
she does offer him the boob all the time.

My step-mom was just never able to produce enough milk for my little sisters to thrive. She tried everything, but her body just didn't cooperate. My next-door-neighbor has plenty of milk, and even pumps extra, but I guess it wasn't high enough fat content? Because she gives her boy a little bit of heavy cream mixed with breast milk once or twice a day just to boost fat intake so he'll gain weight.

Tell her to keep BF on demand, do skin-to-skin, pump right after feedings, eat Clif/Luna bars, drink tons of gatorade/mother's milk tea/water/brewer's yeast, basically anything than has any chance of boosting her production. Nothing against FF moms, but using formula will hinder her milk-making capabilities. If he's getting fuller from the formula, he won't want to nurse as much, which will cause a supply drop, which will cause more bottle feeds, which will cause MORE supply drop.....

Quoting Ole' No Name:" No he was born 9lbs 1oz and he is now 8lbs exactly. She is using a nipple shield because he cannot latch well. she does offer him the boob all the time."

I would refer her to the kellymom page on low supply. If she doesn't have a computer maybe you could print it for her?  

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/low-supply/

Quoting Stina♥ {13 Weeks}:" She more than likely is one of many women who do not have enough nutrients in their breast milk. He may ... [snip!] ... won't be the one lucky woman in my family who can EBF   So I'm considering supplementing formula from the start but we'll see."

I've never heard of breast milk being nutritionally deficient unless the mother has some kind of severe deficiency of her own. Were you given any kind of specifics about that from your doctor?


Do I need to maintain a perfect diet while breastfeeding?


The short answer to this question is NO – you do not need to maintain a perfect diet in order to provide quality milk for your baby. In fact, research tells us that the quality of a mother’s diet has little influence on her milk. Nature is very forgiving – mother’s milk is designed to provide for and protect baby even in times of hardship and famine. A poor diet is more likely to affect the mother than her breastfed baby.
Are healthy eating habits recommended for mom? Absolutely! You will be healthier and feel better if you eat well. It is best for anyone to eat a variety of foods, in close to their naturally-occurring state, but this is not necessary for providing quality milk or for maintaining milk supply. Although it is certainly not recommended, a breastfeeding mother could live on a diet of junk food – mom would not thrive on that diet, but her milk would still meet her baby’s needs.
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-diet/

And this is another good one about the likelihood of nutritional deficiencies in breastmilk for women in developed countries even with a poor diet.
http://www.kellymom.com/store/handouts/nutrition/mother-vitamins.pdf

Quoting Crystal Mom of 4:" I've never heard of breast milk being nutritionally deficient unless the mother has some kind of severe ... [snip!] ... for women in developed countries even with a poor diet. http://www.kellymom.com/store/handouts/nutrition/mother-vitamins.pdf"

I've been told there is nothing they can do about your milk being nutrient deficient. It's just some women's milk does not come naturally fortified like it should. They said you produce enough milk so that's why it confuses a lot of women when their child loses weight even if they're eating whenever they want but there just isn't enough of what they need to gain weight or even maintain weight. They said if you keep taking prenatal or multi-vitamins it might help but it isn't a for sure thing.

She can try pumping for a minute and then latching him so
A) It increases her supply
B) he gets all the fatty hind milk.
The hind milk is the milk that helps babies gain weight because it has all the nutrients in it. Foremilk is mostly water.

I hope this helps. Also, does she eat enough calories and is she taking a prenatal? Extra nutrients couldn't hurt.


It can be normal to pump a minimal amount. Most woman never respond well to pumps. My friend just went through this actually and she started taking fenugreek and mothers milk tea and its seeming to help. She is not longer supplementing.

Quoting Stina♥ {13 Weeks}:" She more than likely is one of many women who do not have enough nutrients in their breast milk. He may ... [snip!] ... won't be the one lucky woman in my family who can EBF   So I'm considering supplementing formula from the start but we'll see."

Are you stupid? Sorry, but the many women who don't have enough nutrients? That is smurfing bullsmurf.
Why do you think you're doomed to fail? you cannot know until you put the baby on your boob.

Quoting Stina♥ {13 Weeks}:" I've been told there is nothing they can do about your milk being nutrient deficient. It's just some ... [snip!] ... or even maintain weight. They said if you keep taking prenatal or multi-vitamins it might help but it isn't a for sure thing."

That's quite simply not true. I am sure some doctor said it to you and that is why you think it's true but that is not accurate at all. I'm not trying to make you feel bad (honest) but you should know in case you decide that you want to breastfeed another baby. Unless you have some rare and severe nutritional deficiency yourself (which you would have symptoms of and have a diagnosis for) your milk is just as nutritious and good as everyone else. The links that are in my last post have some very good info in them if you are interested. A woman could have a total junk food diet (although not recommended) and produce healthy breast milk.

Breast milk has everything a baby needs. In the rare instance that you have a deficiency like being anemic in pregnancy and have depleted iron stores either you or the baby could be supplemented with iron and still breastfeed. The information you received was completely inaccurate. I really hope that you are no longer seeing whichever doctor told you that.

Supplementing, especially from the start, will keep your supply from coming in properly. The baby will probably quickly start refusing to nurse and prefer the bottle. If you would really like to be successful at breastfeeding this time I would suggest reading up on the subject a little. It will help you know what's normal, some common misconceptions, and how to fix some common breastfeeding issues. Kellymom.com is an accurate, wonderful online resource.

Has the baby been checked for tongue tie? Many babies have this, it can prevent them from latching properly and getting enough milk. It's a simple procedure to have it snipped and it is done in the doctor's office. Obviously, I don't know if that is what's going on but it's a possibilty with a very simple solution.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Ole' No Name:</b>" I'm posting for someone else. Her son is 2 weeks old and he has lost a pound since birth, the mother ... [snip!] ... one oz of breast milk. Is he not getting enough from BFing ? or can she do something different ? Advice an opinions welcome!"</blockquote>




First off babies lose weight sue to not having a constamt supply of nutrician. Also they burn a TON of calories when they drink, move, cry ir anything else fir that matter. It may just be takeing him a sec to be on a gain. The formula does add a few extra calories so they he doesnt burn all ofbwhat he is drinking immediately. My sister had her little girl the 29th. At her one week check up she was still a half a lb under her birthweight. She went in the week after for a weight check and she was srill under her weight buttt she was on an upward slope. As sson as she made it past her birth weight she has done nothing but gain.. and quickly lol. Shes three weeks almost a month old now and id say almosta lb over her birthweight. Id saw (me not being a dr but what I would do) is keep him on the formula just intil he makes it over his birthweight then take him off to see if he has cought up with himself!. So she doent mess up her supply could she feed him the formula first then finish iff on the boob??? His belly is also still super teeny. Hope atleast soem of this helped haha

Quoting His Crazy Mum:" <blockquote><b>Quoting Ole' No Name:</b>" I'm posting for someone else. Her son is ... [snip!] ... the formula first then finish iff on the boob??? His belly is also still super teeny. Hope atleast soem of this helped haha"

STOP GIVING BAD ADVICE! Oh my god.
It takes 2-3 weeks for baby to get back to their birth weight!!! My daughter was on it by day 14, some others get to it by day 21. If the baby is GAINING weight after the initial loss, even somewhat slowly, you do NOT need to supplement!!!
OP, do not listen to this woman, for the sake of your child. If you start supplementing due to smurffy support and stupid doctors, you'll go on a downward spiral. TRUST your body, it was made to do this. Get baby on the breast at every opportunity, every time that kid cries stick your nipple in its mouth. Get lots of skin to skin, including immediately after birth. Co-Sleep, as this helps with skin to skin AND feeding on demand. It is SO tiring but it only takes around 6 weeks to get the hang of it (2 weeks for me). Giving ANY formula, pumping, anything other than having baby directly on the breast is likely to affect your supply, cause nipple confusion, and as I said earlier send you on a downward spiral which may end in stopping breastfeeding.

His Crazy Mum, do NOT comment in breastfeeding threads if you know nothing about it.