in October 2023 Babies 🇬🇧

NICU and baby weight gain

Hi everyone, I have previously posted that my October baby was born at 36 weeks last week and was taken to the NICU for some extra help with her breathing. She was in there for 5 days and then they said she was able to breathe on her own so they were happy for her to come out however, not go home. We are now in transitional care until we establish breastfeeding. She has been feeding really well, every 3 hours for about 30 mins, lots of dirty nappies. They have just been in to weigh her this morning to see if we can go home but she has lost weight rather than gained. She started at 2450g and is now 2160g , I'm not sure how dramatic of a weight loss that is but the staff seem fairly confident the doctor won't let us go home. Has anyone experienced this? I'm really really struggling being here, because she is breastfeeding I have to stay at the hospital 24/7. Her birth was extremely traumatic and I was in hospital for 6 weeks before she was born so I am mentally finding it really hard being in hospital still as I feel I can't start processing or moving on from what happened as I'm still here. I also have another little girl at home who cries her little heart of when she comes to visit and has to go home again. It's absolutely heartbreaking but obviously I want my baby to be well before we go home. I'm also worried about the weight loss , she is eating all the time so I can't understand how she is still losing weight. I just feel like I'm failing both of them right now but am just stuck in this situation until we can finally go home

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I’m so sorry you’re going through this. You’re a warrior! I had to stay in hospital for longer than anticipated and my LG at home was breaking her heart too. It was so difficult to watch. It’s really normal for breastfed babies to lose a bit of weight in the first few days. Was she on any form of drip whilst being in NICU? If so the weight loss will probably have stemmed from the change. My midwife told me that unless a baby has lost more than 10% of their weight they aren’t worried within the first 5 days at home. Then they hope that they’ll start to put weight on. Would you consider combi feeding to try and get her weight up a little? If not she’ll get there from your breast milk. It might just be because she’s diddy at the minute so her tummy is little. Have you asked to speak to anyone regarding your mental health? I’m my hospital (RVI Newcastle) they had psychologists that visited families for this reason. Might be worth asking? Xx

I’ve just calculated the weight loss - it’s currently a loss of 11.8%. I’d ask them to make a plan to help both of you - they might suggest top up feeds? Could you express any milk to top her up? She might be tired after feeding (I’m told breastfed babies find feeding tiring so they might not get enough in the initial feed) if you top her up she’ll not need to work as hard for the extra milk. Hopefully that’ll help her weight! Xx

It’s pretty normal for all babies to lose weight at first; mine was born at 1.7kg and dropped to 1.6 before she started gaining weight, so it may just be that? I know how horrible it is being stuck in there, but try to remember it isn’t forever, and the last thing you want is to bring her home before she is ready. You are absolutely not failing anyone, you are in a really tough situation and doing the best you can 🙂 The drs may advise a combo of breast milk and formula, or expressing breast milk so they can track how much she is drinking?

I’m in a similar situation. Born at 37 weeks and has been in hospital with a nasty bout of jaundice. Weight has dropped from 2650g at birth to 2400g and just wasnt gaining. I’ve started combi feeding. Breast first followed by 30ml formula top up every 3 hours. Was weighed yesterday and has gained 100g. I’m pumping to also try up my milk supply too. It’s so hard to gauge how much they’re getting from the boob. Keep going you’ve got this. It’s tough xxxxx

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