Not enough milk?

Question

My 9 week old daughter is sick with a pretty bad cold, coughing and a snuffly nose. She can't breathe very well at the moment, so isn't taking her bottle, she has only had about 120mls in the last 24 hours. What can I do?

She has cystic fibrosis and I saw her specialist yesterday and she said to take her to the doc if she is not better by thursday, but I am still very concerned about her.

In response to "missknowitall".
I take my parenting very seriously thank you. I have a 5 year old son aswell, and despite what ideas you may have of me, both of my children are well taken care of. I have taken the time to get on my computer because I am interested in what other people think. I have already come to my own conclusions in my head. Keep your narrow-minded self righteous comments to yourself, or at least have the guts to make yourself available to be emailed. And FYI, my daughter is going to be sick whatever I do, cos if you had of taken any notice you would see she has a respiratory illness. I just want to know how to make her more comfortable, not whether I should take her to the doctor.

Answer 1

If you can find a way to treat the stuffy nose, she may be able to drink more. In America, I used PediaCare, but I'm not sure what's available if you're in the UK. You could check with your chemist or doctor to see if they recommend anything, but since she's so young, you may need to stick with alternative ways of dealing with the cold symptoms.

You could try using saline drops to loosen up the mucus and then suctioning it out with a bulb syringe about 15 minutes before you feed her. Putting a humidifier or a cool-mist vaporizer in her room will moisten the air. Or take her into the bathroom with you, turn on the hot water, close the door, and sit in the steamy room for about 15 minutes. A warm bath can work, too. Johnson's Soothing Vapor Bath can help, as well as Vick's Baby Rub if you can find them.

Good luck - I hope she feels better soon!

Answer 2

I certainly don't think they are lying. There are two things that I think contribute to the high number of moms reporting low milk supply. 1) While low milk supply IS uncommon after an ideal, gentle birth with few complications, there are situations that can easily lead to a low milk supply. I know because I had one. First of all, my nipples were flat. I had to use a nipple shield (very thin piece of silicone with nipple molded into it that goes over a woman's flat nipple so the baby has something to latch onto and also to draw her nipple out). Nobody told me a nipple shield was only for temporary use. These seemingly harmless little things can cause nipple confusion and hurt a mother's milk supply--and both of those things happened to me. Also, my daughter had a high arch and I'm pretty sure that's why my nipples were so sore. They were sore for WEEKS. The lactation consultant tried and tried to fix the latch, but no matter what we did, she kept making this clicking sound during feedings. It was either a high arch or slight tongue tie, but I feel the high arch is more likely. Sore nipples led me, in desperation, to give my daughter a pacifier. I knew it was a bad idea, but I was in pain. Pacifiers also hurt milk supply. We were also moving into a new house right after my daughter was born (yes, I know--bad timing), so I had to go do some things at the old place when I should have been sitting on my butt nursing her and doing nothing else. I pumped for that time, but that isn't the best thing to do when your baby is only a week or so old. So that's how I messed up my milk supply with my daughter. Some of it I couldn't help, and some of it was my own fault. I never was able to get it back completely--even after taking Fenugreek, Reglan (bad idea), pumping with a hospital grade pump, and taking a "babymoon" weekend during which all I did was spend time with my daughter and breastfeed. I still did breastfeed her for 21 months, though, but I had to supplement. 2) If a mom doesn't know what to look for, it's easy to mistake normal nursing behavior in a newborn for a baby who is not getting enough. For instance, a mom may say "My baby is nursing every two hours! It must mean my milk isn't enough to satisfy him." In reality, nursing every 2-3 hours is totally normal. There are also moms who insist on pumping so they can see their milk, but they don't realize that pumps (especially cheap ones) usually can't get as much out as the baby. Therefore, they think since they are only pumping half an ounce that the baby is only getting half an ounce when he nurses. That is probably not the case. Lastly, there are a very few moms out there who do not realize that for the first couple of days all they will be getting is colostrum. If a mom is expecting milk to gush forth and only gets a marble-size quantity of sticky stuff, it's not surprising that she'd be worried. But this is not the mom's fault. We need to be doing so much more to educate women on how to get breastfeeding started. Oftentimes doctors are not supportive of breastfeeding, or are too quick to recommend supplementation, or just don't have time to sit and troubleshoot a mom's breastfeeding experience for half an hour. Many moms feel so insecure after they are told to supplement that they decide to put the baby on formula exclusively so they will know for a fact he is getting enough. I think the #1 point we need to drive home is that *ANY* amount of breastmilk a mom can give her baby is liquid gold. This is true whether the diagnosis of low milk supply is correct or incorrect, real or imagined. Just because a mom can't breastfeed exclusively doesn't mean she can't breastfeed.

Answer 3

If you are very concerned about her milk intake then you can try giving it to her via a measuring syringe. Or, just give her normal food like wholemeal vegemite sandwiches. Or, you could go to the chemist and buy infants nasal spray to unclog her nose.
Or, what I do, when giving her a bottle, hold her in your arms tilting her head back till you hear her breathing clearly through the nose and she should be able to take her bottle. I found this worked for me.
Good luck, I hope she feels better soon

Answer 4

i am actually concerned that you have such a sick baby, and are still finding time to sit on the computer when you should be taking your child to the doctors or nearest emrgency room.
if you have no common sense, and would rather sit around waiting for non proffessionals to tell you whether you should take your baby to the doctor, then blame no one but yourself if your child gets sicker.
i have a 9 week old boy, and there is no way i would be jumping on the net to ask strangers what they think. sorry, but you should take your parenting more seriously.

Answer 5

Mother instinct if u think u need to take her to the hospital asap then take your baby now.. i don't wait till another day..to risky..
sniffly nose try fess little noses Saline Nose Drops.
Makes it easier for them to breath

Answer 6

just keep giving her drinks, sugar water, pedolite things like that anything to keep her hydroated but shes awful young to be so sick try a trip to the drs

Answer 7

Call her pediatrician, and do it NOW.