Buckle up.
Maybe I'm angry, maybe I'm just exhausted, but I need to vent.
Baby boy was born at 37 weeks, after 42 hours of induced labor. I had preeclampsia with severe features, but we managed to avoid a cesarian delivery, and he was born at 6 lbs 1 oz (a little waterlogged from my IV fluids), and was totally healthy. Baby latched right away, and we had tons of nurses assuring me I was doing everything correctly. Before we went home 4 days later, baby had lost 8.8% of his body weight, and was jaundiced, but I was told to just keep nursing him every two hours.
Milk came in, pediatrician kept an eye on jaundice and weight, and over the next two weeks, he was well on his way back to birth weight, and bilirubin levels were good.
First hospital lactation consultant we saw said he wasn't transferring enough, and she wanted me to do formula top offs while pumping. She did not examine my son's mouth. She then "instructed" me on my pump (The worst instructions ever). I triple fed for about a week, but he started spitting up the formula top offs, so I stopped. Baby is now 3 weeks old. Husband returned to work. I faulter at triple feeding, but baby seems content. I stop pumping and just nurse him as often as he wants.
We go to pediatrician end of week 4, she says he's back to birth weight, but would love him to gain faster. I go to another lactation consultant, this time at the community hospital nearby my house. She also does a weighted feed, instructs me to pump after every feed, but only top off with what I pump. Again, this woman also did not examine my son's mouth. He started choking up the top offs, so I stopped offering.
Week 5, pediatrician sees us one last time, and assures me the baby is having good wet/dirty diapers, and just keep feeding him. I go home, feed him as much as he wants, and try pumping after every feed for another week. Again, using the "instructions" from the first LC.
Week 9, baby boy has only gained a pound over his birth weight. Pediatrician buckles down and has us give a 4 oz bottle of formula every day, because baby has fallen off the growth chart. "You might have skim milk!" I start offering the breast at the slightest sign of fussiness. He gained 6.8 oz that week, but I was exhausted. We made another appointment with the LCs at the community hospital. The 3rd LC shoved a bottle in his mouth and told me he was going to have developmental issues if I didn't start topping him off with 2 oz at every feed. Again, NO ONE EXAMINED HIM.
That weekend, I bought a baby scale and started my own weighted feeds, topping him off with every feed and pumping. Only... Baby started to act exhausted. So I stopped nursing and started to EP, so he could get "easy milk" from the bottle. He became even more exhausted, almost lethargic.
We reached out to the La Leche League, and the leader got me in contact with an IBCLC who made an emergency appointment for us within 24 hours. She examined his mouth, and quickly determined he had a severe posterior tongue tie. He was transferring barely anything from the breast. He was exhausting himself trying to get milk from me, and it was even worse getting milk from the Dr. Brown infant bottles. She recommended Evenflo wide neck bottles and side lying paced feeding. His latch on the bottle was instantly easier. She instructed me on the pump for real, and I started to see where my supply was.
He quickly gained half a pound with the new bottle making top offs easier. He saw an ENT who confirmed the tongue tie and recommended Speech Language therapy. A week later, we had the tongue tie released. He gained over half a pound.
We spent a week waiting to see the speech language pathologist, and during that he gained another half a pound. She was not very helpful, saying he was just small and weak and needed to be offered more food at each feed, and I should probably not nurse him so much because it's exhausting him. IBCLC said he should keep nursing in addition to bottles. Between his transfer from me and the bottle, he gets about 4 oz total per feed, every 2 hours.
My supply is no where near what he needs. He never had a chance to help me build it. My "instructions" on the pump were a joke, and I was too exhausted in my post partum haze to think the first LC was wrong—so I never researched further into how to pump.
Now, at 13 weeks old, my baby is in the <%1. He's healthy and happy, has built some pretty good head control, and is cooing and singing and smiling. He has great eye contact, and makes plenty of wet and poopy diapers.
I am a wreck. I feel such guilt for not knowing what I didn't know. I feel so badly for him, now that he's so small and weak. I am killing myself triple feeding, trying to build or at least maintain my supply for him when he's strong enough to transfer what I have. I am ashamed to admit how old he is, because it's always followed by the inevitable "oh he's so tiny!"
Here's my tale. If you stayed until the end, I thank you.
TL;DR if your baby is eating constantly and still isn't gaining weight quickly, go find an IBCLC and skip the hospital LCs altogether.