Bottom line first - things are a lot better now.
Shahar has no serious medical problems, or any inherent growth issues, only some breastfeeding difficulties - he's having a hard time nursing.
Both Anat and I value breastfeeding tremendously, and are willing to go to great lengths in order for our kids to grow on breast milk (see more below).
That being said, 12 days ago, with weight loss and no bowel movements, there could be a lot worse causes, and we were very happy when it became evident that none of them proved to be real.
So, we first gave up (temporarily) on nursing, got Anat pumping breast milk, and myself feeding it to Shahar using a bottle. Within a few days, Shahar started eating beautifully, gaining weight and spraying poop generously...
We then got an excellent lactation consultant involved, and she diagnosed Shahar as having a tied tongue. We consulted a specialist, and ended up snipping Shahar's tied tongue; surprisingly to me, it turns out to be a not-terribly-painful, and fairly standard procedure. Shahar's nursing abilities have started improving as a result, but naturally not magically so. In the last 5 days, Anat is breastfeeding Shahar, with effectiveness mildly increasing by the day, and some fortification of pumped breast milk from a bottle. Typically, the middle-of-the-night meal is bottle-only, to allow Anat some sleep. Most importantly, we're happy that he is drinking only breast milk.
We still have a long way to go until Shahar will comfortably depend on nursing only, gaining weight steadily while doing so, but hopefully we'll get there within a few weeks.
The past week and a half were certainly hectic and challenging, but I believe we're in the right direction.
Cheers,
Giora
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