Baby not back to birth weight, when to worry?

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DD was 3800 g at birth and had a bit of jaundice at day 3-4. We were seen by MW and sent to A&E for bloods (her skin monitor wasn’t working) and results were well below treatment level. Doctors weren’t at all concerned about her and her obs were all good. Her weight was down 7.5% at A&E and we saw MW again on day 5 and Dd gained 1%. We saw MW again today on day 10 and DD has gained more but is still 3% below birth weight.

She has loads of wet and soiled nappies and my milk is in oversupply if anything. MW wasn’t overly concerned, said DD looks well and to bring her back in 5 days to weight and maybe consider top ups with expressed milk. We had a bit of a tricky latch on one side but that seems much better now. She is a bit of a sleepy feeder but don’t remember what it was like with first DC, who was a voracious eater and back at birth weight by one week! Trying not to panic but feel worried about my little girl. Anyone else been through this?

I was told to feed every 3 hours (timed from start of feed) until they regained their birth weight. How often is she feeding?

Poor lo. If your midwife isn’t concerned then that is a good thing, because babies are delicate things and you have to be very careful with Illness. However, maybe get an appointment with your hv or gp just to put your mind at rest? Hope she’s better soon, my love xxx

On average, expect to regain birth weight by day 14. Sounds like you should be pretty close to that.

www.laleche.org.uk/beginning-breastfeeding/

You are fine at the mo. You could still be at birthweight by day 14. Feed as often as possible, switch sides during a feed - every feed should have both breasts or more (three or four switches). Have you another with one for day 14? With jaundice ok and good out put you are in the right track.

Thank you both. Yes we feed every two hours during the day and three hourly at night. It seems she’s also got her day and night mixed up, much more alert at night and sleepy during day, not sure if this contributes to my impression of her as sleepy?

the HV comes round Monday and we see the MW for a weight check again on Tues. I feel so pressurised to ensure she is gaining. I am offering the second breast and also doing compression whilst feeding. I don’t know if it’s a hormonal issue but I’m in absolute tears worried about her now!

I wouldn’t worry, 3% means she’s slowly gaining and should be back at birth weight in the next few days. Just do a lot of feeds and ask for her to be reweighed in 3 or 4 days. Congratulations 💐

Thank you @Middledazedted ive tried switching but there’s no way she can have a whole breast, I produce massive amounts of milk. I do feel it soften and get significantly less full but it’s not totally empty. I can express some still fairly easily. She does do cluster feeding (has done nearly every day for the past week) and that’s the only time it feels like my breasts are fully emptied on both sides.

Sounds like baby is doing great to be honest. I think thresholds for admission are around 12% of weightloss, so you're no where near that. Mine got to 12% but still had lots of wet and dry nappies so they weren't concerned, just re-weighed a few days later.

As PP said, we had to feed every 3 hours including through the night (I think we were allowed one 4 hour stretch overnight) so I had to express and even syringe feed for a bit. It took a week or so for the latch to sort itself but it did. These things take a bit of time OP but honestly it sounds like you're doing great.

National (NICE) guidance around faltering growth is actually that most babies should be back at birth weight by 21. So to me sounds like your little one is doing fine! Keep an eye on urine / stool output (at least 6 wet and 2 small £2 coin size poos per day - may be less stool if stool amount is bigger!)

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng75/chapter/Recommendations#weight-loss-in-the-early-days-of-life

*21 days! That should say. So 3 weeks :-)

Also mine literally never took a second breast. Ever. And I breastfed for a year. They were really sleepy and used to fall asleep at the breast. I used to time them and as long as they had 5-10 minutes I think it was OK. They were just very efficient.

I think you’re doing ok. So she’s not back at her birthweight yet but she is gaining. I’d expect her to be at her birthweight in the next few days and continue to gain. Try not to panic just now. As long as she’s taking on plenty of milk and doing lots of wet and dirty nappies all is good. Neither of mine ever had more than one breast at a time either.

Honestly while it feels overwhelming all is sounding great. You didn’t have to much weight loss and you are in time to come back to birth weight within the normal time limits. I didn’t mean to suggest that you would empty a breast but the movement keeps baby awake and more let downs helps kill transfer. Sounds like all is going perfectly but it’s new so it’s hard. Hope you get some rest and lots of feeds and some lively cuddles.

I went through this with my 1st. Fortunately I had a HV who pretty much said look at the whole picture, not the number.

as long as she is gaining, feeding well, wet nappies etc, i wouldn’t overly worry.

i didn’t weigh my second for this reason (on the advice of same HV)- funnily enough the whole issue with worrying about weight gain went away 😂

That sounds pretty normal. DD2 got back yo birth weight on day 13 and no one was ever concerned about her weight, so I wouldn't be worried.

DD1 lost 10% body weight in the first 3 days due to a tongue tie and we ended up formula feeding (tongue tie couldn’t be cut until 4 weeks). She even had a poor latch on bottles and didn’t regain her birth weight until 4 weeks old. The midwives said some babies just take longer. She is now a tall and skinny 5 year old.

I do wonder if the original weight loss and taking a while to regain was just her finding her centile as she’s been 35th for weight and 91st for height since. DD2 is the exact same centiles and she had breast and formula feeds and she still took 2 weeks to reach her birth weight.

DC lost 9% of her birth weight it took about 2 or 3 weeks for her to get back to birth weight. She was a sleepy feeder too. I was advised by the midwives to strip her down for feeds so she was just in her nappy. It stopped her falling asleep as often. Maybe that could help? Sounds like she's well on her way to getting back to her birth weight.

Congratulations also!

Both my DDs took 6 weeks to regain their birth weight! They were both born pretty big though (over 9lbs). They are now (10 and 12) pretty tiny so I think they were both just born bigger than they were designed to be and then grew more slowly.

Thank you all for the kind words and support. I’ll try nursing in a nappy during the daytime. I reckon she is maybe just moving towards her centile as DH and I are fairly slim people, we were shocked when DD came out at 90%ile!

thabk you again for all of the lovely words and support and encouragement xx

My second dd took about 3 weeks (possibly more?!?) to regain her birth weight and the constant weighing and worrying did get me down. HVs seem to really focus on it now! After a few visits where she gained weight regularly I told them I wasn't coming back until the next scheduled check (one year). She is now as chubby as a little piglet - I haven't a clue what she weighs now - and haven't worried about it since!

It sounds like you are doing absolutely fine. Focus on dd, if she is feeding regularly with regular wet/dirty nappies and is sleeping well then there is nothing the matter. Enjoy the newborn snuggles, they are the best!

Sounds like she's doing really well. My daughter took 4 weeks to get back to birthweight. The HV was great and weighed her a few times a week and was really encouraging even when she'd only put on 30g or something. She was born in 50th percentile, dropped to 9th and has stayed there ever since. She's a tiny dainty little 3yo and is exactly the build of child you'd expect me and DH to have produced. Her 90th centile baby brother... god knows where we got him 😂

As you said, maybe she's just finding her curve. I read somewhere the phrase "catch down" so like if they went up a few centile lines you might say they were just catching up to where they're supposed to be. Well catch down is the opposite of that and makes perfect sense really.

Just keep feed feed feeding! I didn't relax until my daughter hit birthweight and then once I did everything seemed to fall into place.

Ds took until day 20 to get back to birth weight. Born at 4kg (!!) and now at 10 weeks is 6.4kg (ie huge). Sounds like you are doing well and if the HV isn’t worried, I wouldn’t worry. Lots of regular feeding and keep an eye on nappy output. We were having weigh ins every 2-3 days until DS got back to birth weight…

Thank you all. Yes, I change her nappy every time we feed (2 hours in day, 3 hours overnight) and it’s always heavy with wee and usually poo, the bright yellow-orange with seedy bits. So I’m sure she’s taking in loads. Hopefully just “catching down” as @ohyeahiwaittablestoo mentioned.

I do wonder if perhaps it’s because she was so large at birth too that it’s taking longer? She was a full 500 g more than DS and we were all shocked.

its just so hard not to worry and I think I’m having a massive hormone day too, been tearful and irritable all day, this just felt like such a blow today.

Sounds like you are doing GREAT.
keep feeding!
Drink lots of water, eat whatever you want.