How often do you have your baby weighed?

[candj]

I am taking my DS (15 weeks old) to be weighed every fortnight but I am getting the impression from the HV that this is excessive - what do others do?

Thanks for all your advice and reassurances folks!

Just saw doc who confirmed all is perfectly well with Little Miss Pickle and says I am everything right -- she supports me not considering supplementing until another week has gone. Also my diet is right ... to keep up the more regular feeding and pumping.

Neither me nor blokeare big-- 5 foot 5 and 7 respectively and our birth weights were 6lb1oz and 6lb4 ... so Miss Pickle actually a wee bit bigger than we were.

As for expressing ... I just started and can get 115ml/4oz whic sheguzzled a bottle lots of at 3am and 7am ...

Got a weigh in tmr so will keep on ...

Doc said expressing would dry up milk production as baby needs to suckle -- thats news to me?

Thoughts?

I'm glad all's well Clem. ime bf babies take more milk than you imagine they're getting. when i moved to mixed feeding when dd was 7 months I was shocked to see guzzle 8oz in seconds flat, she must have been taking even more than that during her 'greedy' bfs!

It won't intrinsically dry up milk production. Having your DD suckle is far and away the best thing for stimulating milk production and expressing comes a distant second, so if you're trying to build up supply and her suckling is an option then that's what you should go for. If you really can't get her to suckle frequently for whatever reason, though, expressing will stimulate your body to up supply -- just not as well as her suckling would do. It's not worth expressing just to see how much you produce, IMO, because there's not necessarily any connection between how much you can express and how much the baby can extract (although if you can express 4oz then it seems unlikely to me that you have a supply problem), but might be worth expressing at times when you just can't get her interested in nursing however hard you try.

Never heard that about expressing reducing milk production. My HV told me to express to INCREASE my supply !!. You're doing great getting 4oz expressed already.
I was concerned the other wk my DD 14wks, only put on 1oz in a wk. HV not concerned and she's put on 12oz in the 2 wks since. My HV says they should be gaining 5-6oz a wk.

You guys are so great!

Just caught up with a pal whose cousin is a breasteeding expert; apparently the percentile graphs were constructed some 30 years ago and refer to formula-fed babies so the growth may not be as linear or as much in breastfed bambinos.

Good to get this all into context -- data of course is there to guide not to dictate and is only as good as your interpretation ...

I think the WHO are putting out new weight gain guides for infants soon ... anyone know anything about that?

I've been every week because I like having a nice neat weight graph. I even always go on a Thursday as he was born on Thurs to make it even neater. Can you tell I used to be a teacher???

actually shopping...my DD is weighed on a Thursday, but born on a friday, which did irritate me as always said ...

15 wks + on her chart for example., when she was 16 weeks the next day etc......

and had to go 1 week late for her jabs as she was not old enough! by 24 hours!!

Clem - my dd started off on the 50th centile and around 4 months dropped to the 9th. Apparently it's really common in bf babies. Fortunately my hv was clued up and could reassure me, she said if the only thing I was worried about was the chart then throw the chart away!

I also don't think there's a link between how much you express and how much the baby takes. dd fed really well, gained weight well, thrived on bf, I had a great supply and could catch about 4oz drip milk each feed but I could only ever express about half an ounze.

i asked my hv for breastfed baby weight gain charts when the WHO announced they'd produced them. must have been about a week before dd was born, she's now 5 months old. she didn't know what i was on about at all. but she did manage to get them for me once dd was about 3 weeks old. then when we went to our 6 week check up the gp thought dd had never been weighed, i had to show him we were using a different chart. he also had never seen the new charts.

i used to take dd to be weighed every 2 weeks, now we go once a month.

Aha lulumama, someone else a little on the anal side! Glad I'm not the only one who likes neat charts, I guess it's coz there isn't a hope in hell of me having a neat house anymore!

took her every other week for a year so we filled the page!!!

I go every fortnight with 15wk old DD - beacsue I'm feeding her I like the reassurance that it's all actually doing some good. FWIW, my HV thinks I'm a little anal too.

Boy am I glad I'm not the only one who has anal tendencies when it comes to the weight charts. It's always annoyed me that ds was 6 days late but they plot the weight on the EDD line. I also like to get mine weighed regularly (every two weeks at the moment, though HV has suggested once a month). At first it was because I was worried he wouldn't be gaining enough. Then after a week when he gained 11oz I started getting paranoid that I was overfeeding him. I'll be taking him again tomorrow as I'm trying to settle him into a better feeding routine and I want a baseline to see how things are going.

I go roughly every month, although I have issues with those weight charts. As someone mentioned earlier, I've heard WHO are recommending they are changed as are based on old data based on formula fed babies. They fail to take into consideration the great variability amongst individuals out there. Especially with all the current mixing of races etc.

My dd, born 1 month prem weighed 6 pounds 12ounces, both myself and dh are in 99 percentiles regarding our heights, so I am quite confident that my purely bf dd is perfectly healthy, even though she was at the 105 percentile the last time she was weighed, at 5 months. The mws have commented that she seems fine but we have to monitor her weight. Firstly, she is very tall, or long!! and does not look at all obese, and secondly she is purely bf. When dh goes to the gym, although he is very trim, his big dense bones always mean that he turns up in the 'obese' category. Time the NHS got wise to real human beings!!!

Ds who was my first I took him every 3 or 4 weeks. DD has probably been weighed a handful of times but is always weighed in the hospital. DB probably will beweighed very infrequently as will have to lug a 3yr old and a 1yr old with me..lol

My 1st I had weighed every fortnight without fail, then when my ds came along well I think he has been weighed 4 times in 8 months, very bad but its hard work with 2 and the HV don't mind as they know your 1st was OK so chances are your 2nd will be and also I think you are more confident with 2nd, and let them get on with it more.

NEVER EVER EVER! such a waste of time and only caused worry

When they get fat?

I took dd wvery week until she was 6 months old and then fortnightly until she was a year old. Then monthly, until it dwindled right down to just on necessary check ups, Take no notice of your HV, if you're happy to have your lo weighed every 2 weeks, then that is your perogative. Don't take any notice of 'em!

Having had alarm from the HV on Wednesday (DD at 6lb 9oz birthweight 'only' gaining 1 oz a week for last 2 weekly visits) ... that saw us have to have a physical with the GP (ALL PERFECTLY HEALTHY) and another HV appt at 1300 today (where if she hasn't gained 2oz we need to 'talk about formula as I may not be able to make milk of adequate content to feed my baby") ... I have had the most stressful 36hours.

I have been feeding every 2 hours, expressing inbetween ... and have such sor boobs and am so tired. I actually 'ran dry' at midnight.

DD is perfectly happy of course and probably wondering what all this fuss is about.

In the wee small hours I then remembered that same HV told me to start using a dummy when DD was 10 days ... as I mentioned how hungry she was in the early evening and she thought that DD was 'sucking not suckling so just give her a dummy'. Of course, this is my first, we tend to think the experts know better so I went against my instincts that she needed to eat and gave the dummy. I don't think it is a coincidence that a 6oz weekly weight gain fell to 1oz/week and therefore the pickles of past few days. I have to question if following the dummy advice let my daughter go hungry and slowed my production.

So ... perhaps I'll mention that when we do have the make-or-break weigh-in later today.

One thing this has all taught me ... all the advice is great and needed ... but it is JUST that ... advice. Contextualise and interpret accordingly letting YOUR instincts dominate. Only you is with your baby 24/7. Only you know atavistically what their needs are.

Listen yes consider definitely but above all TRUST YOURSELF x

I could suggest where to stick the dummy... but your HV might object

I never got mine weighed! Actually, that's not strictly true, but I hardly ever got them weighed, but I lived abroad when they were both babies and where we lived there were no health visitors, it is all private medicine so if you want anything like this you have to pay to see a paediatrician. Second DD wasn't even weighed when she was born as she was born at home and we didn't have any scales! If your baby seems healthy and is putting on weight (which you would know, because she would be growing out of her clothes at regular intervals) and is generally bright eyed and bushy tailed then do you really need to know her exact weight? Average weight charts are just that, averages - every individual baby is different and bigger is not necessarily better. Obviously with a sick baby or a preemie or something like that then regular weighing is needed but otherwise it's not really necessary IMO - unless of course like some of the other posters it gives you peace of mind, or an excuse to go out for a coffee at a mums group or something, then why not? I guess I am curious as to why you are weighing so often - sorry, don't mean that to sound confrontational but is there any underlying problem - would you say you are anxious in general about your baby? If so then this might be worth exploring - this can sometimes be an indicator of depression. If you think this might apply to you then maybe you could have a chat with the HV about that, or a friendly doctor.

It depends so much on you and the baby. I went weekly for ages with dd becasuse she was putting on weight as if she'd read the textbooks and it did wonders for my self esteem to be told once a week without fail what a brilliant job I was doing. Ds was different, he put on weight slowly and erratically, while remaining healthy and alert. I realized that was starting to worry about the weekly weigh and the head-shaking from the HV, so I stopped getting him weighed at 6 weeks.
BTW, for anyone worried about slow weight gain and milk supply and being "threatened"with formula, I can't recommend too highly just spending a day in bed with the baby, some good books, the telephone and a huge supply of healthy food and drink. I know it's hard to organize for some people, but it's really worth doing. The baby will gain weight, your milk supply will go up, you will get some rest and your dh/dp/mother/friend/sister/brother will have a lovely day bonding with your other child/ren!

You dont have to get them weighed at all. Clinics & HVs are entirely voluntary. IMO they do far more harm than goo in undermining mums confidence, especially as many dont really know how to read and interpret the charts. Babys wellbeing is much easier to guage by looking at their feeding (frequency, behaviour etc) awake & sleep periods, nappy output and their general development.

How did your HV weigh-in go Clemster ?
Fingers crossed for you....

I've been for my own weigh-in today and have lost 8lb in last 3 wks !!!!! Only 3 stone to go !!!