If BF newborn hasn't regained birthweight by day 14, when should I start to worry?

[WildhoodChunder]

DS was 3960g when born, at 5 days he was 3700g. He was weighed yesterday (day 14) and is 3820g, so he's only regained about half what he lost. Midwife didn't say anything either way about this being good or bad so I assume it's okay, but it was only when I got home and was flicking through some of the leaflets that I noticed newborns are supposed to have regained birthweight by around day 14. Should I be worrying?

Wildwood, there is no hard and fast rule about this - most babies have regained birthweight by now but plenty of healthy, thriving babies haven't.

Your baby is gaining which is good, but the 'whole baby' needs to be assessed - that means a midwife doing her job would be asking you about feeding, would observe a feed, would ensure you are feeding at least both breasts frequently and at least offering both every time he feeds, feeding at night, and other aspects of the whole 'milk transfer' thing. He should also be producing several large yellow poos each day and weeing a lot. Oh, and he should be eager to feed and not sleeping for long periods.

If he checks all those boxes, then the midwife is prob right to be unconcerned :)

You should keep on eye on him but not worry per se unless there are other warnign signs (excessive sleepiness, deydration, sunken fontanelle, no wet/dirty nappies).

He was wquite big baby and he is gaining wegiht - that it sthe good sign. If you weren't weghing him would you be worried?

My ds was 4080g at birth and lost,IIRC, over a poud initially and took seven weeks to regain birthweight. I was however seeing the breasfeeding counsellor midwives at maternity hopsital throughout and at 2 weeks, at their recoomendation, I started to supplement with EBM. I also had to wake him during the night to feed him (he was trying to sleep through the night at 2 weeks ).

Thanks, he does seem alert when he's awake, he poos pretty much with every feed, and he feeds roughly every 2 hours, day and night with clustering in the evening, with the occasional 4 hour gap but rarely more than one a day. If I wasn't weighing him I probably wouldn't be worried, apart from a niggling concern about how long he stays on the breast. He has both breasts at a feed although he seems to get bored about 5-7 mins in on each breast and I have to coax him to stay on longer, although he usually has at least 10 mins per breast. Should I be trying to get him to stay on longer? I've tried hand-expressing when he comes off after 10 mins and there's nothing there, and I can usually express something from a full breast.

Could you keep swapping breasts to keep his interest? So 10 minutes on the first, 10 on the second, then back to the first again and keep going til he's definitely had enough.

Doesnt sound to me that you need to do anything - everything you describe is well within normal and the midwife has seen him, too, which is reassuring. On what you say, there's not even any need to be trying to make him take more...this is what is sometimes done with babies who are not feeding well, but it sounds as if he is :)

Thank you both, and thank you Tiktok for putting my mind at rest a bit! I tried swapping back to the first breast but he's either not bothered at all or latches and comes off after a couple of sucks. I'll carry on as we are until our next weigh-in and try not to worry in the meantime. :)

tiktok why is offering both breasts important? if baby has drained one breast fully

That's fine if the baby is no longer hungry. But if the baby is still hungry and/or you have concerns about the rate of weight gain, then yuo should offer the other breast (and back to the first breast sometimes!). That way, not only are you ensuring that the baby gets plenty of milk but that you are stimulaitng the production of plenty more milk :)

Thanks pb