Slow weight gain after 16 weeks

[gillymin]

Have been ebf for 16 weeks now, weight gain has been pretty slow, and quite sporadic- she is weighed usually every second week, but sometimes I leave it for 4 weeks. Over last 4 weeks she has only put on 10 oz - so I guess averaging 2.5/week. Her gain has been this slow in the past, although she averages about 3 - 4 per week. HV says not to supplement as she is developmentally where she should be and is very alert and happy, sleeping through some nights, bed is always sodden in the morning and poo is usually yellow, but is sometimes green. I know I shouldn't worry about the graph, but does anyone else have experience of an ebf only gaining just over 2 oz in a week?

Do you mean that her weight gain has slowed down (e.g. she used to gain 5 oz a week and now gains 2 oz) or that she is dropping down the centiles?

Weight gain slows right down or you would have a gigantic three year old if they carried on gaining at the same weight . When mine were little they used to put on a pound a week for the first 8 weeks - if they had carried on like that they would be 11 stone at three years old . I don't know how much they gained in those later weeks as didnt really get them weighed. However from memory at around 4 months I remember DD being around 17 pounds but then at 9 months she was only 21 pounds (or something like that). I weighed DS the other day and he had only put on 4 pounds all year (he is 4!)

Another thing is that breastfed babies tend to slow down in their weight gain after about three months according to a few different studies.

What I am trying to say is if she is alert, feeding, having plenty of wet and dirty nappies (which you say she is) then I really wouldnt worry.

Thanks for the reply. She is dropping down the centiles. Her actual gain is sporadic, so her latest weight gain was 10 oz after 4 weeks, before that 9 oz over two weeks and before that 6 oz over ten days. There seem to be some weeks where she gains 2 oz and some where she gains about 4 oz. I don't know whether I should be worried about the 2 oz weeks: it seems to be regarded by anything I've read as less than she should gain, but I don't know how prescriptive it should be. My instinct says she's fine, but i do wonder if she would gain better if she were fed by someone else - I guess I'm worrying about the quality of my milk.

You shouldn't really have her weighed more than once a month - it can cause unnecessary worry!

The quality of your milk will be fine. So long as she's gaining weight I wouldn't worry. If you weren't weighing her would you be concerned about her?

Gillymin - Have a look here. The chart shows that there is quite a substantial slow down in growth at 4 months going from 5.5-8.5oz per week at 0-4 months to 3.25-4.5oz a week at 4-6 months.

The thing with babies growth that it isn't a nice curve, they grow in fits and starts so if you have them weighed to frequently you might find yourself catching them at the 'wrong' point of they're growth and it looking like they have put on next to nothing where as if you weighed then later they might have packed it on. Does that make sense or is it too late for me to not talk drivel?

yep our DD is this, hardly ever put more than 3oz a week, often less. Slipped a few centiles, but as said developmently she was fine (if not slighly ahead) and clearly a healthy baby. We weighed her once a month from 4-6months and will weigh her again at 9 months (which is only a few weeks away)