Should I be concerned about weight?

[cat811]

Dd is 12weeks old and has just been weighed today at 11lb. She was born weighing 8lb15.5oz, didn't lose quite 10% and then was back up to birth weight by 3 weeks. Since then her wieght gain has been very slow, and in the last 3.5 weeks she has not gained anything at all, just maintained weight.
She is ebf but had several cup feeds in first few days until my milk came in.
She seems absolutely fine in herself, very alert, happy and strong - and sleeps 10-11 hours at night.
Health visitor said to see what it's like in a few weeks as I mentioned she'd been a bit sniffly in last few weeks (though I haven't noticed this affecting feeding/frequency) -but I know from experience that they all say different things, and if I'd happened to speak to another one she'd have been immediately very concerned.

At what point do you think I need to 'worry' (if at all) about her lack of gain, or (gulp) start waking her up at night to feed her? She's my second, so I'm (hopefully1) less neurotic, but am a it surprised that she's not gained anything in 3 weeks - although I'm sure she's longer as her toes are touching the ends of babygros now...

Any thoughts/reassurance?

Thank you! x

Meant to add I'm demand-feeding-which is pretty much every 2.5-3hrs, or when she's awake usually1 (if at home all day she sleeps badly so feeds more often; if out she'll sleep better and then feed for longer, less often)

Sorry I don't have enough knowledget to help you out but just bumping your post.

Personally I'd start to worry that it's been a nearly a month with no gain (although reassuring that it's not a loss).

So is she only feeding 5 times a day. While weight is a slight concern, I'd aim to feed about 8 times. More to reassure myself that I'm maximising intake. As you say if she seems fine that's a good sign.

has she started rolling recently? My DD decided not to gain weight for two weeks when she did this. In months 6-9 she's only gained 14oz, but has grown length wise and been walking around loads.

Have you tried switched feeding?

Hope you get more expert help. I've always (after the initial panic of weigh session) reassured myself that she is otherwise fine. I don't eat dairy so never tried cutting that out.

Yes-usually 5 feeds a day - I can't feed her any more in between that though, as she very much won't take any more!! I'd heard somewhere it should be 6 feeds if sleeping through, but I can't fit anymore in - and this is with her waking at 6am.
No rolling - though she is very active and wriggly all the time at the minute, and doing lots of mini sit-ups - could she be burning lots of calories this way?
What's switch feeding? And would cutting out dairy help? How is that?

Thank you!

i would expect more than 5 feeds a day at that age too. i wonder if you can start to offer more frequently?

it could be that she is just plateauing, which bf babies tend to do, or that she is putting all that energy into growing taller.

but it certainly won't hurt to try and up the feeds during the day

I offer anytime she's awake-which is a lot during the day as she doesn't nap well. She will not feed any more often than she already is - she totally refuses, so I don't know how I could feed more during the day.

Sounds like I need to start waking her up doesn't it...?

As long as the nappies are wet frequently and she is content I wouldn't worry. My daughter lost 10% of her birthweight and needed 4 weeks to regain.

She's been following the second centile ever since. The GP wanted me to top her up when she had her 8 week check, the health visitor and my fantastic breastfeeding support group told me to ignore them. HVs usually don't worry unless a child is very suddenly dropping through 2 centile lines.

Don't weigh too frequently, as things like last feed and last wee/poo can make huge differences so actual gain just wouldn't be recognised.

As long as she's content and doesn't seem to be starved/ill I'd really just keep going like you do.

Switch feeding is when you keep switching sides when feeding her. e.g. left boob, right boob then back to left. It's a way of encouraging her to take more and increasing supply. We do between 4-10 sides with ours.

I was thinking when I said the dairy comment whether maybe she had something like silent reflux or a dairy intolerance that might explain the static weight. Not based on any symptoms just thinking out loud and giving some things for you to think about and look up. For me it helped to rule things out and to relax a bit.

Thank you! I always offer at least 2 sides - but I'll try offering more and see if it helps.
I'll look into the whole dairy thing too-hadn't heard about that.
She's been really fussy today-and I wondered if maybe she was starting her 12wk growth spurt. If so, is is possible/likely that she may have not gained in a while as she's going to put on loads during growth spurt? Does that sound like a possibility? (not really sure how growth spurts work)