last week the HV made me cry

[OnlyWantsOne]

and told me to put DD on formula to top her up and sort out her dwindling weight because she'd only put on 4.5 oz in a week - well since last friday she's put on 8oz and is now 11 lb!

I have to say, I was quite smug when leaving clinic.

I will breast feed till she's 6 months, they can glug on their formula - im not interested

thank you to all of you who have been so lovely and supporting over the last 12 weeks :)

I'm waiting this to happen to me. DD was 8lb at birth and now only 9lb 6oz (9 weeks old). She has been putting on approx 3oz per week. The HV isn't monitioring her so thought I would get away with it but at her 6-8 week check this week, the GP said she would be asking the HV to weigh her regularly as on 9th centile. I'm not concerned as she is happy, healthy etc so will jusy wait to see if HV contacts me?

Anyway, Congratulations on being able to feel smug .

Good for you onlywantsone- what a fantastic gain!

Did you do anything differently to increase her weight?

CJMommy- nothing wrong with being on the 9th centile (I'm assuming she's following that line).

Remember - you don't have to go and see the HV if you are happy with your baby. Weighing too often is just a cause for anxiety and stress if the baby is fine.

I slowed our pace down a bit, sat around a bit more eating cake feeding her - but not really,

there was one day when I fed / offered every hour, ended up her being sick, lots, which I think means I was over feeding her so didnt do it again

Great news.
And what a fool you have as an HV.

Yay - glad to hear things are going so well. If you feel able to you would be doing a service to other mothers if you wrote to your HV explaining that her approach and advice were not that helpful and made you feel upset. But I must admit I haven't mustered the guts to do that with my HV yet so fully appreciate why you might not want to.

Well done :)

Cannot see why a 4.5oz gain was a problem in the first place tbh, seems bizarre for the HV to have got her knickers in a knot based on only one week too. I thought that babies weren't supposed to be weighed weekly once they were more than 6 weeks old anyway?

CJMommy - if she is following that centile and not dropping down then I wouldn't worry. I'm surprised at your GP actually, they are usually less hysterical about such things than HVs :)

Brilliant! Most maternity hcps I've come across have scarily little understanding of numbers, averages, the importance of looking at a bigger picture, etc, etc. Over 2 weeks your LO put on more than what is looked for, so so what that one week was low and one week high? It's why babies shouldn't be weighed too often - there's no point if all is well!

CJMommy - I haven't got a red book to hand but that does sound like your LO is falling through the centiles. DD is around the 9th centile too, but is putting on more than that as an average. If your LO is roughly following the centile line, ignore this!

HVs mostly appear to be twats in my experience. Don't bother seeing them next time unless you have a real problem and actually want their advice, as they look for problems and then TELL you what to do about them (make you feel like a crap mum), even when you don't think it's a problem!

Similar thing happen to me, DS only put on 1oz in 2 weeks, and the HV told me the same thing. I gave her a steely glare and said well this isn't a bf weight chart but he is still roughly following his centile line.

Came back 2 weeks later and he had gained 13oz!

Good for you OnlyWantsOne, well done!

That's fab news - well done.

Excellent news - I hope you aren't being pressured to keep on getting your DD weighed as she sounds fine.

I shant go again!!

Hooray, well done OWO :)