Slow weight gain

[PerfectDromedary]

HELP!

Weighed my son yesterday and my giant baby is falling through the centiles like a stone. He started at 4.65kg, lost over 12% of his bodyweight after birth, regained it only by 4 weeks and is now 5.16kg at 10 weeks 2 days. He's averaging 100g a week gain when it should be much closer to 170g.

HV lovely last time, told me to look at the baybee not the scales, this time wants to monitor it all a bit more closely - as do I... Am off to see the bf'ing support people on Sunday to get them to observe a feed, but can hear him swallowing and nothing hurts so I think that bit's fine. However, have stopped continuously swapping boobs - trying to make sure he finishes the first before moving on to the second - and he still wants both and a couple of feeds today have taken over an hour. Am allowing him unlimited time on the boob, but when do you hit law of diminishing returns if you're constantly feeding and he's getting less and less? He does seem to cue for a feed the moment he has finished. What do I do about his sleep? Is my supply fucked? I know it will become more fucked if I supplement but what if I'm starving the baby? We had a rocky start - sleepy baby, crap latch, lots of expressing and 3am tears - so my anxiety levels are quite high.

Pliz to advise. Am going to see people about it and weigh him again in a couple of weeks and will head to GP then if no improvement, but any thorts about what could be wrong would be brilliant.

Am I being selfish and insane? What should I do next?

Thanks for posting! Am hoping that he is just catching down, and you're right, I need to stop with the anxiety.

Also, in slightly MN stalker fashion - I think there's a thread that you recommended Ian-the-acupuncturist and I am VERY grateful for the rec. Pretty sure that with my fertility issues I wouldn't have a baby to worry about were it not for the magic needles.

The centile chart that's being used, is it for FF or BF babies?

He goes anything from 1 hr to 6hrs (overnight) between feeds.

BF babies - am in Tower Hamlets and have had nothing but support for bf'ing.

Is there a reason you've stopped swapping boobs? Switching sides every time he comes off and doing several sides each feed is a technique to increase milk intake.

I shall leave you in the hands of more experienced breastfeeders.

How is he other than the weight - how often does he feed, is he content/alert, lots of nappies?

I'm still switching sides, just trying to keep him on one breast for longer so that he gets the hindmilk - am worrying that he's filling up on foremilk, esp as he's not pooing more than once every 2-3 days. I know that can be normal for bf babies but coupled with the slow gain it worries me.

Relatively content, can be a bit fussy. I have no behaviour comparisons because he is PFB.

I wouldn't worry about foremilk/hindmilk - milk from an emptier breast is fattier than from a full breast, so swapping often and feeding frequently means he'll get lots of fatty milk too. I'd just be lead by your baby and swap sides whenever he wants.

Could you feed more often?

I've been there and can sympathise with the not knowing.

I don't think you need to worry about 'finishing' one side before moving to the other. 'Switch nursing' (sorry on phone or would link) is a good way to get more milk into a baby- perhaps worth discussing with the support people or a BFC on one of the phonelines?

Sorry, cross posted- phone is also being sloooow.

That's sort of my problem, tho - have been switching and feeding at least every three hrs, more often two. Not sure what else to do!

lottie Here in NL they did exactly the same for me, weighed before and after bf'ing. Like you, seems logical to me!

Mine didn't manage to go 3 hours til he was on solids

I'd feed every 2 hours, swap sides lots - and if he's content, alert and gaining weight then maybe he is just a natural slow gainer. My ds was born fairly big (on the 75th) but I am quite small and I don't think he was ever meant to be a whopper - over the first couple of months he went down to the 25th and has been there ever since.

With the weighing before/after feeding, how do you know that it's accurate and not possibly baby making/getting rid of waste? If they had a big pee during a feed would that not affect things?

I think that's why it's not thought to be that accurate muse

drom I think you maybe need to feed every 2 hours durning the day and see if that helps? I know this worked for us when DS was dropping below his line.

The idea is that the baby is weighed in the same clothes/nappy, fed and then weighed again. The difference between the first and second weights is the milk they hae consumed. If baby wees then the wee has just moved from their bladder to their nappy.

The main problem with this technique (working out how much milk baby has taken and extrapolating how much they get a day) is it assumes all feeds are equal and that babies nurse for hunger and not closeness/warmth/tiredness/etc. It is just the picture of one feed so not very accurate.

I have seen studies on daily milk intake using the before/after and some feeds the baby took 0mls (thats zero ml) and others 200ml+ and everything in between so if you did a weigh for a feed which was less about hunger and more about reconnecting with mum you might be lead to assume you had little milk available for baby.

Thanks people! Think I needed a splurge. Will definitely write down a plan of action and keep a close eye on things. Might retreat to bed and just feed for a couple of days.

Lottie, if I had twins I'd be routine-ing it. Because of earlier weight isshoos we bought scales, so I might do the experiment!

Oh the nappy thing makes sense, bit obvious really. And the not assuming every feed is the same makes sense as well. Sorry for the thread hijacking anyway.